Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast

homemade cream of tomato soup

It is a perfect tomato soup sorta day. What kind of day is that? Anytime your mind wanders to a period in your life when a happy memory is paired with a bowl of tomato soup. It may be a can of Campbell's soup or a made-from-scratch variety.

For me, it is not the tomato soup made with water that was served in my junior high school cafeteria. It is my mother's soup that she made from canned tomatoes grown in her garden and milk fresh from our cows. It is also the chunky, creamy tomato soup served only on Fridays at Westside Cafe in Brainerd (Minnesota). Dick and I would call ahead and reserve two bowls if we thought the soup might be gone before we arrived. We'd always order a grilled cheese to go along. The cafe has been closed for several years and, sadly, I neglected to ask my mother how she made hers before she died. Thus began my search for a recipe to replicate the tomato soup embedded in my memory. I have tried many recipes in my persistent quest. This recipe is it!

The recipe, which uses canned diced tomatoes, states to pour the soup through a strainer before serving to remove the tomato chunks. Why?! That's just a waste of good tomatoes. The first photo shows the soup with tomato chunks. It was good, but not quite there. The second photo is after I whirled it in a blender... tomato chunks and all. Perfectly yummy! The third photo below shows a combination of the two that I made by blending half of it then added it back into the chunky portion. The result was exactly like the Westside Cafe version! Whether you choose the pureed version or the pureed/chunky combo, you will never open a red can of Campbell's tomato soup again. I am sure of it.

Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup

Makes 12 cups (8 - 1 ½ cup servings).

5 tbsp butter (I used 2 tbsp.)

½ cup chopped onion

4 tbsp flour (I used 2 tbsp because pureeing it in a blender thickens it.)

4 cups milk (I used whole milk.)

½ bay leaf (I used 1 whole bay leaf.)

1 ½ tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda* (I used 1 tsp because I doubled the amount of tomatoes.)

3 6 cups fresh or canned tomatoes (I used 2 – 28 oz cans diced tomatoes plus the juice.)

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook until the onion is soft and translucent but not browned. Sprinkle the flour over the butter mixture and continue to stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. (Because I reduced the butter, the flour will burn if you cook it that long.) While stirring, slowly pour in the milk. Add the bay leaf, sugar, and salt and continue to cook and stir until slightly thickened. (You’ll only see a slight thickening action because I reduced the amount of flour, so I heated it only hot enough for serving. Do not simmer or boil.) Stir the baking soda into the tomatoes. It will fizz. Add the tomatoes to the milk and bring it back up to serving temperature. Remove from heat and put through a strainer. (If you want a smooth consistency, allow to cool, then puree in a blender. Another option is to puree half of it, then add it back into the chunky soup in the pot.) *Adding baking soda to tomatoes neutralizes their acidity to keep the milk from curdling.

 

 

granola alton brown

After I shared a facebook link to my Alton Brown shepherd's pie blog post yesterday, my niece Sheree expressed her love of this Food Network star's recipes, as well. She had most recently made his granola for Christmas gifts. That's all it took. I was off to the kitchen. That quick. It happens. The smell of the buttery, nutty, sweet mixture wafting from the oven into the far corners of each room in our house. Oh, the love. Keep your recipes coming, Alton.

1) I chose to use Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli instead of oatmeal because... well, the ingredients speak for themselves: rolled oats, wheat, rye, triticale, and barley along with raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds, and walnuts. To avoid drying out the raisins and dates, I removed them from the muesli prior to baking 2) Dry ingredients (oatmeal or muesli, additional walnuts and almonds, and brown sugar) are mixed together. 3) Maple syrup, butter, and salt are combined with grain, seed, and nut mixture. 4) Dried fruit and coconut is stirred in post baking.

Granola Alton Brown

Makes 6 servings.

3 cups rolled oats (I used 1 cup rolled oats and 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli with the raisins and dates removed and set aside to be added after baking granola.)

1 cup slivered almonds (I used sliced almonds.)

