Lemon Raisin Scones Using Homemade Baking Mix

So I have a weird fear. It's a fear that I've had as far back as I was 18 and hasn't gotten much better. I hate voting in person. I know it's sounds weird, but as soon as I was old enough to vote I voted by absentee. Since I grew up in Washington I never had to have a reason to want an absentee ballot. Now that I live in the state of WV it's another story. You can't vote by absentee unless you have a reason. I would love to say that I have voted in every election and am a great citizen even though I have a panic attack every time I try to vote in person. I don't. I vote in presidential elections, but in-between I am not a great voter. My kids are growing up already going with my husband to vote, and love going to the court house to early vote like they did today. I'm hoping that they will grow up without my anxiety associated with voting. I inherited it from my father and having the behavior stop with me would be a  good thing. It's a weird fear, but I hope by sharing it that other people that share my anxiety will feel a little less alone.

So I shared a homemade baking mix last week that can be used for a variety of baked goods. My kids are in love with the baking mix since it can be used for pancakes, scones, biscuits, you name it. Pretty much anything you could use Bisquick for, except that this mix has fresh butter in it. Here is a recipe for Lemon Raisin Scones using Homemade Baking Mix.

Lemon Raisin Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups homemade baking mix
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup chopped raisins
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Cooking Directions

1. Combine baking mix, granulated sugar, raisins, and zest.
2. In a separate bowl combine cream and egg.
3. Stir into dry mixture until it comes together.
4. Add more cream if neccessary.
5. Hand pat into a 6 inch round.
6. Cut into 8 wedges.
7. Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.
9. Let cool on a wire rack.

Tips: 

• If the mixture doesn't come together well, add more cream. Keep adding cream until a usable dough comes together. 
• Try not to overwork the dough. The less the dough is worked the fluffier your scones will be. 
• If you don't like raisins, Craisins would also work. 

Cream Scones with Strawberries

Cream Scone with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

I miss having tea with my mother. From the time I was 10 we would go to tea at one of the fancy hotels in downtown Seattle. They had a full high tea and it was fabulous. We would dress up, eat cucumber sandwiches and talk. After I had a job I paid for my mother and I to stay at the Empress hotel in Victoria (BC) and we had high tea. If you have never been it is a great and beautiful experience and one of the favorite memories I have of my mother. After my mother passed away my aunt sent me the teacups that had been my grandmothers. I keep them in a special cupboard and a couple of times a year I take them out and have tea. Last year my boys joined me and it felt complete, my mother would be smiling. There are certain foods that I always associate with having tea. Tea and scones go hand in hand to me, I love them. I am constantly experimenting with new scone recipes and this week I tried a new recipe for Cream Scones from Martha Stewart Living.

Downtown Huntington, WV From Marshall University Campus

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 scones. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I always freeze my butter when making scones. It helps to keep the butter from melting while it is being handled and makes for richer scones. Make sure to minimally blend the dough. Just mix until it comes together and hand pat the dough before cutting out the scones. The less you touch the dough, the better the texture and it keeps the butter from melting. I chose to serve half of these scones with cut up strawberries which I tossed with a bit of sugar and real whipped cream.

Downtown Huntington, WV

My two boys loved this recipe. I think they ate 4 of the scones as soon as they came out of the oven. Obviously I did not eat any of them, gluten free scones are just not as delicious. Before anyone disagrees I promise I have tried a ton of recipes, bakeries etc and they just aren't as good as regular flour. These scones were great though and made nice strawberry shortcake. They were also delicious with jam for breakfast.

For the recipe go to Cream Scones.

Cream Scones with Strawberries

Recipe Type: Breakfast

Summary:

A simple cream scones recipe that also make great strawberry shortcake. Only 30 minutes start to finish.

