Pumpkin Scones

Starbucks Pumpkin Scones have been a favorite treat of mine for
10+ years. A few years ago my daughter tried them and also fell in love. Being the person that I am, I naturally searched online for a recipe I could make at home, so I didn't have to buy the scones at Starbucks (which I rarely did). I found a recipe here: I've been using it for almost three years now, my family loves it, my co-workers love it, so needless to say, it's a keeper. I modify it slightly, which I will comment on in (parenthesis) below. I ended up tripling the recipe so I'd have some to take to work with me, and some to freeze (I just froze the dough.)

Yield: 6 scones

Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

7 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

6 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons half-and-half

1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

Spiced Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk (I use half and half)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pinch ginger

1 pinch ground cloves

Directions:

TO MAKE THE SCONES:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.

Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. (I NEVER do this, I just use a spoon and plop the dough down on the baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, they end up being roundish, not triangular, but I can live with it.)

Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 14 -16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE (I don’t make this, I only make the spiced glaze)

Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp. milk together until smooth.

When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:

Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/starbucks-pumpkin-scones-214051#ixzz1jS9aUsyg

Starting Over, from Scratch

I can't believe it's been two years, almost to the date since I last blogged on here!
Lately I've been trying to cook and bake as much as possible from scratch. This includes making my own marinades and sauces, some breads and snacks. Why, you might ask? The main reason is for health, there are SO many chemicals and preservatives (yes, I know preservatives are chemicals) in most of the food on the grocery store shelf. Budget also plays a role in this equation, it is much more cost effective to bake from scratch.

Time is the third piece to the puzzle, since starting a Masters program in October 2011 I have been busier than ever! I work full time, have a husband and a 9 year old daughter, thus my days an nights are pretty booked. It is so nice to have my meals all planned out for the month, with most of them already prepped and ready to go in the freezer. I'll blog more about that another day. For today I'll share a recipe with you for Sweet and Salty granola bars. My daughter loves the sweet and salty granola bars from Quaker, but they are SO expensive in the 'regular' grocery store and I no longer have a Costco membership. I searched the internet to try and find a comparable recipe but didn't have much luck, so I ended up combining two recipes found here and here.
Mary's Sweet and Salty Granola Bars

• 3/4 cup peanut butter, preferably natural
• 4 tbsp butter
  
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups mini pretzels
• 3 1/2 cups *toasted oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used half peanuts and half cashews)
• 2/3 cup melted butter
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
  
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
  

*To toast the oats, put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Line a 13" x 9" baking pan with parchment paper.

In a sauce pan melt the 4 tbsp butter, add the 3/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup honey and 1 tsp vanilla extract, stir over medium low heat for about 10 minutes, or until completely mixed. Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Put the mini pretzels on top of the mixture (see picture).

In a large bowl mix oats, brown sugar, chopped nuts, chocolate chips,
egg, honey, melted butter, vanilla extract and salt. Put this mixture
on top of the pretzel mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let cool before cutting.


They turned out really good! They don't taste anything like
the Quaker ones, but I'm happy with the result. I would maybe add a little less chocolate chips next time, since they are really sweet.

Let me know if you try out the recipe!