What a morning!!

Homemade Blueberry Scones

Yummmmmm... My morning started early with baking delicious Blueberry Scones using the recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I wish there were a way to send you the sweet scent of my kitchen while they were baking. Mmmmm... sugar, butter, and pastry with a hint of lemon. Add a cup of French Press coffee and my day is off to a great start! A friend and neighbor stopped by to pick a couple scones up to take to work. I hope he LOVES them as much as I do. It's difficult to stop at just one... but my waist line says I have no choice.

Flood!

My eye caught a glimpse of something shimmering on the floor. Uh-oh... the dog knocked over her water bowl. No.... wait a minute... Darla hasn't been downstairs yet this morning. Hmmm.... Upon closer inspection I see that I have a flood outside my back door and the water is seeping in the kitchen under the door seal. UGH! I guess I need to make a note of this to be fixed and re-graded in the Spring. Ahhhh... the joys of home ownership. I love this 90 year old house... it's never dull... there are so many surprises. (Yes, this is the same back door that flew open in the snow storm and had to be held closed with my mixer). Think I need a new door????

Dumpsters

While looking out the back door I couldn't HELP but notice the new private dumpsters... uh... trash cans provided by my new home's township. When I moved here a few short months ago I was stunned to learn that trash pick up was twice a week. The township fathers decided to change that to once a week, and provided us with special trash cans. Well... I don't know how much trash YOU guys generate in a week, but by the looks of these cans I bet I could do with a once a month pick up! These cans are so HUGE that I have no idea where to put them in my yard. They are way too big for the tiny little space where the old can was neatly tucked in to on the driveway. They are also too big to put in the garage... they would take up one fourth the available space. I guess another job to put on my Spring list is to create a space for these monsters where they are not an eye sore, nor compete for the landscaping space. Ideas anyone???

Blueberry Scones... YUM!

Last week I received an email from a friend with a link from America's Test Kitchen attached... for Blueberry Scones. The email read... "If you are planning on coming down to the shore this weekend, I would like these".  What it really should have said is... 'If you are coming down let me know so we can go shopping and bake these together'. OK... now you're talkin'.

I read the list of ingredients, and watched the video. Knowing that the kitchen was not as well equipped as mine for baking (I'm a frustrated pastry chef at heart) I packed things like a rolling pin, micro plane, baking sheet, cooling rack and all of the dry ingredients. Thank heavens I didn't need my Kitchen-Aid mixer! We shopped for the rest of the ingredients and went to sleep while visions of blueberries danced in our heads. Like little kids on Christmas morning we couldn't wait to get downstairs... to start baking! But first... coffee. Then... CBS Sunday Morning Program. OK... NOW can we bake????

As far as I'm concerned the only 2 programs worth watching on television are America's Test Kitchen and Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. Wait... and The Big Bang Theory... so I guess that's 3 programs. Sunday Morning is so peaceful and educational. The closing segment is always a calming view of some beautiful part of the world. It puts me in a happy mood... all is right with the world. I remember years ago when by brother, Les watched this show I thought it was the most boring show on Earth... that only old people watched that show. Well... I guess it's official... I'm old.

America's Test Kitchen is my number one all time favorite cooking show. At first I thought the host, Chris Kimball was joking by wearing a bow tie... however it really does fit his personality. Hey!!! I just noticed that my 2 favorite shows have the hosts wearing bow ties... hmmmm.... I wonder what THAT is all about? Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory would probably wear one too if he had to dress up. I guess I like nerds. Any way... America's Test Kitchen's recipes ALWAYS turn out EXACTLY like they should. Their kitchen crew tests everything in so many different ways, then explain to you why it didn't work and what needed to be changed to get the result they wanted, so you don't have to experiment. I have learned so much about the 'science' in cooking. Molecules, gluten, fat, starch, you name it... I'm learning it.

So... we made the scones. I did things I never have done before to make these. The blueberries had to be frozen... so you didn't end up with Smurf batter. The butter was also frozen, then grated like mozzarella and put back in the freezer. Everything had to be keep cold... and you had to work the dough quickly so the butter wouldn't begin to melt... that's the secret to flaky pastry apparently. Rolling the dough into a log shape with frozen blueberries in the middle was the most difficult step. The little critters kept escaping and rolling onto the floor... but enough stayed put to make it worth the effort. FINALLY.... TA-DAH!

My First Ever Blueberry Scones!!!

The pastry part was flaky and delicious... with a hint of lemon. The flavor lingered well after the last crumb slid down your throat. At first we thought they needed more sugar, but then realized that would make them taste more like a muffin... and besides, there was a sprinkling of sugar on the top... that was enough for a scone. Perfection! Add a cup of coffee... and yummy scrambled eggs with ham, peppers and onions... and you really have to wonder why people eat brunch out on Sundays. They are missing the whole point of  'and on the last day he rested'.