7:30am. The alarm goes off. “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” followed by “bebebeBEEP bebebeBEEP bebebeBEEP bebebebebebeBEEEEEEP” and then the humming of my roommate’s generic iphone guitar strum and then, finally my little dumbphone’s contribution to the matinal symphony: BUZZZZZ…BUZZZZZ…BUZZZZZ….(love meeeee, says the Envy2 LOVE MEEEEEEE). Banging these devices any number of times, I open my eyes and proceed to poke the top mattress of our bunk bed. “wakey wakeyyy meowww…” poke poke poke.
Roommate is not nearly as amused by the morning cacophony as I am. I’m greeted with a groan. “Noooooooooo” goes the grumpy cat.
Mornings are rough.
As she finally scrambled down from her perch on high, I began the process of getting up out of bed and making the most exciting decision of the morning: breakfast !
It’s Saturday and I don’t want cereal. Or a bagel. Toast is a definite no. Don’t even think about oatmeal. Definitely not having yogurt.
I want a real, old-time, well-prepared, rejoice-in-the-fact-it’s-Saturday breakfast. That means baked goods AND, upon examining the dwindling supply of groceries…something creative. I saw chocolate chunks. I saw baking goods. I had some raspberry jam in the fridge. Put it all together and…scones had to be the answer. After a little googling, I settled on this recipe from The Joy of Baking, one of my favorite baking websites. I’ve added some spices and substituted jam for fresh berries (the grand scheme all along, of course), but the recipe is mostly intact and, after having devoured two in rapid succession, provides a delicious breakfast dish. I paired it with some cheesy grits and a fried egg, but all the loving these scones need is a cup of something warm and an open weekend morning…that doesn’t need to begin as early as mine did. Happy nibbling !
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (if using salted butter, skip added salt)
6 tbsp butter, cold and chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chunks (more are fine 🙂 )
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
4 tbsp raspberry jam
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices and stir to incorporate. I really enjoy cinnamon and nutmeg with flavors like chocolate, but adding these is not obligatory in any fashion.
Add the cold butter to the flour. Using a pastry blender (or your hands – either works fine), work the butter into the flour. This will take a little bit of time, but be patient. If you are using your hands, make sure you start with really cold butter. The warmth of your hands will affect how much flour the butter is able to “absorb,” so to speak. If the butter absorbs too much flour, the consistency of the final product will be slightly off…no real harm done (whew !) but if you want a “true” scone consistency, don’t work that buttah too much, honey. The final product should have the texture of crumble – if you squish it, it will keep a basic shape, but upon touching it again will crumble into DUST. POOF !
To this mixture, add the chocolate chunks. Give them a good stir to coat them in the crumble combination. Once coated, make a chasm (that word has such presence…I definitely need a deep voice to deliver it with full force) in the flour mixture.
In another bowl, combine the yogurt, egg, and vanilla. Whisk well to combine.
Pour the egg mixture into the hole made in the flour. Stir with a fork to incorporate, somewhat. Add the jam and stir until the dough just comes together – the mixture will be thick – that’s okay. You don’t want to mix it too much or the dough will be chewy and tough.
Once the batter just holds together, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Form the dough into a circle and cut the circle into triangles to place upon a prepared baking sheet.
Cook for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Mine are a little more than golden brown BECAUSE my broiler is a little wonky. If desired, you may dust the scones with powdered sugar and broil them for about 10 seconds to give them a nice crust. Mine stayed in a touch too long but are none the worse for wear (or taste) !
Enjoy with a cup of java or tea or simply with your breakfast. Bon appétit ! 🙂
scratchbatch 