1 cup cashews (I used chopped walnuts.)

¼ cup + 2 tbsp dark brown sugar (I used ¼ cup.)

¾ cup shredded sweetened coconut (I used ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut + ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes and added it post baking.)

¼ cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup (I used ¼ cup.)

¼ cup oil (I used butter.)

¾ tsp sea salt

1 cup raisins (I placed the muesli’s raisins and dates in a 1-cup measuring cup then filled it level with additional raisins.)

Preheat oven to 250°. In a large bowl, combine oats or muesli, nuts, brown sugar, and coconut. (I added coconut post baking instead.) In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil (or butter), and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto a sheet pan. (I lined it with natural parchment paper.) Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Add raisins (and coconut if it wasn’t added prebaking) and mix until evenly distributed.

shepherd's pie alton brown

For no apparent reason, Dick requested shepherd's pie. I don't remember when I last made it, so I went straight to Alton Brown on the Food Network web site for a recipe. Alton has never let me down. He came through again. The marriage of chicken broth, rosemary, and thyme... amazing flavor! Since the dish was rather spur-of-the-moment, I used ingredients on hand. This meant subbing ground beef for lamb which doesn't seem right. It is shepherd's pie, afterall. Next time.

1)cubed potatoes cooking 2)diced carrots and onions sautéing 3)veggie scraps to be composted 4)meat and veggies simmering 5) mashing potatoes 6) potato scoops to be spread... or not

Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 8.

For the potatoes:

1 ½ lbs russet potatoes

¼ cup half-and-half (I used milk.)

4 tbsp 2 tbsp unsalted butter

¾ tsp salt (I used sea salt.)

¼ tsp black pepper

1 egg yolk (I omitted.)

For the meat filling:

2 1 tbsp oil

1 cup diced onion

2 carrots, peeled and diced (Normally I use unpeeled carrots, but the two that lay hidden in the bottom of my fridge’s crisper drawer needed some grooming.)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ lbs ground lamb

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tsp 1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup chicken broth

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce Bragg liquid aminos

2 tsp freshly chopped rosemary leaves (I used 1 tsp dried rosemary.)

1 tsp freshly chopped thyme leaves (I used ½ tsp dried thyme.)

½ cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

½ cup fresh or frozen peas

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and cut into ½-inch cubes. (I used scrubbed, unpeeled potatoes.) Cook in a pan with a little water until fork tender, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Sauté the onion and carrots in oil until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb (or beef), salt, and pepper and cook until the meat is thoroughly cooked and slightly browned. Sprinkle the meat with flour and toss to coat. Stir in the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire (or Bragg liquid aminos), rosemary, and thyme. Add the frozen veggies and simmer and simmer 10 to 12 minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened and the carrots, corn, and peas are tender but not mushy. Meanwhile, drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. (I use just enough water so that it has just barely evaporated when the potatoes are cooked through leaving no water to drain.) Mash the potatoes and then add the half-and-half (or milk), butter, salt, and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk (if using) until well combined. Top the meat filling with scoops of mashed potatoes. (There are just enough potatoes to make eight mounds using an ice cream scoop.) Spread the potato mounds with a spatula, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up or leave the scoops as is. Bake in a 375° oven for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. (We just dug in.)

