baking day

Thursday afternoons are baking days for me this fall. I have classes from 8:30-4:15 all week, and then nothing except for work at the Tickets and Information office on Fridays, so Thursday afternoon is my celebration of another week of classes gone by.

Today I made brown-sugar cranberry scones with lemon zest, another variation on my favorite scone recipe. They were soooooooooo delicious, especially with a little bit of butter and Bon Maman cherry jam on top, accompanied by iced coffee and almond milk.

The downside is that our oven being on heats up the entire apartment to about 90 degrees.

Still, sitting down at my own kitchen table to eat perfect baked goods . . . well worth the inferno.

Torunn's Favorite Brown-Sugar Scones:

2c flour

1/4c brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4c butter

3/4 milk (or cream if you are feeling sumptuous)

1 egg

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup of either:       plus:

blueberries              some grated lemon zest

dried cranberries    lemon zest

chocolate chips      shredded coconut     

(1tsp) nutmeg         orange zest

mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add cold butter to the bowl and work with clean hands until the butter is in pea-sized crumbles. mix the egg into the milk with a whisk, pour into dry ingredients, add your flavoring ingredients or extras, and mix with a fork until all the flour is combined.

plop dough onto a buttered and lightly floured cookie sheet (so the scones pop off easily) and press into a large circle, about an inch thick. sprinkle a little brown sugar on top. bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until risen and lightly golden brown.