Words of Wisdom

"The bigger the mess, the better the meal."

- Aunt Julie

Weekend Cooking: Heather's Blueberry Scones

Last night's wind and rain brought an end to the summer's first real heat wave, so this morning Margaret and I celebrated by heating up the kitchen. It's blueberry season and I've been craving scones ever since Heather posted this recipe at Books and Quilts last week. She says it came from an ancient copy of Five Roses Flour Cookbook. A quick search of amazon tells me the title is from the Classic Canadian Cookbook Series, circa 1962. I'm not surprised the recipe is still being used today - it's definitely a keeper!

Heather's Blueberry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 eggs

1/2 milk or light cream (I used milk)

1 cup blueberries

grate rind of a lemon

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon rind and salt. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture is the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Set aside. Reserve a little of the egg whites, beat remaining eggs until light; stir in milk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add liquid all at once, stirring with a fork vigorously until it comes freely from the side of the bowl. Gently stir in blueberries. Pat dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick on an ungreased baking pan. Cut into 8 triangular wedges, but leave in place. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle liberally with sugar.

Bake in hot oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Let cool a bit and eat while warm. Wonderful spread with butter.

It's a good thing this picture was taken as the scones came out of the oven. They disappeared very quickly. Thanks for the recipe, Heather!

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone with a food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button, head over to Beth Fish Reads, and link up anytime over the weekend.

Raisin-Bran Muffins

These muffins from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast cookbook are great for breakfast or for a satisfying snack anytime during the day. The cinnamon adds a lot to these muffins and the oil keeps them moist. I think kids would enjoy these for breakfast as well, especially if you're trying to get them away from sugary pastries.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups raisin-bran cereal

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 6 cups of a standard muffin tin with paper liners. In a bowl, combine cereal with milk; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. In another bowl, whisk both flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir oil, egg, and brown sugar into cereal mixture, then fold in flour mixture.

2. Divide batter evenly among lined cups. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until golden brown and cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Cool in tin 5 minutes, then turn out muffins onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature. Muffins can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 3 months, in a large re-sealable plastic bag; thaw at room temperature and warm in the oven before serving.

Notes:

To make these low-fat muffins healthier, use regular bran flake cereal instead of raisin-bran cereal, which contains a surprising amount of sugar. Take 1-1/4 cups of bran flakes and 1/4 cup raisins and you're all set!

I liked this recipe because the muffins were delicious and I didn't have to use an electric mixer, which saved me the hassle of hauling it out of the cupboard and the potential disaster of dropping the stainless steal bowl on my toes again.