dried fruit cake

When my youngest daughter, Jessica, arrived tonight to stay a few days over Christmas, I directed her to the fridge where there was a small pan of leftover lentil soup for her to heat up. I also placed a loaf of what I told her was "dried fruit nut bread" on a cutting board to accompany the soup. Looking upon it, she said,"It's not that icky bread that people make at Christmas, is it?" Me: "You mean fruit cake?" Jessica: "Ya, that." Me: No response. I just wanted her to taste my fruit cake before she passed judgement on this Christmas tradition that is oft a butt of jokes. Afterall, the recipe triggered a memory... as food often does. I wanted her to be part of that memory, because she was. Tucked into my recipe box for 25 years or so, handwritten, passed down over three generations... grandmother to mother to daughter, a traditional citron fruit cake recipe. Not my family's recipe. No. But a family's special recipe nonetheless. I first tasted it during a Christmas season so very many years ago when, with my young daughters in tow, I went to First Federal in Brainerd (Minnesota) to do what it is that one does at a bank. In the spirit of the season, that December day, there were home baked goodies for bank patrons to sample. They were beautifully, enticingly arranged atop a cloth-lined table in the bank's lobby. An employee had made a fruit cake for the occasion but had subbed colorful, chopped gumdrops for the citron. Tasting it, I imagined what Edmund in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe must have experienced when he began to eat the Turkish Delight that the White Witch had provided him. I complimented the baker and asked if she might be willing to share the recipe. She kindly did so. It has a note at the bottom of p. 2 from her mother that adds a personal touch that handwritten recipes do. "Thanks for your letter. Will write later. Am taking Grandpa to the doctor, but wanted you to get this. Love, Mom"             Sweet.    

  

It's the fruit cake's citron that makes it distasteful to some, I am convinced. Simple solution... switch out the citron (candied citrus fruit rind) for gumdrops or dried fruit like dark and golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, dates, pineapple, and apricots. It doesn't seem right to eliminate the citron and still call it fruit cake, yet... 

1. aroma of spices wafting from the sifter... 2. dried fruit and nuts 3. parchment-lined foil loaf pans 4. dried fruit cake batter

 

Dried Fruit Cake

(I reduced the original quantities in the entire recipe by half and reduced some quantities even further to make it cleaner.)

1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce

½ cup lard ¼ cup butter

1 cup ½ cup sugar

Mix and heat over low setting until butter melts. Let stand overnight. I allowed it to cool while I prepared the remaining ingredients. In a large bowl, sift or whisk the following ingredients together. Prepare pans by lining them with natural parchment paper. (See photo above.) I used three EZ Foil loaf pans size 5 ¾ inch X 3 ¼ inch that each hold 1 ¼ cups batter .

2 ¼ cups flour

2 tsp soda

½ tsp nutmeg

1 ¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp salt

Mix the following dried fruit into the dry mixture.  I chose, instead, to add it to the applesauce mixture. Flour gets lodged in the crevices of raisins and dried cranberries. The annoying white spots cause the end product to not look as pretty.

½ cup citron

¼ cup diced dried pineapple

¼ cup dried cherries (I subbed cranberries.)

1 cup dark raisins (I subbed ¼ cup diced dates.)

1 cup golden raisins (I omitted.)

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. 1 ¼ cups batter in each parchment-lined pan perfectly fills them 3/4 full. Since I chose to use a much smaller size pan than what was used in the original recipe, I referred to my “little helper” chart to adjust the oven temperature  and baking time, so… if using small foil pans as I did, bake at 350° for approximately 35 minutes instead of 325° for 1 ½ hours as the original recipe states. After removing fruit cake from oven and testing for doneness with a toothpick, use parchment paper flaps to lift from pan onto a cooling rack.

sugar plums

Twas the night before Christmas... 

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Have you ever wondered what sugar plums are? A sugar plum is made of any combo of dried fruit such as plums (prunes), figs, apricots, dates, or cherries and shaped in a small round or oval shape. (At one time, "plum" denoted any dried fruit.) The finely chopped dried fruit is combined with chopped nuts and aromatic spices, rolled into balls, and often coated in sugar or shredded coconut.  Until today, I hadn't realized that I have made several varieties of sugar plums such as these Pecan Spice Delights

Date Bran Jingle Balls

Pumpkin Seed Oat Energy Bites

and Nutty Fruity Bars which could easily be formed into balls.

