Super Scones

Now, even though I live in the Midsouth; the HOME of great biscuits, I can't made biscuits worth a darn. I'm a Yankee born and raised, and biscuit making isn't in our genes.

BUT... ah, can I make good scones. They have always been a lot of work, and normally I only go to the effort when I have fresh strawberries and heavy cream. Strawberry Shortcake is WORTH the effort.

Recently came across this recipe...and found it one of the fastest and easiest, and BEST I've tried. (and I season them with Orange Oil so that makes them suitable for an aromatherapy blog.)!)


You should own a food processor to make these. They are "do-able" with nothing but a grater, a bowl and a fork, but in the processor they are done faster than my oven can heat up.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and you might want to grease a cookie sheet while you are at it.

Then... with the grating blade of your food processor grate ONE 4 oz stick of FROZEN butter.

(Plan ahead...I always have butter in the freezer.)

Switch to the 'regular' blade and dump in

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Process these until you have a crumbly mess.

Break in one large egg

To 1/2 Cup sour cream add 4 drops of organic orange oil. Add to the processor bowl. (The original called for beating the egg and sour cream together, and adding the grated rind of one large orange. The changes I made work beautifully.)

Process "on and off" until well mixed. You will have a sticky mess on your hands.

Toss in 1/2 cup of raisins, or currants, or "Craisins" (dried cranberries) or dried Cherries (bliss!)
Pulse just two or three times to mix the dried fruit into the dough.

Scrape the contents onto a cutting board, form into a 7 or 8 inch circle that should be about 3/4 inch high. At this point you can sprinkle them with granulated sugar, raw sugar would be even better.

Cut into 8 wedges, place about an inch apart on that greased cookie sheet. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 15 to 17 minutes, until lightly golden. (Mine took 18 minutes.)

These were amazing. Hot with butter. I suspect they'd be very good cold, as well, but there were none left to get cold.

Other suggested combinations.

use Lemon Oil instead of the orange, and add dried blueberries.

Use Almond Flavoring with the dried cherries.

Use Vanilla Extract (one teaspoon?) and chocolate chips.

Please note, the 4 drops of Orange oil gave a subtle flavour, definitely not an "in your face" Orange taste. You could add another two drops..especially if using dried cranberries.


Whenever I go to my favorite bakery, I'm more apt to bring home a couple of scones to heat for breakfast or a bed time snack than some of their richer desserts. I can make a batch of 8 of these faster than I can drive to the bakery, and they surely don't cost $2.00 apiece!

Fast and Easy Christmas Candy

You've said you like my 'fast and dirty' recipes... I first had this White Chocolate Peppermint Bark at my daugher-in-law's mother's house one Christmas morning brunch. Yummy, and FAR too easy!

The classic recipe calls for

2 lbs white chocolate. (PLEASE use real white chocolate... the first ingredient in the list must be cocoa butter. If it's not...put it back on the grocery shelf.) And the so called "almond bark" that's offered looks like white chocolate, but it has a good amount of paraffin in it and leaves your mouth feeling waxy...oddly enough.

Enough Candy Canes (or red and white peppermint candies) to give you a cup if you coarsely chop them.

Obviously you can use less of everything. I had in the house, and used:

7 ounces of White chocolate
12 Oz White chocolate chips.

and three medium sized candy canes. (They were three for a dollar, that's why three.)

and...for my version... the KEY... our Midwestern Peppermint Oil (the one that I say is sweet as candy, remember?) I used ONE ml for this amount of chocolate.

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler if you have one, or a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. While it is melting, put the candy canes inside a HEAVY plastic bag, put that bag inside a second bag, and crush the candy with a hammer, a rolling pin, a heavy skillet...whatever striking instrument you have at hand.

Line a jelly roll pan or BIG cookie sheet with waxed paper or baking parchment.

When the white chocolate is melted, pour in the crushed peppermint, the one ml (approx 20 drops) of peppermint essential oil, stir well. Pour it onto the paper lined pan and spread it as thinly as you can.

EITHER... put the pan in the refrigerator at this point and let it sit for an hour or until hard

OR... while waiting for the white chocolate to set up, melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips with a pat of butter, and swirl bits of this over the white chocolate. Smear that around a bit to marble the dark chocolate over the white.

THEN refrigerate the pan for an hour...or put it freezer for perhaps 20 minutes.

