Guest Post: Raspberry & White Chocolate Chip Scones

Hey y’all!
This is Amber’s sister, B. Amber has been M.I.A. since she started her big-girl job wrangling 5th graders (a.k.a. teaching). So, I offered to post a recipe I did this week, just to keep you guys entertained until she gets back. I’m pretty excited because this is the first blog post I have ever done! With that in mind, please bare with me and hope it goes well. Okay, guys and gals, let’s get to it:

This week I was craving scones like crazy! I wanted homemade scones, but the last couple times I tried making scones they came out hard and crumbly, not soft and “melt-in-your-mouth” moist like those you could get from the store. Also, any other recipes I looked at to make scones always called for something extra that I would not normally have on hand (I don’t know about you but I hate when recipes call for ingredients that are so uncommon or rare in a recipe that you end up buying a whole jar/bag of it and only use it once).

So I didn’t want to use recipes that would make me have to buy something extra. I wanted to use what I already had. Finally, after searching for so long that I almost gave up hope, I found a basic scone recipe that looked promising. It came from BedandBreakfast.com where the Cranberry Inn at Chatham, Massachusetts posted a “Light, Fluffy, and Simple Breakfast Scones” recipe. It sounded perfect for me so I gave it a go.

And you know what? I am ridiculously addicted to them (probably gained a few pounds just from those delicious scones)! Here is how they went (sorry for the weird lighting in the pictures – it was early in the morning when I was making these and our kitchen windows get direct morning sunlight. It was difficult blocking out the sun so I just pretend that the scones have a heavenly glow to them):

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RECIPE: Raspberry and White Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Melted Butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup Milk
• Fresh Fruit as desired

Steps:

• Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and melted butter together.
• Then add eggs and milk.

• Add fresh fruit as desired.

**At this point I went to my pantry to see what were some extra ingredients I could add to spice up these scones a bit. For whatever reason, I thought cranberries and white chocolate would taste good together (I want to say that maybe I had a Starbucks scone like that once…or maybe it was just a weird craving). Anyway, I just so happened to have dried cranberries and white chocolate chips in the pantry. Go figure! 😉 I was feeling adventurous so I put about half a bag of the chips and about a whole small bag of cranberries into the batter. This amount just depends on your personal taste buds and how it looks to you.

*Side note: If you do want to add dried/fresh fruit like cranberries or chocolate chips, I would suggest breaking them down a bit in a food processor or something just because I didn’t feel like they were evenly distributed amongst the scones. However, I did fold in the chips and cranberries by hand so I may have not mixed them well enough or I just didn’t add enough. If you do try this recipe let me know what worked best for you! 🙂 You could also add cinnamon chips or toffee bits to the mix (I’m going to try those ingredients next time).

• Mix well. Drop on greased sheet tray.

*They will be sticky when you are putting them on the sheets. I used two spoons – one to scoop a lump of dough out of the bowl and the other to scrape it off the spoon and onto the sheet.

*Also, the recipe said to grease the baking sheets, but since I was using chocolate and it melted, then caramelized onto the sheet while the scones were cooking, the grease did not work so well. Without the chocolate the scones come off easy. However, if you do use chocolate or anything that would melt in the oven then I would suggest using parchment paper if you have it. It just makes your whole life easier.

• Sprinkle top with sugar. Bake at 375 degree oven until just lightly golden.

*I baked mine for about 13-15 minutes and they came out perfect for me – just turning the golden brown on the bottom and in a few spots on top.

Basically, these scones hit the center of my craving, except I just want more of them now that I have the most awesome scone recipe! Oh, and in the final picture, the drink I had with my scones was actually was actually a peanut butter protein shake (I know, I told you I was having weird cravings that day. Don’t worry, Amber will be back soon and she will blog about more normal food combinations. )

But just in case that might sound good to you (i.e. you love peanut butter!) then the ingredients were just 1 cup of milk, 2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (you can always adjust this to how thick you like your shakes) and a scoop of your favorite protein powder (mine- actually I stole some of Amber’s- was cake batter flavored). Blend it for 30 seconds and voila! It was very peanut buttery, but it filled me up quite a bit.

Also the recipe I got it from said to add egg beaters…but I left that out. I was adventurous and had weird cravings that morning, but I was not about to pull a Sylvester Stallone and drink my eggs, fake or not, raw. Thanks, but I am good with my peanut butter. Maybe one day I will try the raw eggs…one day.

But anyway, I hope you try these scones, and if you do, let me know what you think (don’t worry I won’t be offended if you do not like them… I will just think you are crazy and have you send your scones to me so they won’t go to waste.

Okay! That was my first official blog post! Thanks for letting me step in this week guys! Amber should be back soon to fill you in on what has been happening with her crazy kids. Lots of stories to tell I am sure.

Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a random but encouraging quote, just for the heck of it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
– Albert Einstein

Thanks again!

– B

Hollywood

This weekend B and I headed down to Los Angeles with Faye and her granddaughter from Texas, Jessica.