Although the Date Bran Jingle Balls, Pumpkin Seed Oat Energy Bites, and Nutty Fruity Bars don't exhibit as many of the sugar plum attributes as the Pecan Spice Delights, I think they could still conjure up visions dancing in children's heads as they slumber on Christmas Eve.

beet ice cream

Yesterday's Quinoa Beet Pancakes resulted in extra beet puree. What's a girl to do? Make beet ice cream, of course! I combined steps from four different recipe's to create this luscious, creamy treat.  

Far and above, the most important step that I have discovered in the ice cream making process is tempering the egg yolks to prevent scrambled eggs. These things I know... just believe. Tempering is done by gradually whisking some of the hot liquid into the yolks. When the cooked custard begins to thicken as the ice cream maker churns, it is a thing of beauty. My heart leaps at the sight. In the recipe's directions, I have suggested purchasing beet juice as a time saver instead of juicing beets. Biotta, a USDA certified organic brand, is available in my local grocery store's natural/organic foods section. It may also be purchased through vitacost.com.

Beet Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart.

1 scant cup of roasted puréed beets

1 2/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

½ cup 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

To roast the beets, preheat oven to 375° and place approximately 4-5 firm, scrubbed, unpeeled beets into a baking dish. Add about ½ cup water.  Cover with a lid. If baking dish has no lid, cover it with aluminum foil. Covering veggies when roasting causes them to roast more evenly. Smaller beets take about 25 minutes. Larger and older beets can take up to an hour. When beets are fork tender, allow them to cool enough to handle, then slip their peels off using a paring knife or by rubbing them with your fingers or a paper towel. Cut the beets into quarters and purée in a food processor.

To make the custard, heat the cream, milk, and beet purée (or beet pulp*) in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan until it just barely comes to a simmer. Remove pan from the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 2 tbsp sugar and prepare an ice bath by setting a medium bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice water. After the steeping time has elapsed, strain the liquid to separate out the beet solids and return it to the saucepan. Add 1/3 cup sugar. Bring to a simmer stirring to dissolve the sugar. Very slowly, pour some (about 1/3 to  ½) of the hot cream mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks while whisking constantly until the temperature of the yolks is closer to that of the cream. This is a very important step to avoid scrambled eggs. Pour the tempered yolk mixture back into the saucepan. Stir continually over medium-low heat until the temperature registers 170° - 185° on a digital thermometer and the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer into the bowl set over the ice bath. Let cool for 30 minutes in the ice bath, then place the mixture into the fridge. Once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours until it registers 40° or below on a digital thermometer. Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This should take approximately 25-35 minutes. Serve immediately for soft serve or place in freezer for 3-4 hours to allow ice cream to harden.

*An alternative method to puréeing beets is to put raw beets through a vegetable juicer until you get about 1 cup of beet juice. Simmer the juice in a shallow saucepan over medium-low heat until it reduces to approximately ¼ cup. The beet juice reduction’s flavor is more intense and sweeter than its original state. Add the beet juice just prior to pouring the cooked custard through a fine-mesh strainer into the bowl set over the ice bath. Use the pulp byproduct in place of the beet purée in recipe.

For a milder flavored ice cream but still deeply magenta-colored, add the beet juice reduction but not the pulp. If you have no juicer, or want to cut prep time, a bottled beet juice may be purchased.

quinoa beet pancakes

Buried deep within Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain Cookbook, which I highly recommend to include in your collection as it encourages the use of alternative grains, I discovered a recipe for pancakes using quinoa flour and beets. As someone whose stomach once upon a time tumbled at the smell of cooked beets, my palette has seriously matured to even consider pancakes with beets as a main ingredient. Sounding strange enough to give it a whirl, I set about gathering my ingredients direct from the source as in Tomie dePaola's Pancakes for Breakfast. It is a wordless children's book about the humorous troubles a plump old lady encounters trying to make pancakes from scratch.  