Once it's cold...break or cut into random chunks, put in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

The cook gets to lick the meling pan and the spatula.

Addictive.

Very addictive.

Sunshine Honey Recipe

Came across a recipe in the new Aromatherapy Today that sounded yummy, but made WAY too much. (The original called for a full gallon of Honey... which might work if you wanted to make a whole lot of gifts, otherwise you'd be eating it forever.(

So I cut it down to a more manageable size.

8 fluid ounces Honey (or 240 ml)

Divide the honey roughly in half.

To the half in the mixing bowl add:

9 drops Organic cold pressed Bergamot Essential Oil
10 drops Organic Cold Pressed Lemon Essential Oil
13 drops Organic Sweet Orange or Blood Orange Essential oil
3 drops Organic Cardamom (or Cardamon) Seed Essential Oil.

Blend the essential oils into the smaller portion of honey, then gradually stir in the remaining honey until very well blended.

This sunny citrus flavored honey is wonderful in tea, on top of biscuits or toast, I'm thinking gingerbread... almost any place you would like the blend of sparkling citrus with a touch of gentle spice.

I'm going to try adding a drop of nutmeg essential oil, as well.

Actually, making a gallon of this, and pouring into sterilized canning jars for holiday gifts would have been a good idea....

Enjoy!

(And there is a reason that I specify Organics on all of the cold pressed citrus oils... think about when they spray the fruit groves with pesticides...where do the chemicals land? On the surface of the fruit, of course, to be cold pressed right into your essential oil. That's why we offer only organic citrus rind oils.)

Unbelievable Christmas Cookies

For the noncook -

I stopped by a friend's house today, and she urged me to take home a bag of homemade cookies. Now, this woman does not cook. Most definitely she doesn't bake. And I am a bit of a snob when it comes to cookies. They had best be extraordinary, or they aren't worth the calories. And, in all honesty, they didn't look extraordinary. And she said they had peanut butter. I'm not a big fan of peanut butter cookies. But, I am polite. I said "thank you" and took a small bag.

They sat on my countertop most of the day looking at me, trying to make me feel guilty.

Finally I tried one.

In the interests of science, I had to eat them all, while figuring out how they were made.

Crackers, not Ritz, because they are oval. Perhaps Keebler's Town House? A buttery, salty cracker, not a saltine type. Two crackers, sandwiched together with creamy peanut butter, and dipped in melted white chocolate.

OH my! The mix of salty cracker, peanutbutter, and white chocolate is amazing!

Even if you DO bake, and CAN make all sorts of wonderfully involved traditional Christmas cookies... make some of these too.

And to think I almost didn't try some. "contempt prior to investigation" and all that.

Breakfast on the Go

A year or so ago a friend suggested that I add some powdered protein to my diet. (I was going through some stressful situations and losing weight.)

Easiest way? A Smoothie. And they have been part of my daily routine ever since. The crew at work is used to seeing my carry my "liquid breakfast" into the office every morning. Someone asked how I made it... so...here's the routine:

Into the blender add one jar of any type of yogurt you enjoy. (Read the labels on your yogurt...I've found that most of the "Lite" varieties contain Aspartime, and I'd prefer to avoid that.) One scoop of powdered protein. (I don't like to use too much Soy, so I buy the whey-based, but either will work.) Vanilla or unflavored...Chocolate would NOT be good here.

Some juice... I use either orange or one of the White Cranberry varieties, white cranberry and peach, white cranberry and strawberry, something similar. You may or may not toss in a banana at this point.

Blend until smooth. Next comes the real secret. A handful of FROZEN fruit of your choice. Strawberries are wonderful with the above mentioned Banana. Sliced peaches are wonderful with peach juice and yogurt. With the peach I often add a good handful of frozen wild blueberries (a GREAT anti-oxidant...some authorities say blueberries are "brain food" and my brain can use all the feeding it can get!) Frozen Raspberries and Peaches give you peach melba.

With my blender, I have to switch it to highest speed (Liquify) once the fruit goes in. It makes a horrendous racket, but it does blend in the chunks of fruit.

For reasons I don't know, fresh fruit doesn't work quite as well.

I suspect you can use any combination of yogurt flavors, juice and fruit that appeals to you. The smoothie is high in protein, full of vitamins and things that are good for you...and tastes scrumptious.

Enjoy!!!