I’ve lived in California all my life, and had never seen the touristy L.A. places, like the Hollywood sign and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Our first stop was the Hollywood sign, but we couldn’t figure out where to go to get a good picture with it in the background, so we gave up and headed to Grauman’s.

First we ate lunch at an Italian food place. Oh yeah, that was all mine. I ate about half.

Then after walking around the plaza, we made our way over to the theater and Walk of Fame to look at all the celebrity stars and hand-and-footprints.

B had to get a picture with Johnny Depp’s square.

We also got to take a tour of the theater and learn about it’s history. This picture is of the downstairs lady’s lounge, where famous actresses would sit in front of the mirrors to get ready. The butterflies painted on the walls are the original artwork.

This is a wax figure in the lobby dressed in traditional Chinese clothing. Back in the day, movie industry people would rub her shoulder for good luck, and we got to do the same!

Next it was off to Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.

Our last stop of the day was at a little café off of Rodeo Drive for some drinks and an amazing dessert.

This thing was soooo good – it had bananas, walnuts, strawberries, and Nutella all folded into a big crepe.

Before we started heading home I talked everyone into getting some Pinkberry since it was just around the corner.

And that was our day! We had a lot of fun seeing some of the sights, and I’m so glad we got to hang out with Jessica and Faye.

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Now it’s back to my classroom to try to get some order in the chaos of stuff before school starts in one and a half weeks! My tailbone is slowly getting better, but I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to get my ankles checked out. Survivor Mud Run is in 46 days and I need to train my butt off these next few weeks!

Just Around the River Bend

On Monday, B and I headed up to the mountains to go to “Skinny Dip” (that’s the name of the place; we didn’t actually go skinny dipping ).

But first we stopped for lunch to use a Living Social deal I’ve had for awhile.

We went to Scoop’s, which is a cute little sandwich, soup, and ice cream shop. I had a turkey sandwich (mediocre) and a salad (pretty good). Both B and I also had an unpictured scoop of cake batter cookie dough ice cream (sooo good!).

Then we were on our way!

We parked the car in a clearing and then hiked about 1 1/2 miles until we found the “secret” trail.

We came here a couple years ago and it took us awhile to find the trail then. We kept saying, “Okay, it’s probably just around this bend.” This time was no different, but at least we recognized the trail once we saw it. (We also had to sing “Just Around the River Bend” from Pocahontas a few times )

On the trail:

Yay! We made it!

So beautiful.

A few minutes after we got there, two guys showed up who had come there to jump off the waterfall ledge into the deep pool below.

B and I weren’t up for jumping, but I got some cool pics of the guys:

Crazy!

After enjoying the view for awhile, and sticking our feet in the cold water, we headed back up the trail. Since it was well past dinner time by the time we got back to the nearby town, we decided to stop and get some Japanese food. I totally forgot to snap a picture before digging into my chicken teriyaki bowl, so here is a dinner-in-process picture:

We got back pretty late, and my tailbone was pretty sore from sitting in the car so long, but it was well worth it! I’ve missed being in the mountains, and I love how secluded and beautiful Skinny Dip is. It was a good day!

Question: Is there a special place you love to go where you know you will leave feeling relaxed and recharged?

Tail(bone) End of the Week

About a week and a half ago I apparently bruised my tailbone playing softball. I was going for the ball and my stupid ankle gave out on me, and I fell on my butt. I’m so graceful.

At the time I was more worried about my ankle, but two days later I noticed my tailbone was starting to hurt. Now it’s gotten to the point where anytime I sit down I’m in discomfort.

I keep thinking it will go away, but it still hurts pretty bad. And I’m not sure if exercising is making it worse… I’ve gone running a few times and I did kickboxing yesterday, and I’m worried that maybe that’s preventing it from healing… Any ideas about this?

I’m thinking I might go to the doctor just to see what he says about it… The Survivor Mud Run is coming up in less than 2 months, and I need to be training, but I don’t want to make it worse…. I’ve also been having ankle pain (but on the inside of my ankle, above my arch), so I also need to go visit an ankle specialist again…. This is frustrating. 

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On a happier note, yesterday was my papa’s birthday (I won’t mention how old he is ). We went down for a late lunch and brought pizza and cake (I know, we’re so fancy).

Papa’s wife, Faye, got home from visiting her sister in France a few days ago, so we got to visit with her, too, and see pictures of the beautiful places she visited.

(B, are you giving me a peace sign with your crazy fingers?)

(That salad hit the spot… thanks Faye!)

(The ice cream cake suffered some minor damage from an earthquake… in the form of B knocking it over on the drive down… still tasted good!)

(My yummy out-of-focus slice of cake)

(It’s a new Kindle!)

(Hey, ZZ and Bo!)

(Hey, Dobbers and B! Lovely pose in a skirt, B! )

(Dobby’s got his turtle- time for a nap!)

Hoping my tailbone can handle a two hour drive up to the mountains on Monday- B and I are going to Skinny Dip!

(Hahaha, not really, that’s just the name of a swimming hole up near Yosemite– people don’t actually skinny dip there. )