pear & ginger vegan scone

I make scones quite often on the weekends. It's a nice diversion from oatmeal or granola and it makes the house smell like a bakery which is as close the the heavenly ideal as I can get. This Saturday morning, I had scones on the brain and a few Asian pears from our CSA that I needed to use up. Now pears and me have a long history and to put it mildly, I hate them. Growing up we had 2 large and bountiful pear trees and either everyone in our family (but me) was snacking on them out of hand or my mom was in the kitchen baking up pear crisps like they were going out of style. We even had such an overflow of the fruit, that my dad suggested that my brother and I went around to the neighbours selling pears door to door. It was a humiliating experience.

I don't look to kindly to pears and I wasn't happy about receiving them in my CSA. But I hate ignoring something until it goes bad, so I decided that I could dice them up (nixing their mealy texture) and their inherent (gag-inducing) sweetness would bring only goodness to a scone, right? Indeed.

To put it gently, these scones rocked. I was a bit worried that not only was using pears, but that that I didn't have any eggs. But I plowed through and tweaked my usual recipe with pretty spectacular results. They didn't puff up like my usual scones, but otherwise, I couldn't tell a difference. And the pear? It worked beautifully with the ginger and cardamom. And just my luck, we received even more Asian pears in this week's CSA. Looks like there's going to be another Saturday morning scone in our future!

pear & ginger vegan scone
2 c flour
3 t baking powder
1 T sugar
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/4 c Earth Balance margarine*
2 asian pears, diced
3 T diced candied ginger
1 T vanilla extract
3/4 c non-dairy milk (I used almond) + 1 T for topping
2 T raw or demerara sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in the margarine and blend it into the flour so that it resembles oats. Stir in pears and ginger. Add the vanilla to the milk and pour into flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon to combine and then knead the mixture 4 or 5 times with your hands until it comes together.

Place dough onto parchment paper and pat into a round shape. Cut into 8 triangles, like a pie and place parchment paper and scones onto a cookie sheet. Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the scones are golden. Serve warm with your favorite jam or a smear of buttery spread.

*Please note that if you do choose to make these with unsalted butter instead of Earth Balance, please throw in 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I find most vegan margarines too salty and got rid of the salt for this version.

raspberry drop scones

TGIF. Really, it's been one of those weeks. Tons of work, a big flare up of repetitive stress injury and I haven't worked out in ages. All of this means that I haven't gone grocery shopping in days and for someone who walks to the local market every day or two, things are not looking good fridge-wise. And just to add insult to injury (why not?), I made a pound cake on Sunday that is still sitting in it's pretty glass cake dome because it just tastes too yammy. Yup, a cake I made 5 days ago is still available for eating when things get desperate. I'm in a slump and I've got to shake it up.

One thing that I do have going for me is a freezer full of summer berries. It's a nice surprise to pull out a plastic container filled with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or blackberries in the middle of winter (or the beginning of March that feels like the middle of winter). So I made these raspberry drop scones for breakfast a few weekends ago when I was sans slumping. They're not very sweet and they're easy to whip up for breakfast so it makes a perfect little pick-me-up breakfast treat. I think I could use another batch for Saturday morning.

raspberry drop scones
1/2 c skim milk
1 egg
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 c ap flour
1 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1/4 c cold butter, cubed
3 T white sugar
1/2 c frozen raspberries, crumbled
1 T raw sugar

Preheat oven to 425F. In a small mixing bowl, combine the milk, egg, and vanilla and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and salt. Add in the cubes of cold butter and use your hands to break it down into small grains. Add in sugar and raspberries and toss about. With a wooden spoon pour in the milk/egg mixture, reserving about a tablespoon for later. When the dough forms into a ball, knead the mixture a few times and then drop large spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet prepared with silpat or parchment. Brush remaining milk/egg over top each scone and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack. Makes 8 scones.

friends, lovers and scones

Vacation starts in 9 days and while things should be winding down, my dear sweet husband is working harder than ever. For the past 3 months, Cornelius has been in lock-down mode and despite the occasional sleeps and nutrition breaks, it's been nothing but work-work-work. Friends are always wondering how the husband is since he's been in hideout mode. Luckily, he works from home and I still get kisses and long, desperate hugs but I can't wait for these last few days to end. I want to be holding hands in the outdoors and to spend all my waking and unwaking moments with him by my side with nary a computer in sight.