I ground heirloom red quinoa and whole wheat into flour using my grain mill, gathered eggs, purchased raw unpasteurized nonhomogenized milk and cream from a local farmer, made sour cream to use for making cultured butter, whirled the sour cream in my mini food processor until the butterfat separated from the liquid and turned into butter, made homemade yogurt, and purchased Grade B syrup (darker color with a bit stronger flavor) tapped from local maple trees. (If you've been wanting to learn how to harvest your own maple syrup, my daughter Heather created free printables detailing how her family collects maple sap on their homestead and makes it into syrup. The charts make lovely fall, winter, or spring wall art, too.)        

If you see absolutely no point in reinacting the Pancakes for Breakfast story, here are some shortcuts. Bob's Red Mill produces quinoa flour. The remaining ingredients are available at any grocery store. What's left is to roast, peel, and purée beets that will make the most beautiful magenta pancake batter ever to be seen... 

and pancakes in a hue unlike any you have ever seen on your plate. If one is oblivious to the pancakes's ingredients, you'd be hard pressed to detect the beets. 

Quinoa Beet Pancakes

Makes 16 pancakes.

3 medium-small red beets (Hmmm… orange beets might be fun, too.)

Dry Mix:

½ cup quinoa flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour I used 1 ½ cups w.w. pastry flour.

3 tbsp dark brown sugar I used 2 tbsp rapadura.

1 tbsp baking powder I used 1 tsp baking powder + ½ tsp soda.

¾ tsp salt

Wet Mix:

1 ½ cups whole milk

1/3 cup plain yogurt

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 egg *See note.

Preheat oven to 400°. Place the beets in a glass baking dish with about ½ cup water in the bottom. Cover and roast until very tender, about 1 hour. Cool, peel, and purée the beets in a food processor or blender until smooth. You will need ½ cup of beet purée (any remaining purée can be refrigerated or frozen). Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back into the bowl any bits of grain or other ingredients that may remain in the sifter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt, melted butter, egg, and ½ cup of beet purée until smooth. (*Note: I learned a mixing trick from Molly Wizenberg via her delightful cookbook, A Homemade Life. Rather than adding the melted butter directly to the wet ingredients, separate the egg and mix the yolk with the melted butter in a Pyrex custard cup then add it to the wet ingredients along with the egg white. It helps the butter to better incorporate into the batter, making for a more even-textured pancake.) Using a spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently combine. Heat a 10-inch cast iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Rub the pan generously with butter; this is the key to crisp edges. Working quickly, dollop ¼ cup mounds of batter onto the pan. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top of the pancake, flip it over and cook until the bottom is dark golden brown, about 5 minutes. Wipe the pan with a cloth before griddling the next batch. Rub the pan with butter and continue with the rest of the batter. If the pan is too hot or not hot enough, adjust the heat accordingly to keep the results consistent.

pumpkin harvest smoothie

I couldn't begin tell you where my blog hopping began. I don't have a clue. It wasn't a search for smoothies or a drinking straw pennant, but when I spied both on Lesley's Homemade Grits blog, it stopped me in my tracks. Inserted into her "only slightly adapted" version of a pumpkin smoothie that she had gleaned from Angela's Oh She Glows blog... that I am now sharing with my very slight adaptation... was a straw topper that was so dang cute, well I just had to make one. Besides garnering a new recipe and a straw topper, my blog hopping sidetrip turned up a what a small world it is... we are so connected to each other moment. Upon camping out a while on Lesley's blog, I discovered that she had stayed in Serenbe, an idyllic community 35 miles southwest of Atlanta, with her family on Monday, October 17, 2011. We missed crossing paths by three weeks, as Dick and I arrived in Serenbe three weeks later on Monday, November 7, 2011 to stay for two nights. I so enjoyed revisiting Serenbe through her photos. I will share mine in tomorrow's post.

Pumpkin Harvest Smoothie

Yield: one 2-cup serving

1 cup milk (almond, rice, cow, goat… whatever)

¼ cup oatmeal (I omitted. It’s just me. I opted for a bowl of cooked oatmeal.)