Preparation Time: 0h, 10m

Cooking Time: 0h, 20m

Total Time: 0h, 30m

Yield: Serves 8

Summer At It's Best: Homemade Strawberry Scones

Gluten Free Strawberry Scones

I am attempting to convince my dad to move to West Virginia. If you've read my blog for any given amount of time you will know that I don't talk about my dad often. It's not for a lack of devotion, but more about him being the only parent I have left. My mother died of brain cancer 2500 miles away from me when my oldest was 9 days old. She was only sick for about a year and I was pregnant almost the whole time. The reason I had my oldest son as young as I did was to try to make sure my mother met a grandchild before she became too ill. I strongly believe she lasted until he was born from sheer will power. My dad and I were always extremely close growing-up. He raised me as if I were a boy, we went to sports games, he taught me to throw a punch. I have never really been a girly girl thanks to him, but I am a very strong and opinionated adult woman. In January he went into kidney failure after refusing to go to the doctor for almost 20 years. He spent 2 months in the hospital 2500 miles away from me. I called him 3 times a day and all the hospital staff knew me by name from all my phone calls. He is now home and starting dialysis this week. Since my mother passed away he has lived by himself in an over priced one bedroom apartment. So everyday when I call him I remind him of how great my state is. Yesterday I finally felt a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I mentioned that he could take the train to Chicago and we could meet him and take the train all together the rest of the way. After a pause he said he would look into it. It's a start. My mother loved going to tea and most importantly delicious scones. Thinking of her I made a new recipe for Strawberry Scones from the May 2013 issue of Parade Magazine.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. I takes a total time of 30 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. I made two batches of these, one gluten free and one regular. I found with both batches that they weren't very sweet. Now traditional scones are meant to not be very sweet. I am spoiled though and love a little bit of sugar in my scones since that is how my mother prepared them. If you are like me I would suggest doubling the amount of sugar to 6 tablespoons. Make sure to watch the scones, they will brown very quickly at the end and then start to burn on the bottom if you aren't careful. With the gluten free scones I would recommend adding even a little bit more sugar if you are using a gluten free all-purpose flour or better yet use coconut flour. Without the added sugar the gluten free scones had a slightly bitter taste. Finally, if you like lots of fruit in your scones I would double the amount of strawberries. I like my scones filled with strawberries so I added a lot more than the original recipe stated.

When these scones were slathered with homemade jam they were great. Without jam I found them a little low on fruit and the gluten free ones weren't sweet enough. If you eat them with jam they have the right amount of sugar though. My kids thought these were a little crumby since they had eggs. Traditional scones just have butter and heavy cream. I would consider these more of a biscuit.

For the recipe go to Strawberry Scones.

Breakfast From Your Herb Garden: Cinnamon Basil and Blackberry Scones

Gluten Free Cinnamon Basil Blackberry Scones

As many of you have read my herb garden disappeared off my porch last week. At first I was angry and then I called my mother-in-law. She has heard many of my grips over the years and she is always a reassuring presence when I am upset. When my mother passed away 9 days after my oldest was born she quickly stepped in as my support system and has remained there ever since. Immediately after hearing about the theft of my herbs she headed to the Farmer's market. She showed up at my house with a big herb pot overflowing with herbs. Somehow she had gotten the whole pot for 5 dollars. Never underestimate the ability of a West Virginian woman to be able to haggle, it really is an art. She apparently also shared the theft of my herbs to everyone selling plants and came to my house with more than enough plants to start a great new garden plus the pot that was already started. The man that sold the herb garden that was already potted had done a great job starting the pot, but it needed to be cut back, trained and nothing was labeled. So that has been my pet project this week. I have Googled and learned more about uses for herbs than I ever knew before. It turns out that I have over 15 different herbs in the pot, some of which I have never used before. So this week you will be seeing a lot of recipes using fresh herbs. This morning I tried a new recipe for Blackberry Scones with Cinnamon Basil.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. The largest change I made was to use gluten free all purpose flour. I did not add the salt since I find with gluten free flour I do not need it. The second biggest change that I made was to greatly reduce the amount of butter. The original recipe uses 1 1/4 cups of butter. While this would be delicious, it would be too much butter for gluten free baking (gluten free recipes tend to need the butter reduced). I also wanted to make it a better breakfast option and reducing the butter to one stick (1/2 cup) allowed for far less total fat content. In addition I used non-fat Greek yogurt. Finally, my dough was a lot stickier than the pictures in the original post. This is normal for gluten free baking, just make sure to roll the blackberries in a small amount of flour before adding them to the batter to keep them from bleeding and turning the dough purple.

My husband loved these. Since I made so many changes they are basically biscuits, not traditional scones. However, even my kids loved the scones and didn't notice that they were eating basil in a breakfast food. I would suggest that using strawberries would be an even better flavor combination. There is something about strawberries and basil that seem to go hand in hand. Overall, this recipe was a great way to use fresh herbs and could be changed to include other types of basil or berries.

For the recipe go to Blackberry Scones with Cinnamon Basil.