When he crawled into bed at 7:30 a.m. the other morning, I knew he'd appreciate a freshly baked treat upon waking. So I went to my old standby scone which is known around here as Molly's Scone, since the basic recipe came from the always lovely Orangette. I took the recipe, threw in some freshly frozen blackberries and wrestled with the suddenly very sticky dough. The berries added extra moisture and the batter seemed to take on a life of its own, but I continued kneading as best I could and prepared the scones for baking. The results were worth the trouble. I feared leaden nuggets of purple dough but the scones were light and jammy and so delicious! It made for a perfect breakfast with strong coffee and needed hugs.

And speaking of Molly, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her and her newly bethrothed husband, Brandon. Last week while I was fretting over pie dough, I received a phone call from the honeymooning couple who had just arrived in Vancouver and we immediately set up a Saturday morning brunch date at a local restaurant. I'm always a bit nervous meeting new people, but Molly is as friendly and lovely as you might expect (as is Brandon with his cute as a button curls!) and any fears I had about meeting them, melted away immediately. After breakfast, some poking about in shops, and the discovery that we had actual real-life friends in common, we departed ways and will definitely make plans to meet up again. Blogging, it's an amazing thing!


blackberry scones
1/2 c milk
1 egg
2 c flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1/4 c cold butter, cubed
3 T white sugar
2 large handfuls of frozen blackberries

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk the milk and the egg together until frothy and then set aside. In a large bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and blend the mixture with your hands until you have no lumps larger than a pea. Add the sugar and the blackberries and toss about until the blackberries are coated with the flour mixture. Add the egg mixture slowly until the dough comes together. Leave any remaining egg mixture to brush on as glaze.

2. Turn dough out onto a clean counter and knead it no more than 12 times. Pat dough into a round approximately 1/2 an inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges with remaining egg mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

peachy keen

The photo was taken on top of Anarchist Mountain overlooking the Okanagan desert....and all the brown forest fire smoke coming across the Washington border.

Our week-long camping trip was wonderful! We canoed on Slocan Lake, wandered around historic Greenwood, and dreamily made plans for the future. Ahhhh, I love summer roadtrips and get-aways! The food was amazing as well. The vegetarian cashew chili I prepared the first night was delicious and the left-overs made an amazing burrito dinner the second evening. Over the course of the week, we had amazing barbequed corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, delicious nectarines, and the best sandwiches from the Frog Mountain Cafe in Cresent Valley. Yum!

Back in Vancouver, I made sure to start our return to civilization on the right foot with a freshly baked batch of peach and vanilla scones for breakfast. The turned out deliciously and were great served with cold butter and a bit of cinnamon honey from the Okanagan. To carry on with the peach theme, dinner was a super-tender pork tenderloin roasted with peaches and ginger. As much as I love travelling, I sure do enjoy the comforts of home!

peach & vanilla yogurt scones
1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 T sugar
1/3 c chilled butter, diced
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c vanilla yogurt
2 T milk
1 peach, diced

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter. With your hands, combine the flour and butter together until mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are no larger than peas.

3. Add the vanilla extract, yogurt, milk and peaches and stir into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. When the mixture comes together, knead the dough a few times, and then flatten dough into a disc about half an inch thick. Cut into 8 pieces, place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

pork tenderloin with peaches & ginger
1 pork tenderloin
salt & pepper
1 t olive oil
2 peaches, diced
1 red onion, diced
2 T chopped ginger
1 T chopped garlic
1 t molasses
1 T soy sauce
1 t hot sauce
juice of half a lemon

1. Heat oven to 450 F.

2. Sprinkle salt & pepper over the pork tenderloin. The secret to a tender roast is to sear the meat, so this step is very important! In a heavy cast iron pot, heat the olive oil and sear the meat on all sides. Turn off heat.

3. Add the peaches and onion to the pot. Pour the remaining ingredients over top and mix with a wooden spoon. Cover the pot and place into hot oven for about 30 minutes or so. Remove lid and continue cooking for another 15 minutes before removing from oven. Slice and serve.

less is more

I would hate to say that a mere scone could result in fistacuffs, but it would be a lie to say that making these scones were easy-breezy. I'm a bit touchy when it comes to things I'm not completely sure about...things like making bread and pie crusts or recipes with excessively complex directions just turn me into a bowl of jelly and I get the freak-outs quite easily. Funny thing, I've made this recipe 3 times previously and found it to be wickedly simple to make and amazingly easy to eat.

