Two for One Scones - Banana Scones & Chocolate Chip Scones

Today's activity is brought to you by "procrastibaking", a term that I learned from the expert and my work BFF Carrie. It's exactly what you think it is. Clearly you have a million important things on your plate but you throw your hands up and say "eff it I'm baking today". Carrie also likes to drink while she bakes. Not that I felt that I needed to defend myself.
 


Look at that beer tucked in there so inconspicuously!

I decided to make scones, and because they come together rather quickly, figured I may as well bust out two different varieties. The chocolate chip ones are a favorite, the banana ones were a brand new recipe. I began with the latter.


Banana Scones with Cinnamon Glaze
Slightly adapted from: RecipeGirl 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 large)
1 egg
3 tablespoons cream
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 425F. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon). Grate the butter into the dry ingredients and combine.

2) In a separate bowl, whisk the mashed banana, egg, and cream. Pour into dry ingredient mixture and fold together with a spatula. You may want to just use your hands like I did.

3) Dust your counter with flour, then drop your dough ball on there. Shape it into a disc, approximately an inch and a half thick. Cut into six pieces and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for approximately 15 minutes.

4) For the glaze, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk, and cinnamon. Drizzle over cooled scones.


Chocolate Chip Scones
100% Stolen from: Cooks.com

INGREDIENTS 

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (I made mine - 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, whatever floats your boat)

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 425F. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). Grate the butter into the dry ingredients and combine.

2) In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour into dry ingredient mixture along with the chocolate chips, and fold together with a spatula. You may want to just use your hands like I did.

3) Dust your counter with flour, then drop your dough ball on there. Shape it into a disc, approximately an inch and a half thick. Cut into six pieces and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for approximately 18 minutes.

August's Special VACATION Feature: Eton Mess

I begin all of my vacations by asking myself two critical questions; what do I want to drink? and what do I want to eat while I drink? However, by the end of any vacation I feel as though I would be content to never eat or have an alcoholic beverage ever again. After another wonderful (yet overly indulgent) meal, we came back to my Aunt and Uncle's place for dessert. To my delight it was not as overwhelming as I feared. Nice and light, this concoction was a perfect conclusion to the day.   

 
INGREDIENTS

2 cups fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons of icing sugar (or less)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package meringue cookies (broken into small pieces) **if you're really with it, make the meringue cookies your own self**


DIRECTIONS 

1) Slice the strawberries and sprinkle with one tablespoon of icing or berry sugar. Add a bit of Grand Marnier if you like (who wouldn't like?).

2) Whip the cream and add one tablespoon of icing sugar and the vanilla.

3) Fold in the strawberries and cookie pieces.

February's Special Feature: Auntie Shelly's Simple Spumoni

My Aunt Shelly made this ice cream beauty for dessert last night and requested that I feature it on my blog! This dessert has a lot going for it: easy, light and definitely not too sweet. The latter being key as we aren't too big on rich and heavy desserts.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup (7 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (recommend semi-sweet)


DIRECTIONS

1) Combine the cream, sweetened condensed milk, and rum extract in a large bowl. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

2) Remove from the fridge and beat just until soft peaks form. Do not over beat. Fold in the cherry pie filling, almonds and chocolate chips. Transfer to an 8x8 inch pan. Cover and freeze about four hours or until firm. Scoop out to serve and garnish as desired.


Given the color, this would be especially nice as a simple Valentine's Day dessert for a special someone. However, this meme sums up my life:

Marzipan Stuffed Dates

I fricken love dates. One year on Christmas Eve we had "dates three ways". This included the "original" date; simply stuffed with cream cheese, a "savory" date; stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon and then baked, and these "dessert" dates; stuffed with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. That year my friend told me that after eating so many dates he felt "outdated"... Yeah, that happened.

I first had these delightful dates in Victoria at my Aunt and Uncle's. The recipe has been adapted from the Thrify Food's website.

INGREDIENTS

1 package of whole dates
1 package of marzipan
1/2 bag of either milk or dark chocolate chips
shelled, crushed pistachios


DIRECTIONS

1) Cut a slit lengthwise in each date. Mold the marzipan into a log shape and stuff each date. Squeeze the date shut but leave a bit of the marzipan showing.

2) Place parchment on a baking sheet. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Dip each date halfway into the melted chocolate and place marzipan side up on the baking sheet. Sprinkle chocolate with crushed pistachios. Continue until all dates have been coated and sprinkled.

3) Place in the fridge to set the chocolate and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Yield: A very large amount.

Keep these in the fridge and they will last a very long time. So, make them early and pull them out whenever you need to bring a Christmas treat somewhere!