Christelle's Scones with Strawberry and Lemon (The best scone recipe ever)

* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 cup white sugar + 1 tbsp sugar reserved
* 5 tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup dried currants or raisins, dried strawberries, or whatever you want.
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1 egg
* 1 tablespoon milk

*zest of 2 lemons, or an orange, or a lime, again whatever you want

strawberries and lemon are good, and blueberries and lime are good.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and sugar into a large bowl. Cut in butter using a cheese grater or rubbing between your fingers until it is in pea sized lumps. Stir in the currants or whatever fruit you choose. Mix together 1/2 cup milk and sour cream in a measuring cup. Grate your zest into this mixture. Pour all at once into the dry ingredients, and stir gently until mostly blended. A little flour not fully mixed in is about when you should stop. Overworking the dough results in terrible scones!
3. With floured hands, pat scone dough into balls 2 to 3 inches across, depending on what size you want. The dough is very sticky so just do the best you can. They don't have to be perfect. Place onto a baking sheet, and flatten lightly. Do not grease sheet, there is plenty of butter in the scones that will take care of the sticking and you may end up with burnt bottoms if you grease. Let the scones barely touch each other. Whisk together the egg and 1 tablespoon of milk. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, and sprinkle each with a little bit of sugar.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are golden brown, not deep brown. Allow to cool slightly before eating.

I made this batch into 4 big scones and if you do that then they are 10 weight watchers points a piece. Ouch!!!

Blueberry Lime Cornmeal Scones

These scones have the potential to be very good, well they are very good but the recipe told me to greese the cookie sheet and also to cook on 450 F and that resulted in burned bottoms. This recipe calls for lime zest and the lime flavor in the scones is really nice with the blueberries but I don't think there was enough of it. I also don't think there were enough blueberries. I am going to write this recipe for you the way I think it ought to be.

1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
3 tbsp white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter chopped up
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
zest of 2 limes
1 1/2 frozen blueberries
1 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400 F

Combine 1 1/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup cornmeal

Add 3 tbsp white sugar

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

cut in 1/3 cup cold butter until flour mixture resembles course crumbs

Zest 2 limes

Combine the zest of 2 limes, 1/2 cup buttermilk, and 1 egg

Make a well in dry mixture, and add the buttermilk mixture all at once.
Stir with a fork until just moistened. Don't over mix.

Toss frozen blueberries with cornstarch, and then add to flour mixture.
Drop dough on floured (not greased) sheet pan in 12 mounds 1 inch apart

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden on top.

The recipe I used also called for a a drizzle made with powdered sugar mixed with lime juice. I did not do this because it just adds more calories, and I have never had a good outcome when making icing with just powdered sugar and a moistening agent. It always tastes icky. I used some honey instead. It was pretty but the honey got all over me every time I ate one. Its really not necessary they are good plain. The recipe also called for sliced almonds sprinkled over the top but again, more calories.

Eggs Benedict Skillet, An Epiphany!

So I have been dreaming about and planning this recipe for a few weeks now. It all started when we got our new cast iron dutch oven. If you don't yet have one your missing a great piece of kitchen equipment and you should run out and buy one right away. I love mine even though it weighs about a gazillion lbs. I got it for a freaking steal, $29.99 at Homegoods. Yipee!!!!
Moving on... Kevin wanted to find camping recipes for the dutch oven and he ended up finding one for this delicious breakfast skillet thing with hash browns, bacon, eggs, jalapeños, cheese, and salsa. (I will blog it soon.) That dish got me thinking about what other things we could make in the dutch oven and for some reason Eggs Benedict popped into my head. This is what I came up with. It's a real winner, although I actually made it in a skillet not the dutch oven. Toasted English muffins soaked in egg (like you would for French toast), cubed ham (I could not find Canadian bacon), and a easy no fuss Hollandaise sauce I found that you make in the microwave. This is the easiest way to make Eggs Benedict you will ever find. You could feed and impress a large group, without having to poach a thousand eggs.
Now my original idea was to also have a layer of home fried potatoes on the bottom of this dish since thats usually what you get with Eggs Benedict, but I totally forgot this morning when I was making this. I was going to saute them up with some onion and garlic and then add the diced ham. Next time I make this I'm gonna add the tatters for sure so I'll let ya know.

P.S. This recipe makes about twice as much Hollandaise sauce as you need.

What you will need


7 large eggs
3 English muffins
1 1/2 -2 of diced ham or Canadian bacon
1 Lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Melt one stick of butter in medium bowl.

Crack and seperate 4 eggs adding the yolks to the butter while reserving the 4 whites in a large bowl.

Whisk the butter and egg yolk mixture until well blended.

Add 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and the juice of 1 whole lemon or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice and mix well.

Microwave mixture, uncovered, on high, until just slightly thick,
about 1 to 2 minutes, stopping every 20 seconds to stir with a
fork or whisk.

It may take a little longer than this, but sauce will thicken up.

Remove sauce from microwave and stir in mustard.

Once the sauce is done you can leave it in the microwave until skillet is done to keep it warm.

If it is cold when you are ready to use it heat for 20 more seconds.

Split and toast 3 English muffins.

Once toasted, cut each half into quarters.

Whisk the three remaining eggs into the reserved whites and soak the toasted English muffins in the egg for about 2-3 minutes.


In a cast iron skillet saute 1 1/2 cups of ham until slightly colored and hot, 2-3 minutes.

(here is where I would change things for next time. I am going to saute onions and garlic in some olive oil, add already parboiled frozen diced potatoes and saute until golden brown, add the ham, and continue)



Pour the egg and English muffin/egg mixture over the ham in the skillet.

Spread everything out so that you have bread and meat in every bite.

Cover and heat in oven at 450 F for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.

Heat for another 5 minutes or until cheese has melted and egg has set.

Top with as much Hollandaise sauce as you like.
(I only ended up using about half of what I made)

Sprinkle with paprika, and enjoy.