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Cinnamon Roll Scones


So if you haven't noticed, I absolutely love Annies-eats.com!  She baffles me.  She works, is a wife and mom of two youngsters and does so much cooking, baking and creating.  How does the woman do it all!?  And so darn well!  I envy her ability to create such amazing treats and dishes and her eye for capturing all her creations to well in photo's.  I don't know Annie...but from the many recipes of her's and other's recipes she's made...I go to her site to find anything good.  I trust and know that anything she posts to her blog, must be amazing!  I do have a few recipes of my very own soon to post...they are sitting in my draft box, half written.  Between the two kiddo's and just busy life, I'm finding it hard to post as much as I want.  So for right now, here is another fave of mine that I recently made.  She has taken two of the most yummy breakfast treats and married them together so creatively into one knock-out delicateson(my husband would say :) .)  I made these for my mom and her bible study girls on her birthday and got rave reviews.  I am challenging my self to make these dairy free for the hubs!  So the dairy free version, to be posted soon...that is if they don't taste like tar.  *Btw...Annie's are much much prettier.  I'm workin on it...I usually end up halfway thru all my baking sessions with my little helper Haylen dragging a chair over to the counter to "help" mommy, and/or my littlest helper Kyrie on my left hip trying to grab everything in my other hand.  My loves :)  It's always a wonder how on earth anything ever turns out.



Cinnamon Roll Scones
Yield: 8 Scones

For the dough:
8 Tbls (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen whole
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup low-fat greek yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbls unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
Milk or cream, for brushing
3 Tbls sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup cinnamon chips(I didnt have these, never heard of them actually..next time, but still delish!)

To Finish:
2 Tbls butter, melted
Course sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 Tbls milk

Adjust an oven rack to the middle and preheat oven to 425deg F.  Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.  

Grate the frozen butter on the holes of a large box grater or use a food processor.  Set aside.  Whisk together the milk and yogurt in a medium bowl; refridgerate until needed.  Combine the flours, 1/2 cup sugar,  baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine.  Add the grated butter and toss with fingers until completely coated.  

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until just combined.  Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface.  Dust the top of the dough with flour, knead with well floured hands, 6-8 times, just until the dry ingredients have been mostly incorporated.  

Roll the dough into a 12in square.  Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter(a dough scraper really helps with these steps.)  Fold the short ends of the dough into the center in thirds, to form an approximate 4-inch square.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured plate and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Return the dough to the floured work surface and roll into a 10-inch square.  Lightly brush the surface of the dough with milk or cream.  Whisk together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle the mixture over the dough evenly.  Layer with the toasted pecans and cinnamon chips.  Roll the dough up into a tight log.  Lay the log seam-side down on a cutting board.  Use a sharp knife to slice into 8 round discs.  Place the shaped scones onto the prepared baking sheet.  Lightly brush the top of each scone with the melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar.  (If freezing ahead of time, flash freeze on the baking sheet for 20 minutes, then wrap individually and store in a freezer bag until needed.)

Bake until the tops and bottoms are golden brown, 16-20 minutes (about 20-22 if baking from the freezer.) Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 10 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk.  Whisk together until smooth, adding more milk or sugar if needed to reach your desired consistency.  Drizzle the glaze over the scones.  Serve warm.  

Source: adapted from Annies-eats.com and Cook's Illustrated






~ Sunday, March 4, 2012 1 comments

Reading Product Labels(Food Allergies)

My trips to the grocery store take me much longer than they used to.  As the weeks and months pass and we settle on our favorite dairy/egg alternatives, it gets easier and much faster.  For those of you that have to avoid the beloved dairy/egg products, you have to pay very close attention to product labels.  And if you are like me, you make sure to double or triple read them, just in case.  Right after we discovered my husband's food allergies, in a panic I researched and read like crazy to find alternatives and to see what he could still eat.  I very quickly came upon my favorite food allergy book and site...TheFoodAllergyMama.com.  Kelly Rudnicki is a mom of a lil boy with severe food allergies.  So you can imagine the time and effort she has put in to ensure her son is safe.  My husband Mark doesn't have the severity of allergies as he does, but still worth all the effort to make sure he feels his best on a day to day basis.  She has continued to bake, transforming her delicious recipes into safe dairy/egg/nut free treats, making sure her son doesn't miss out on anything.  I love that!  My Mark is only allergic to pecan's, so I tend to use Almond Milk rather than soy or rice milk..as she uses.  Anyways, all this to say...order her book!  She sells it for $20 I believe, but a lil secret...I found it on Amazon for way cheaper...sorry Kelly ;).  It would definitely be worth the 20 though!  So back to reading food labels...here is a very helpful list of some food labeling that might be tricking you into thinking something might be allergy free for you.  And she states, for food labeling info, she always consults the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) at www.foodallergy.org.

MILK
Artificial butter flavor
Butter(butter fat, butter oil, and buttermilk)
Casein
Caseinates(ammonium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium)(found in sausage, lunch meat, etc)
Cheese
Cottage cheese
Cream
Curds
Custard
Half-and-Half
High-protein flour
Hydrolysates(casein, milk protein, whey, and whey protein)
Lactalbumin and lactalbumin phosphate
Lactoglobulin
Lactose
Malted, condensed, evaporated, dry, whole, low-fat, nonfat, skimmed, and goat milk
Margarine(Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine is dairy free-it contains only soy and Earth's Balance)
Milk derivative, milk protein, and milk solids
Nougat
Pudding
Rennet casein
Some flavorings, such as caramel, cream, coconut cream, and chocolate
Sour cream
Whey(delactosed, demineralized, and protein concentrate)
Yogurt
*You wouldn't believe how many products contain milk or casein.  Mostly used as a milk protein to preserve foods.  In most brands, such things like, lunch meat, sausage, chicken broth, bouillon, butter flavored cooking spray and shortening, margarine, breads, cereal, etc..  With that said, I have found dairy free alternatives for most these things.  I will make a list of all our favorite brands for alternatives in another post.  Did I mention...it's not cheap eating dairy free...if you are still trying enjoy most all foods you did before.  Eek!

EGGS
Albumin
Egg lecithin
Egg substitutes
Egg white, egg yolk, dried egg, and powdered egg
Eggnot
Globulin
Livetin
Mayonnaise
Meringue
Ovalbumin
Ovomucin
Ovomucoid
Ovovitellin

*So I have to skip over recipes that call for egg yolks or egg whites, but if there is a baking recipe that includes egg..the whole egg...there is a powdered egg alternative or baking powder.  In which I will go into more detail in my next informative post.

Source: adapted from, The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book



~ Thursday, March 1, 2012 0 comments