Buttermilk Lemon Currant Scones

I decided it was time to put the new oven to the test. The baking is going along without any overheating issues so today was the day to give it the official scone test, since the higher oven temperature was the problem with the other ovens.
I thought it might also be a good opportunity to try a little different scone recipe so I searched for a recipe that used buttermilk, which is what I had in the fridge, rather than half and half or cream.

I found this one but changed one of the add in ingredients. I changed the dried cranberries to currants but kept the lemon zest. I have to say that the scones turned out way better than expected. They were light, very much like a biscuit, and the lemon zest really came through, giving them a wonderful flavor.
And.. how about with a dollop of this? Yum!
I forgot to brush some cream on top before baking, which I always do with my scones. I usually add a sprinkling of raw sugar on top,too..which I also forgot to do!

As usual, I halved the recipe and I could have gotten more than just 4 scones out of this but I cut them rather large. I didn't want to waste the dough so I formed it into a square, rather than a circle.
One last thing, I made the scones the way I usually do so the original recipe is a little different.
Throw the dry into a food processor. Add the cold butter pieces and give it a few pulses til the butter is in smaller chunks.

Then dump the mixture into a large mixing bowl and grate the lemon zest into the dry/butter mix. Mix it a bit with your fingers to break up any remaining large lumps of butter.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and buttermilk.

And add to the dry mixture stirring gently with a fork. Switch to a spatula and stir just a few times to combine.

Throw a handful of currants into the mixture and gently fold them in.

Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and form into a circle or square, using floured hands.

Cut the dough into which ever shapes you prefer.

Scoop up and place onto the parchment lined baking sheet.

Place about 3" apart. And remember...brush the tops with cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse or raw sugar. Then bake!

Buttermilk Lemon Currant Scones

2 cups AP flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

handful of currants

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

cream or half and half ( or even whole milk) for tops

coarse or raw sugar ( for sprinkling tops)

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter pieces into food processor and pulse a few times til butter is in smaller pieces. Place mixture into a large mixing bowl.

2. In a small bowl, beat egg and buttermilk.

3. Add the wet to the dry and mixing with a fork. Switch to a spatula and gently stir a few times.

4. Throw a handful of currants into the mixture and gently fold them in.

5. Dump the mixture onto a floured work surface and form into a circle or square about 1 " thick.

6. Cut out shapes you prefer and place them onto a parchment lined baking sheet about 3" apart.

7. Brush tops with cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse or raw sugar.

8. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. They should be slightly firm to the touch and light golden brown.
9. Cool on wire rack. Best eaten warm with a cup of tea...just out of the oven!

Lemon Whoopie Pies

The cold weather and snow still everywhere in sight makes me want to bake some lemon and lime flavors, with a little coconut thrown in! Maybe I can't be surrounded by warm ocean breezes and gently swaying palm trees but I can sure make some flavors of the tropics! And you know I have plenty of lemons hanging around.
I actually made 3 different recipes using coconut, lime and lemon.
The first was a toasted coconut shortbread cookie, using my basic shortbread cookie recipe, I just added some toasted coconut and a little coconut extract. It turned out great and I'll post the photos and recipe in a day or 2.
The second recipe, from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, is Key Lime Bars in Coconut Crust. This one ..tomorrow!
Today, Lemon Whoopie Pies. I've made pumpkin, chocolate and even zucchini whoopie pies before and I was looking for some different flavors for the cookie when I came upon this recipe. And still having my seemingly endless supply of lemons ( I think they're multiplying in the fridge!), I chose these light, delicate, lemony, ethereal ( don't you love that word!)whoopie pies and found another recipe for the lemon filling.
So, if you live in a cold climate..or not, these lemon whoopie pies will definitely brighten your day!

Begin by sifting the dry ingredients into a medium bowl.


In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest til smooth.
Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla.
Add the flour and buttermilk alternately.
I wanted my cookies on the smaller side so I used a small cookie scoop.

