Salted Caramel Mocha Scones

Holy crap.  I could eat these all day.  Salted Caramel anything is delicious but when you add chocolate it's a foodgasm.

I used dark, bittersweet chocolate (It is 80% cocoa and very lightly sweetened).  If you use a sweeter chocolate I would use less sugar or it may be a bit too sweet. You could also mix the two if you wanted.

Scones

2 cups unsifted, all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar

6 tbs plus

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup plus 3 tbs heavy whipping cream, divided
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat Oven to 425.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until combined.  In a food processor, or in a large bowl using a pastry cutter, add the butter and pulse until it looks like crumbs.  Add 2/3 cup whipping cream and chocolate chips and mix until well combined.  

Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 times.  Form the dough into a  1 inch thick circle and cut into eight pieces, like a pie.  

Arrange them on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining heavy cream.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Caramel Frosting

1 cup caramel (I used caramel squares from the grocery store, unsalted and not flavored.  I used about 14 squares but it will vary depending on the kid you use).

1 tbs unsalted butter

On a double boiler, melt the caramel squares with the butter.  Whisk constantly to prevent sticking.  When the scones are cool enough to handle but the caramel is still warm and not set, dip the tops of the scones in the caramel.  You could also spoon the mixture onto the scones, making sure to completely cover the top.  

Topping

3 tbs course sea salt

1 tsp sugar

3 tbs dark chocolate chunks, chopped very finely (Next time I'm going to grate it with my microplane zester so it's nore like chocolate shavings).

Sprinkle the salt mixture over the scones before the caramel completely cools. 

Raspberry White Chocolate Scones

Breakfast Win!

Mom Points!

These are so easy, too.  And a switch up from everything Cranberry and orange right now.  I'm making these Chrsitmas morning:-)

Ingredients

2 cups unsifted, all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar

6 tbs plus 1 tbs unsalted butter, divided

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup plus 3 tbs heavy whipping cream, divided
1 cup plus 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, divided

1/2 cup fresh or frozen, unsweetened raspberries *See note below

Preheat Oven to 425.

If you are using fresh raspberries, wash them well and cut each in half.  If you use frozen, put them into a colander and wash with cold water, then run water over them until the juice below them runs clear.  then lay them out on paper towels and pat them dry.  Set them aside.  If you skip this process, the scones will turn pink and may be too juicy, so they won't have the right consistency. 

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until combined.  In a food processor, or in a large bowl using a pastry cutter, add 6 tablespoons of butter and pulse until it looks like crumbs.  Add 2/3 cup whipping cream and 1 cup of white chocolate chips and mix until well combined.  Add the raspberries last and mix as little as possible.  If you were using a food processor, I would transfer the dough to a bowl and mix with a spoon to prevent the berries from falling apart. 

Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 times.  Form the dough into a  1 inch thick circle and cut into eight pieces, like a pie.  

Arrange them on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining heavy cream.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

In the meantime, on a double boiler, melt the remaining white chocolate with the remaining butter.  Whisk constantly to prevent sticking.  Drizzle over the scones after they are out of the oven.

Enjoy! 

Lemon (Not-Meringue) Pie with Cardamom and Chocolate

When I was growing up, my grandfather's favorite pie was lemon meringue. I love lemon. Loooove it. But I don't not love meringue. Bleh. I wish I did- I try to like it. I eat it and I always think I will like it, but in the end its just whipped egg whites like usual. This pie is a little different from the typical lemon pie, so its a fun one to bring to a pot luck or holiday dinner.

Crust:

2 1/2 cup graham crackers, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 tbs brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Press into a pie pan, making sure to cover the bottom and the sides. Bake for 15 minutes on 375. Take out to cool. Turn the oven down to 325.

Filling:
Juice of two large lemons (make sure to keep the zest)
14oz sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
2 tbs all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 tbs sugar

Whisk together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour into the pie crust and bake for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. I would let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour before moving on to the next step.

Not Meringue:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Zest of two lemons
4 tbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whisk the heavy cream until firm peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and lemon zest. Then slowly add the rest of the ingredients. Pipe decoratively or spread onto the completely cooled pie.

Garnish with dark chocolate shavings or sauce and serve.

Fall Fruit Salad

Fruit salad is a must have at most pot lucks, and after you have tasted one, you've tasted most.  They can get kind of boring unless you spice it up with something fun.  This fruit salad would be great at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

To serve 6, I used:

2 Honeycrisp Apples, diced

2 pears, diced

3 Clementine oranges, their slices cut into small pieces

1 mango, diced

1 pomegranate, just the seeds 

sliced almonds for the top

Dressing:

Zest and juice of a lemon

2 tbs honey

Whisk together the honey and lemon in a bowl and toss with the salad to coat, then top with the almonds.  If you don't have access to fresh pomegranate, you could use Craisins instead (some stores have a pomegranate flavor).

Cranberry Orange Mini Scones with a Creamy Ginger Glaze

Busy Mama Recipes



Every Sunday I have brunch with my family, and tomorrow it's my turn to host. I made a practice run with a recipe today and loved it. Knox has deemed them "the most yummy cookie", so I think they'll be acceptable at tomorrow's get together.  Plus, the combination of cranberry, nutmeg, orange, and ginger are perfect for this time of year. 