Cream Scones with Dried Pomegranates

Growing up my mother was obsessed with high tea. She collected tea cups, tea pots and hosted tea parties at our house. These weren't little parties either. She would spend hours making tea sandwiches, cookies and most importantly scones. Everything always had to be just right. These were also not jeans and t-shirt affairs. My mother would sew me beautiful dresses to wear to these parties, spending hours making sure everything was just right. As I got older we would spend hours at second hand stores looking for vintage dresses and coats. Then we would dress-up and go to high tea at the Four Seasons in downtown Seattle. It always felt so special and fun and I loved spending the time with my mother. One of my favorite memories of my mom was when I was able to pay for an entire trip for the two of us to Victoria, BC. I was in college and working more than part-time. I saved up as much money as I could after rent etc. and paid for the entire trip. We had a great time and the highlight was tea at the Empress Hotel. It was perfect, the food, atmosphere and most importantly the happiness reflected on my mom's face. I love these memories and every time I make scones for my children I remember my mother. Recently I tried a new recipe for Cream Scones from Everyday Food magazine, which I hoped would be as good as the ones my mother made growing-up.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make one major modification. The super store in my area has decided to stop carrying currants, so instead of going to another store I substituted dried pomegranates. The only other change that I made was to use organic butter, I prefer organic butter, eggs and milk, especially for my two boys. I chose not to add sanding sugar to the top of the scones, I prefer the taste without it. Finally, make sure to rotate the pans halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These scones turned out very well. They had a nice flaky texture and the dried pomegranates worked perfectly. While I love currants, I thought substituting pomegranates was a nice change from my usual routine. I enjoyed my scone with a cup of coffee and it was delicious. Perfect for afternoon tea (or coffee) or anytime of the day.

For the recipe go to Cream Scones.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

I am finally back home after visiting family for the last week. You may have noticed if you follow me on social media that I have been posting a large number of West Virginia photos. My family had a great time going on hikes, parades and visiting parts of the state that we had only been to a few times previously. Now comes the chaos of school starting next Monday. I can't believe how fast this summer has gone. My oldest is nervous and excited about starting first grade, I am just looking forward to being back down to one child during the day. So this is the week that we are getting our breakfast and sleeping routines back in order. I have gotten much better about at least eating something for breakfast everyday and this morning I tried a new recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones from the July issue of All You magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of bake time and makes 12 scones. This recipe was very straight forward and I made very few modifications. I have switched over to using organic butter and that is what I used in this recipe. For the orange juice I used fresh squeezed, the flavor is better and the price is low. I did make a few changes to the baking. Before the scones went into the oven I brushed the tops with heavy cream. I always do this with scones, it helps to brown the tops and gives the scones a nice flavor. I found that my scones took the full 15 minutes to fully brown on the top and bottom. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I am a huge scone fan. My mother loved going to high tea when I was in my teens and the tradition has rubbed off on me. I love baking fresh scones and sitting down with a great cup of coffee (or tea). Even if I only get to relax for a few seconds, I relish those moments. This recipe has a nice orange flavor without being overpowering and my two boys loved the scones. They ate the entire batch before dinner. I love how easy these are to put together and shaping the scones in a cake pan was a great idea! This is a recipe I would make again for tea, breakfast or any time of the day.

For the recipe go to Cranberry-Orange Scones.

Raisin Scones

I have a serious soft spot for scones. It steams from my mother who collected antique tea pots and tea cups. When I became a teenager we would go to high tea at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Seattle. We would go all out, it wasn't jeans and t-shirts, I would dress in vintage Gunny Sack dresses (which are great if you have never worn one, love them!) and we would make a whole day of the event. Once I started working I decided to take my mom to Victoria, BC and to the Empress Hotel. She had read about their high tea for years and she was so excited. We had a great time and the weekend that we spent is one of my favorite memories. When my mother passed away my oldest was only nine days old and I was unable to go home. One of my aunts saved my mother's two favorite tea cups before they were scooped up by other family members and carefully shipped them across the country to my house. I am forever grateful to my aunt for this act. You can see the two tea cups on the corner of the photo. With all these memories tied to high tea and my mother scones are one of my greatest reminders of these times. Last week I tried a new recipe for Raisin Scones, which looked very simple and perfect for an afternoon tea at home with my two boys.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time and makes 12 to 14 scones. I did make a few modifications. I have never used a pastry blender or two knives for my biscuits or scones. Instead I use my hands, making sure to only break the butter into pea size pieces and not to overly handle the dough. Over-handling the dough results in tough scones that stay flat when baked. When cutting out the scones make sure to twist the biscuit cutter. This twisting allows the edges to bake correctly in the oven. Avoid having to re-work the dough frequently; try to space the scones close to one another when cutting them out to avoid making the dough tough. To brush the top of the scones with the egg wash I use a silicon pastry brush. I love using silicon brushes, they are great for a variety of baked goods and make a beautiful finish on scones and bread.

My two boys ate three of these scones as soon as they were out of the oven. They have a nice taste, without being overly sweet and are very simple. I would recommend eating these scones within a day of baking. Scones really are best when warm and go stale quickly. This is definitely a recipe I would make again!

For the recipe go to Raisin Scones.

Woman's Day Easy Scones

As I've stated before I am horrible about eating breakfast. Most mornings I grab a cup of coffee and nothing else until lunch. The one exception is if I have baked scones. I love scones and they are one of the few breakfast foods that I will always eat. Since I make scones approximately once a month, I am always looking for new recipe ingredients. The November issue of Woman's Day magazine had a recipe for Easy Scones using lemon-lime soda, which looked unusual and perfect for a weekday breakfast.

