Preface: As part of my turning 29 again, I have decided to post 29 days in a row. Alright 40 days in a row. Let's see if it happens.
So my sister got hitched the weekend before last in glorious Ashe-Vegas style. Everything was great although I could have used a misting fan, one of those crazy cold towel things from Bed Bath & Beyond and an igloo. It was hot. Hot. Sweat. Make-up-running Hot. It was great finally meeting the dude-my-sister-hitched's (they were/are staying away from conventional wedding terms and whatnot) family and friends. I have heard they exist but it was nice to know that he did not photoshop strangers into his pictures for the sake of wanting to belong. We managed to swing by my favorite Asheville stop the Chocolate Lounge and even though it was 4 Billion degrees outside, I had a liquid chocolate drinking truffle - maple salted caramel. My favorite culinary treat of the weekend was probably the Nye's Ice Cream sandwiches that my sister gave out after the ceremony. If you can find them, treat yourself. They are fan-frickin'-tastic. All of the flavors I tried were excellent but hands down the best was the Key Lime. Or maybe the Peppermint Chocolate. Whatever.
My sister asked me to make some scones for the shin-dig at her house so being the wonderful, obliging sister I am, I agreed. 6 batches. I may never make scones again. (yeah, right) She wanted a sweet and savory so I made Cheddar Herb, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip Pecan and Chocolate Chip Toffee. (I know that is only 4 but I made three batches of the Cheddar, so there is your math). I have had this scone recipe for ages - from Epicurious.
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped (optional) or pecans or whatever nuts you like
1/2 cup chocolate covered English Toffee bits
1/2 stick frozen butter
2 cups chilled whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted) melted
Additional sugar (I used raw sugar)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter 2 heavy large baking sheets or use a silicone mat on a baking sheet - no butter. In a large bowl (larger than you would think) combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and toffee bits. For frozen butter, either use a cheese grater with large holes to grate butter into flour mixture or a knife cutting the butter into small pieces. Getting your hands dirty, get in there and smush up the butter into the flour mixture. In separate bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into dry ingredients. (I am just going to go ahead and warn you right here, there is not much folding that can be done unless you have some magic folding technique. I basically fold the cream in a couple of times and end up dumping the whole mess onto a moderately heavily-floured surface and just smush it up from there.) Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently until soft dough forms, about 2 minutes. Form dough into ball; pat out to form a 1/4 inch round. Brush entire circle of doughy yumminess with melted butter and sprinkle with raw sugar. Cut dough into 12 wedges (or smaller).
Transfer wedges/pieces to prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes (unless dough was cut into smaller pieces then check starting a 9 minutes to see if a bit of brown is on the bottom of the scones, then take out - they will continue to cook briefly while cooling. Serve warm.
VARIATIONS:
Cheddar Herb: Do everything the same except: leave out chocolate chips/nuts/toffee and add about 1/2 cup cheddar or whatever cheese you like and start at about 1 tablespoon of oregano/Italian seasoning - you should be able to see the seasoning in the flour mixture but not too much. At the end, brush round of dough with melted butter but sprinkle coarse salt (I used Kosher salt) over round prior to cutting. I am also going to try to melt together olive oil, butter and garlic for brushing but have not done so yet so cannot speak to it tastiness but have a hard time believing it would be anything other than glorious.
Apple Cinnamon: Do all the same except: leave out chocolate/nuts/toffee. Either use a food processor or a knife with a lot of chops, chop up an apple (your choice of flavor) into small bits. Add about 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Everything else the same. Although I bet a mixture of cinnamon and sugar would do nicely on top of the butter-brushed round of scone dough.
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