Scones

2 cups ap flour, unsifted
1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt (omit if you use salted butter)
1 tsp baking powder
6 tablespoons butter
1 pinch nutmeg
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream plus 2 tablespoons for brushing
Zest of one orange * Learn how to zest an orange without making the recipe bitter
1 cup Craisins (or dried, lightly sweetened cranberries)

Preheat Oven to 425.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugars, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder and pulse a couple of times. Add the orange zest and butter and pulse until it looks like small crumbs. Then add the cream and mix until it is well incorporated.

Next, on a lightly floured surface, dump out the crumbly dough. Add the berries and knead with your hands until its very well mixed ( about one minute). Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a one inch thick circle, then cut into eight pieces (like a tiny pie).

Arrange them on the baking sheet and paint with the remaining heavy cream.

Bake for about 12 minutes, or until they're golden brown on top. After they cool, spoon the glaze (recipe below) evenly over each one. Make sure to refrigerate the leftovers (if there are any;-))

Creamy Ginger Glaze

1 tbs orange juice (fresh squeezed from the orange you zested earlier)

1 tbs heavy cream

1/2 tbs ground ginger

2 cups confectioners sugar

Whisk together in a small bowl until smooth.  This glaze should be very thick.  Since it contains milk it should be refrigerated if not eaten.

Creamy Chicken Artichoke White Lasagna

Sometimes I feel like I need to learn to cook worse so I won't eat so much. Then I change my mind because I love food almost as much as I love making it.

Busy Mama Recipes

I roasted a chicken earlier this week and needed to use the leftover meat for something. I am really red-sauced out right now, so I was trying to think of something without the Bolognese type sauce. Oh, and it needed to have artichoke in it.

Ta-da. I'm a genius:-) Chicken lasagna with artichokes; something my kids would hopefully eat if I told them it was chicken and cheese. And it sounded easy enough.

Ingredients

Shredded chicken, approx 2-3 cups (I just pulled the meat off the carcass and chopped it. I used closer to 2 cups since my three year old son ate a bunch of this chicken during the prep:-) But any amount would work, really).
2 cups full fat Greek Yogurt (none of that nonfat crap- that isn't yogurt)
2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 cup spinach, chard, or kale, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced in circles
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 box of lasagna noodles (prepared like the box says) *** You can also use zucchini noodles and make a grain free/ gluten free lasagna
Bechemel Sauce: Melt 2 tbs of butter in a saucepan.  Add 2 tbs of flour and whick together, cooking on medium for about five minutes.  Add 2 cups of milk and whisk together.  Add 2 cloves of minced garlic.  Add 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer, whisking often, until hot.  Be careful not to burn. It should thicken as it cools. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 365.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my KitchenAid mixer) I combined the yogurt, chicken, artichokes, 1 garlic clove, onion, and 1/2 cup of mozz cheese.

In my food processor, I combined two cloves of garlic, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and cottage cheese. I pulsed it until it was smooth and looked like green cream cheese. I added some black pepper for flavor. 

*** The cottage cheese is a great alternative to ricotta because of the protein and the lower calorie and fat content. You could use ricotta instead and it would still taste great. 

This is what the cottage cheese mixture looks like when it's done.  Slightly green with no lumps.

In a large casserole dish (mine is 9x13), I layered like this:

Noodles
Chicken mixture
Spinach
Noodles
Cottage cheese mixture
Layer of tomato slices
1/2 cup mozz cheese
Noodles
Bechemel Sauce
The rest of the mozz cheese
Layer of tomato slices
Parmesan cheese (I garnished with ground pepper and oregano flakes)

Bake, covered for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another thirty minutes.

And I was right, my kids scarfed this down!

Cranberry Vinaigrette

Holy yum.

If you're a regular reader, you know how much I love salad dressing. Obviously- I have like 15 recipes on here for different dressings. You'd think I'd be super thin since I eat so much salad, but no. These drwssing are for real... no the stupid, "diet" kind. Sick.

We had our first snow here today, so with that mood I decided to make something holiday-ish. Perfect timing since its the beginning of November, marking the time when people prepare for Thanksgiving.

This was an interesting creation for me, and I'm probably still going to improve on it as time goes by and the voices give me more ideas. Keep in mind this is just a prelim, but its still pretty delicious. I would drink it if it was socially accepatable. I promise I'm dipping bread in it as I type. :-)

1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup + 3 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs balsamic vinegar (or mix with rice vinegar)
3 tbs molasses (you could also use honey or real maple syrup)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground pepper (I subbed three pink peppercorns)
1 1/2 cups canola, vegetable, or grapeseed oil (I used a combo of gso and canola)

Blend all of the ingredients, except oil, in a food processor until smooth. Once combined, add oil very slowly with the food processor on high (immulsify). Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to ten days (mine never lasts that long ;-) ). I usually use a glass mason jar with a lid.

If the cranberries are hard, microwave for one minute in a bowl. You will hear them "pop", and that's normal.

This is great on any salad, but I prefer it with baby spinach, craisins, slivered almonds, onions, and either pears or apples topped with crumbled goat cheese.

Enjoy:-)