This recipe has 3 ingredients. It takes a total of 30 minutes, 10 of which is active and makes 8 servings. I made a few modifications to this recipe. First, I used sierra mist soda, since it was what was on sale the week that I made these scones. For flavor I added dried cranberries, approximately 1/2 cup. I love fruit scones and the cranberries give a nice sweet/tart element. Finally, instead of spooning the dough, I hand patted the dough into a circle and cut into eight triangles. Before putting the scones in the oven I brushed the tops with heavy whipping cream and sprinkled with granulated sugar. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys got a kick out of this recipe. I had never used lemon-lime soda in a scone recipe, so I was intrigued by the concept. The scones turned out moist and delicious and the dried cranberries made a delicious addition. The best part of the recipe is that it only has 3 ingredients (4 if using dried cranberries). A very quick and easy scone recipe, that turns out light and perfect for breakfast.

For the recipe go to Easy Scones.

Family Fun Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones

Breakfast is one of my favorite parts of the day. I get up early every morning to pack my husband's lunch and then have about a half hour before my two kids wake-up. Some mornings I make pancakes, others cold cereal. One of my favorite breakfast foods is scones. I make sweet scones about once or twice a month and they are always eaten quickly. In the last couple of months I have been trying to utilize more fresh herbs in my baking and I was intrigued when the November issue of Family Fun magazine had a recipe for Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It makes 12 servings and takes approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes of total time, with 10 minutes being hands-on. All the ingredients are basic and I had the majority already in my fridge and pantry. I decided not to sprinkle the top with coarse salt, since it was being served to my two young sons. I found that the suggested baking time of 30 minutes, was too long for my oven, my total cooking time was closer to 25 minutes. Make sure to rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time for even browning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These scones made a perfect side to the roasted pork tenderloin that I served alongside. The fresh rosemary blended well with the buttermilk, making a savory scone. While I served these initially as a breakfast side, they re-heated well in the oven the next morning for breakfast. A great combination of flavors, perfect for anytime of the day.

For the recipe go to Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones.

Chocolate Chip and Coconut Scones

I'm great about making sure that my two boys eat a healthy, well-balanced breakfast every morning. However, I am not so great about following my own advice. I tend to get involved in 5 different things every morning and completely forget to eat until lunch rolls around. One of the problems that I run into with breakfast is that the only thing I really like eating is toast or something starch based. I have tried cereal and honeslty, I prefer it as a snack rather than a breakfast food. So every morning Im stuck trying to figure out what I want to eat and normally failing miserably. A couple of months back I had a number of ingredients left over from a previous cookie recipe, so I decided to make scones and try to change up my breakfast routine.

This recipe basically combined everything that I needed to use from previous dinner and snack recipes from the week before. I used a total of 8 ingredients and prepped using my food processor. Most people chill and cut their butter into small pieces, Im the exception to the baking rule. I cut my butter into chunks straight out of fridge and don't cut with any consistency straight into the food processor. I have tried both ways and the taste and consistency has been the same. So here are the rough ingredients and amounts:

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar ( I used less than I normally do since I was adding chocolate chips)
• About 2 cups flour (sometimes I use bread flour and sometimes all-purpose depending on what I have on hand) The amount of flour I use depends on how much I need to get the required consistency. I want enough flour for the mixture to be coarse, without being too dry
• 5-6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup coconut 
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy cream plus enough to brush tops before baking

I place the first four ingredients in the food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarse, but not full of butter lumps. Transfer to a bowl and add the last three ingredients. Hand pat the mixture into a circle and cut into 8 wedges. Brush the tops with additional heavy cream and sugar if desired. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes.

These scones turned out well. I liked that they combined coconut and chocolate, two of my favorite flavors. Since these recipe only made 8 scones they only lasted a couple of hours in my house. Next time I think I will make a double batch. Overall, a very simple and easy to prepare breakfast recipe.

Cream Scones with Currants

I have tried just about every scone recipe that I have in my large cookbook collection. Some have been great, some just mediocre. My main complaint has been with the prep work, which can be hassle. Last Sunday the Charleston (WV) Sunday Gazette-Mail had one that looked intriguing.

This is the easiest scone recipe that I have ever tried. There are very few ingredients and most can be found in your pantry. The prep work is minimal and the total time involved short. I did have to add more flour than suggested in order for the dough to not be overly sticky. I also increased the baking time for the tops to brown.

This is a recipe that I would use again. The scones were light and tasted great, with little time spent. The one thing that I would change next time would be to brush the tops with heavy cream instead of milk to promote the tops to brown more.

The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail does not have the recipe on their site, but it can be found here.