So what went wrong this morning? Maybe it was lack of coffee in my system or maybe I still had a bit of fighting spirit from last night's Critical Mass bike ride. Whatever it was, the makings were a bit messy. My original plan with these scones was to add some frozen strawberries and some grated coconut to jazz these babies up. However, when I had Cornelius read the recipe from Molly's blog, he "forgot" to mention when to add the additions until it was too late. I had already added in the wet ingredients and was about to start kneading when I asked Cornelius, "when do I add the berries?" Oops! He claims that he did indeed tell me when to add the extras but I wasn't paying attention*. A heated debate insued and it was finally decided that it would be best to keep the scones as is because I was afraid as to what might happen if I added in the extras too late in the game. What can I say, I'm a chicken through and through. Bruised and battered but still a team in this endeavour, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best with our virgin scone recipe.

The results? Simply amazing. I never thought that a plain scone would satisfy. It did, but I'd be lying to say that the addition of a schmear of butter and a dollop of drippy sour cherry jam didn't make them closer to god. Divine, truely.

[As an aside, thanks to the very lovely design blog, Oh Joy! for saying such nice things about this little space. Thank you!]

molly's scones
1/2 c milk
1 egg
2 c flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1/4 c cold butter, cubed
3 T white sugar
Flavorful additions of your choice, to taste (currents, dried cranberries, lemon or orange rind, frozen berries, grated coconut, candied ginger, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix the milk and the egg together until frothy and then set aside. In a large bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the cubes of butter and blend the mixture through with your hands until it's blended through and you have no lumps larger than a pea. Add the sugar and any flavour enhancements of your choice. Add the milk and egg mixture, reserving about a tablespoon as a glaze for later.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean counter and knead it no more than 12 times. Pat dough into a round approximately 1/2 an inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges with remaining egg/milk mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

* Hmmm, was I paying attention? I'm not telling.

forest city here i come!

On Monday, I will be heading back to the city of my birth, London, ON, for a week long visit with my parents and brother. I know this is a long shot here, but I'm hoping that someone who reads this is either from London or knows the city very well. I think I stumbled across a London-area food blog a while ago and I can't remember anything more than that. I'm looking for day trip ideas, things to do and good restaurant haunts. Any takers?

In more non-food related news, Cornelius and I have been through quite the traumatic experience regarding our cat, Snoopy. Cornelius' cat allergies and asthma have gotten steadily worse as of late and early in the week we came to the conclusion to give up the Snoopster. An ad was posted on Craigslist and a notice was posted at the local Union Market. Maybe my ad was too cute, but we received calls and emails right away. Cornelius' idea of an ad was "Free Cat. Elderly." -- as you can see, he did not want Snoopy to leave! Someone came to visit with her that night and agreed to take Snoopy the next day. Yesterday, at the appointed time, the girl came to pick up Snoopy but had to make 2 trips, so she took some food and the litter with her and said she'd pick up Snoops in an hour. During that hour (yes, there were tears!) Cornelius and I couldn't help but make up terrible stories about the horrible fate Snoopy would have to suffer in the hands of this so-called seemingly nice stranger. An hour later as promised, the girl returned but Cornelius told her no, that we had changed our minds. Yes, we became flakey cat-people but we couldn't help ourselves! We couldn't part with Snoopy!! The girl was very understanding (and truely nice) and she was able to get a car and had Snoopy's food and litter with her, so Cornelius went down to the street with her and picked up our belongings. I felt so bad about the ordeal (& I should have given the girl a bottle of wine for her troubles but I forgot!) -- but the thought of losing the best cat in the world (truely she is!) would have been too much for both me and Cornelius to bear. Phew, Snoopy doesn't know how close she came! How's that for a crazy story for my 2nd weekend cat blogging post?

And since this is after all, a FOOD blog, here is my contribution to the food blog world: cranberry-walnut scones that I made yesterday for breakfast. This breakfast was meant to be a soothing spot for the day ahead.....oh well, they were tasty! I used Orangette's recipe as the base, but added dried cranberries & walnuts instead of crystallized ginger and pistachios (a combination I definitely will try later!). I made these on Christmas morning too, with the addition on orange zest and I forgot to add the zest this time 'round. The zest did certainly add extra flavour, but as is, these scones are still amazing. Easy to make and my first foray into the world of kneading. Who knows, maybe bread will be next!