If you want larger cookies, just use heaping tablespoonfuls.
Place them 3" apart on the baking sheet.

They don't get high and fat like the chocolate whoopie pies. These are delicate and airy.
Let them cool completely before putting the filling on top to make a sandwich.

Lemon Whoopie Pies ( adapted from recipe from joythebaker, who got it from the Big Fat Cookie Book) Makes 8 giant cookies or about 15 smaller cookies.

Cookie:

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp.

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

Filling:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 - 3 cups confectioners sugar

zest of one lemon

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed the butter, sugar and lemon zest til smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl occasionally with spatula.

3. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing til blended, about 1 minute.( Batter may look curdled).

4. On low speed, add half the flour mixture , mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the buttermilk. Mix in remaining flour mixture just til it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth again.

5. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets placing 3" apart. For smaller cookies, use heaping teaspoonfuls or a small cookie scoop.

6. Bake one sheet at a time, about 12 minutes, checking after 10 minutes. The cookies will be slightly browned along the edges but not on top.

7. Remove from oven and let them cool on the baking sheet 10 minutes, then using a wide, thin spatula, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling:

1. Place the softened butter in a medium bowl and beat til smooth.

2. Add the confectioners sugar, starting with 2 cups, and beat til smooth.

3. Add the lemon juice and zest, adding more confectioners sugar or juice as you stir to get the correct consistency for a nice, smooth but not too thin filling.

Spread filling onto one cookie and top with another.

Wrap each one in plastic wrap and refridgerate. Keep them in fridge or in a cool place. Will keep up to 4 days in fridge.( Ha! Like thy'll last that long!)

Buttermilk Pie

I've only just recently become aware of this mostly southern dessert called a Buttermilk Pie.
During his winter break from college, my son Kris went down to visit my brother in Texas. He came back all excited about this pie, he told me, that was like nothing he'd ever eaten before and would I please make it!
So I searched online and found many recipes for it, each one a little bit different. The Food Network had Emeril's recipe for the pie and then there was one from Paula Deen, and so on.
After some comparison, I chose a recipe that used 1 cup of buttermilk rather than those recipes calling for only half a cup. I mean, it's a buttermilk pie! Let's use some buttermilk!
What I found consistent with all the recipes was the huge amount of sugar. Y'all like things sweet down south! I did cut down on the amount of sugar and I added some lemon zest, as I noticed some of the recipes used it. I think it cuts the sweetness a little bit. And it gives the pie a brighter taste.
Kris says it tastes just like he remembers, except for the lemon flavor. The texture of the filling isn't too smooth and custardlike, as I first thought it would be. It's kind of hard to describe. Delicious pretty much sums it up! I really love it and the top gets this thin, crunchy, browned, amazing texture. So good!

Start by creaming the butter and sugar in a mixer.

Add the flour and eggs and beat well.

Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla and mix that well.

I grated the zest of about half a lemon into the batter.

Then just pour the filling mixture into your unbaked pie shell.

I used a 9 1/2" glass deep dish pie plate. The filling will rise just a little as it bakes.

Look at that beautiful browned top..yum!

You may find you need to cover the crust with some foil toward the end of the baking to prevent the crust from becoming too brown.

Buttermilk Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup ( 1 stick)butter, softened

4 - 5 tbsp. flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

zest of 1/2 lemon ( or about 1 tsp.)

1 unbaked pie shell

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer til light.

2. Add flour and eggs, beating well to combine.

3. Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix well, again to combine,.

4. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.

5. Bake 45 - 50 minutes. The top should be slightly crusty and brown and the pie will still be a little jiggly but will firm up as it cools.

