Valentine Scones

I love British food. These scones were for my dearest Mother's birthday, which happens to be on Valentine's Day. That's the only reason she could stand something sweeter-than-toast for breakfast.

This particular scone was blackberry-lemon; the following recipe was split in three and flavored with:

1. Blackberries and lemon juice

2. Maple syrup and chopped walnuts

3. Chocolate chips, cocoa powder and vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 egg

1 cup (total) of add-ins above

First, blend the sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl. Then, mix flour / sugar / baking powder / cream o' tartar and salt in a larger one. Cut the butter into the dry mixture until it's crumbly and pie-crust like. Then stir in the sour cream mixture and beaten egg until it's all moistened.

At this point, I split the dough into three smaller bowls, and added the extras in no precise quantities. They were extremely dry and not sticking together at all, so like with pie crust, I added more water. It appeared to have been a problem of not-enough mixing, though, because in the end I had to knead in extra flour to make up for the added liquid.

I formed each round into a disk about an inch tall, cut them into 6 triangles each, brushed with egg white, sprinkled with sugar, and baked on an ungreased sheet at 400 degrees for probably around 18 minutes. My large-appetite family seemed to like them alright, and we offered leftovers to guests that appeared throughout the day, but there were still enough for me to take one of each back to school with me. FUEL FOR STUDYING? If I did any, that is...

Rotten Banana House

I had one soft banana in the fridge, and it was almost dinner time, so I bounced cheerily into the kitchen. Mostly the cheer came from the fact that cooking is a most excellent form of procrastination, and there is a giant career fair at my school tomorrow, which involves dressing up in a business suit and being generally discontented all day long. Also my roommate Deag had been discussing the merits of making chili tonight, and the urge to try something new struck!

For this recipe, I scaled down a general muffin recipe and added banana and maple syrup and walnuts. I didn't have an egg, so I added a little more baking soda + milk + oil than was required. The consistency was pretty close to perfect, considering!

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup oats

2 tbsp (plus) sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup (plus) milk

1 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 small mashed banana

1/4 cup walnuts

1. Mix dry ingredients.

2. Mix wet ingredients.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; add walnuts.

4. Spoon into greased muffin cups, and add more walnuts.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

This made only four muffins (cooking for one ain't no fun)!