1 tbsp chia seeds

½ cup pureed pumpkin

1 tbsp blackstrap molasses*

1 frozen banana

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

pinch nutmeg

ice, if desired

Soak the oats, milk, and chia seeds for at least an hour or overnight. This aids digestion and creates a smoother consistency. If omitting the oats, five minutes is sufficient to soak the chia seeds. Place all ingredients into a blender and whirl until all ingredients are incorporated. Add ice, if desired.  (As a garnish, I sprinkled raw pumpkin seeds, and candied ginger cut into thin matchsticks on top.) *Blackstrap molasses are a good source of iron, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, and magnesium.

maple pumpkin custard

This morning I had made maple pumpkin custard  that was chilling in the fridge and had just begun preparing a pot of split pea soup for lunch when my cousin Keith and his wife, Cathy, called to ask Dick and I to meet them for lunch. Instead, I invited them to our table. This is a mega easy meal that requires minimal prep. The soup simmers on the stove while the custard bakes and its spicy aroma fills every corner in the house.  

Maple Pumpkin Custard

1 ½ cups milk

4 large eggs

¾ cup maple syrup (I used ¼ cup maple syrup + ¼ cup Rapadura.)

¾ cup canned unseasoned pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325°. Put a kettle of water on to heat for the water bath. Line a roasting pan or 9X13 cake pan with a folded kitchen towel. Heat the milk over low heat in a small saucepan until barely steaming but not boiling. Whisk eggs and syrup in a large bowl until smooth. Gently whisk in the warm milk a little bit at a time so the eggs don’t cook. Add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; whisk until blended. After thoroughly mixed, gently stir to encourage the surface bubbles to dissipate so the post baked custard's surface is smooth rather than dotted with holes. Divide the mixture among six 6-ounce (¾-cup) custard cups. Place custard cups in the prepared pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard cups. Place the pan in the oven and bake, uncovered, 45 to 50 minutes until custards are just set but still quiver in the center when shaken. Transfer custards to a wire rack and let cool for 45 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until chilled. To serve, top each custard with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of crystallized ginger. (I had no whipping cream on hand, so, in addition to the crystallized ginger sliced into matchsticks, I topped each custard with a few pumpkin seeds for an autumn touch.)

chai spice scones with candied ginger

              

It all began with a guest's request for a gluten-free breakfast which led me to a box of gluten-free Simply Organic Chai Spice Scone Mix sitting right there on our local food co-op's store shelf.

 

 

Let me just say that all gluten-free products are not created equal. This one, however, is a definite keeper. A boxed mix, however, is dependent upon the store's restocking the product. This leads me to my discovery of a recipe that tastes very similar to this mix version, although it is not gluten-free. A Google search turned up an amazing Chai Spice Scone With Candied Ginger recipe from a bakingbites.com submission. The spices... cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, coriander, and nutmeg. The autumn color. Light and tender. Half the fat of traditional scones. Perfect.

 

Chai Spice Scones with Candied Ginger

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour.)

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cardamom

¼ tsp coriander

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ cup cold butter cut into pieces (I used ¼ cup… perfect.)

½ cup milk

½ tsp almond extract

1/3 cup finely chopped candied ginger

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with natural parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, mix butter into dry ingredients until it is pea-size. Mix together milk and almond extract, then add to flour mixture. Stir until dough just starts to come together. Stir in candied ginger. Dough should be thick and slightly sticky, not dry. On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a large circle about ¾ to 1-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges and arrange on baking sheet, allowing room to spread. Bake for about 15 minutes until scones are lightly browned. (Don’t be tempted to bake longer than a couple more minutes, if you think it’s needed, as they will be too dry.) Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before glazing. (Following is a cream cheese glaze that was included with this scone recipe. However, I just made a quick glaze of powdered sugar, a couple drops of almond extract, and a little drizzle of milk… just enough so it’s thick but runs off the end of a spoon. I topped each scone with a few sliced almonds.)

 Cream Cheese Glaze

2 oz cream cheese, softened

3 tbsp butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

Beat together all ingredients until very smooth. Drizzle over scones.