Buttermilk Biscuits...an experiment in baking

Sometimes I can't believe how much baking goes on, by me, in my little kitchen. When I see it all together, ready to deliver to a store or, in this case, a cafe, I think about the time spent mixing, measuring, baking, packing and labeling all these treats. And I think, how'd I do all that!!...one woman and one very small kitchen!!
The biscuit experiment began Friday morning. This same cute little local cafe requested 2 dozen large buttermilk biscuits. Or I really should say they asked if I make them . Being one to never turn down work, I obliged. I haven't made biscuits in a very long time but since I make scones all the time I figured it was basically the same process...and it was!!
I found actually 3 recipes for the biscuits.
The first was Martha Stewart's recipe I found on line along with a video I watched about 5 times !!
The second recipe I found was Dorie Greenspan's.
The third was ..well.. I don't even remember. It used honey but they came out too heavy and I just eliminated it altogether!!
So from the 2 recipes I made, Martha's, in my opinion, having more butter in the recipe, spread a bit too much for that authentic "biscuit look".
The recipe I went with was Dorie's. They looked exactly like a biscuit and rose nicely, allowing them to be split in half. Don't get me wrong, however, Martha's tasted great but I went for the eye appeal!!
If you've never made buttermilk biscuits I urge you to try these. They are really so easy and they freeze very well. Freeze them, once baked, and take them out of the freezer to thaw at room temp. and pop into a 350 oven for about 6-8 minutes to warm.



Brownies, blondies, pumpkin and ghost iced cookies,2 flavors of biscotti and all those biscuits...ready for delivery!!

The lineup... first, on the left, is the one I totally eliminated. Next is Dorie's , then Martha's on the right. See the difference in the look?

Whisk all the dry in a medium bowl.

Drop in butter, cut into 12 pieces, and work into dry ingredients with your fingers. At this point, you could put the bowl into the fridge so the butter gets nice and cold again.

Add buttermilk and stir. I just folded the dough gently with the spatula a few times in the bowl, rather than using my hands to knead.

Cut out shapes using a round cutter. I made mine larger than you probably would need to.

And there they are! Beautiful, light, fluffy buttermilk biscuits!!

Dorie Greenspan's Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

2 cup AP flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. cold butter ( cut into 12 pcs.)

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. Line sheet with parchment paper.

1. Whisk 1st 5 ingredients in med. bowl.

2. Drop butter into dry ingred. and working with your fingers, rub butter into flour mixture, til the butter pieces are sizes of small flakes and small baby peas.( At this point it's a good idea to put the whole thing into the fridge for about 15 minutes so the butter gets nice and cold again).

3. Add buttermilk to mixture and stir gently til everything is combined.

4. Reach into bowl and knead gently 3 - 4 times. ( I used the spatula and just gently kind of kneaded it with the spatula).

5. Turn out onto a floured work surface and roll or pat into a circle 1/2 " thick. ( I made mine about 1" thick).

6. Cut out shapes and reroll scraps.

7. Place biscuits onto parch. lined sheet about 2-3" apart.

8. Bake 15-18 minutes.

Whoopie !!...pies, that is !!

Dashing through B J 's Wholesale one day this week to get some supplies, I happened to turn down the book aisle and, of course, couldn't resist checking out the cookbooks. I really didn't go there to buy myself a present,( heck, I just had a new roof put on my barn and I'm having some landscape work done around the house so isn't that present enough ?? ). But you know when that moment of weakness comes over you... impulse buying, I believe it's called...and in an instant you decide you have to have something? Yes, I found a cookbook " America's Best Lost Recipes " by the editors of Cook's Country Magazine. I love to watch America's Test Kitchen and lost recipes?? Intriguing, indeed !

So I brought home my cookbook present and one of the first recipes I tried were these Whoopie Pies. I especially liked that they use butter rather than shortening for their pies. The idea of consuming all that shortening in both the cake and the filling just doesn't seem very appetizing. These turned out very good. The cake part has a chocolatey taste and the filling is really yummy, sweet, of course, but so good ! Oh and an apology on the photo. They're very messy, what more can I say?! But so worth it !