the recipe.

here's the recipe i made for the bake sale on saturday. it's absolutely adapted from ina garten's and is one of the best scone recipes i have ever made. please enjoy. 
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Maple-Oatmeal Scones

The Dough

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour, plus a bunch extra for the rolling pin

1 cup oats, plus additional for sprinkling

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 lb unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

4 large eggs

The Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, and salt. (Do this on a slow speed or your counter will end up covered in flour.) Blend in the chopped butter (Sometimes I stop the mixer and reach in and break up the butter bits into smaller pieces with my hands.) Whisk the milk, maple syrup, and eggs and then add to the flour/butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will be stupid sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a really well-floured surface. Flour your rolling pin (I used whole wheat, but you can use all-purpose as well) and roll the dough to about 1 inch thick. (You might have to keep adding more flour to the surface and that’s ok.) Like most scone dough, lumps of butter will still be visible. Cut into rounds using a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are just starting to brown.  Use a fork to make sure the insides are done, too.

While they are baking, combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla for the glaze.

When the scones are done, cool for about 10 minutes on the counter and brush each scone enough glaze to cover the scone’s top and sprinkle few oats on top.  Remember, if the scones are too hot, the glaze will thin. 

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(also, i am working on a blog revamp and am trying/working out some things. please stay tuned for the new and improved version.)

yes. yes. yes.

maple-oat scones for the bake sale tomorrow. ready.

that's me.

a food blogger baker. i am making scones for this event.

pretty awesome, huh? i bake things and childhood hunger is eradicated. done and done.

bake. it. up.

so it begins. the baked explorations adventure. this morning, nutella scones. no skimping in this book--dark cocoa, lots of nutella (they even tell you how to make your own!), toasted hazelnuts, heavy cream. mmmm.

this was a pretty easy recipe; you don't even need a stand mixer. or a mixer at all. but, the dough was especially dry and wouldn't stick so i added some extra cream. i know, the problems of the first world...

but really, they are pretty awesome. see everyone's here.
this adventure is going to be really fun. i have to make sure i don't stop riding my bike; my belly is going to get HUGE.

peaches for my peach.

i went back to harlem for the first time since i moved away. i love it there. michelle and alex live just blocks from my previous apartment, which is just poetic justice. they moved there almost immediately after i jumped ship.

of course, i could not show up empty-handed. i had some ripe peaches laying around, and decided to make scones. scones do not take much sugar, and i accidentally poured in a little too much, which i attempted to scoop out of the bowl. i forgot i was only making a half-batch. when this happens, the scones spread out and turn into cake. blake calls them scookies. yes, i have done this before.
this time, they were a little extra sugary, but michelle ate two. i guess that means they were good. she's pregnant, you know, so it's unsure. i am convinced that her taste buds are off ever since she went to the aquarium and wanted to eat the specimen.

yes, you can.

those scones. i tweaked the recipe again. strawberries were way too expensive, so i used defrosted frozen peaches. and put a sprinkle of turbinado sugar on top. yum.

they are scrumdidilyumtious!

***finally, i have a camera, a canon powershot sd 1100is. it's awesome. it's named "veruca, sweetheart." i love how, in willie wonka and the chocolate factory, mr. salt says this line to his obnoxious daughter, veruca. i was saying it over and over last week when i was playing with new camera, and blake suggested that "veruca, sweetheart" should be the camera's proper name.

i am now making mostly scones for the housing works. and this week, i made a new flavor, maple oatmeal (recipe to come later). for now, pictures of the goods. which are so good.

first, cranberry oat.

orange-currant.
a super-puffy version of goat cheese and green onion. they taste like onion bagels. they're bagels disguised as scones. yum.
and, lastly, maple-oatmeal. incredible. really. la creme de la creme. as you can see, i ate one.
and you can see the strawberry scones in this one. and my messy kitchen table.

converted.

those scones i wrote about yesterday? well, i made them vegan with soy milk and vegan butter. they taste incredible. even my brother ate some. and he's picky.

never have i ever.

so, before i started baking for housing works, i had never made scones before. i soon learned that they are incredibly easy and oh-so-quick to make. i mean, i don't know why i never did it before. few ingredients are required, and most recipes ask for you to mix them by hand, but i just do it is slowly on my stand mixer with the paddle attachment. i'm really into making strawberry scones, as they have oddly been on-sale in my incredible harlem supermarket (that's sarcasm, there). i initally found this recipe online somewhere but i am can't seem to remember the site.

1 cup chopped strawberries
2.5 cups flour, unsifted
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp butter, very cold, chopped into pieces
2/3 cup milk (could be soy, could be cream. it all depends on you.)
pinch of salt, though if i use salted butter , i don't add any extra.

heat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. approximately. my oven can be inappropriately incorrect.
1. mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. add butter. it will look oddly crumbly and coarse. that's how it is supposed to look.
3. add strawberries. mix.
4. add milk all at one time and only mix until it is "just" combined.
5. take the dough out of the mixer with your hands and knead it just a bit and then put it on a table or cutting board and smush it into a circle about 1/2 to 1 inch thick.
6. cut the circle into 6 pieces and place them on a baking sheet (recipes tend to ask for the sheet to have parchment paper but i think it's wasteful, so i don't use it. BUT, i do use a nonstick sheet. it makes it all so much easier).
7. cook for about 12 minutes. they will get a bit golden and lovely.

i like these with butter, even though they are filled with butter. some people like cream. they are best hot, but if you refrigerate them, they will keep for a few days.

when i make some tomorrow, i will take a picture and post it.