You CAN Bake Scones

If I can bake scones, then you can too! Last week I told you that you can bake biscotti, and now I'm telling you that you can bake scones! Don't be afraid - you can do this. If you can bake bread or make a cake, then I know you can handle scones. And oh - homemade scones are soooo yummy.

These are my fave scones - they're cream scones and they are very simple. They are the first scones I ever made {thanks to the homemade mix & recipe given to me by a friend}!

White Chocolate-Apricot Cream Scones

Here's how simple baking scones can be: Mix up the dough/batter; Knead a little; Pat into circles; Cut into wedges; Bake. Sometimes you make them in other shapes or bigger or smaller. Sometimes you brush the tops with something before baking. It's really that easy. If that still scares you, they even make special scone pans that already have the wedge separations - just put your batter in and bake!

 I think you should pick a scone recipe today and make some for breakfast tomorrow morning {scones are most delicious when fresh, but still good leftover}! The above scones are the only ones that I have a recipe for here on my blog. All the other scones I've tried are from various internet sources. All were yummy! Here they are in case you want to try them...

Strawberry Mascarpone Scones

Chocolate Chip Orange Scones

Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

Cinnamon Eggnog Scones

You CAN bake scones!

Have you made scones before? Do you have a favorite scone recipe? Did you think that baking scones was more complicated? Share in the comments!

Day 15 of #31Days. Find all the posts in this series by clicking the pic...

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Have a blessed day friends!

You CAN Make Your Own Self-Rising Flour

If I can make my own self-rising flour, then you can too! Seems very specific compared to most of the posts this month, but that's okay - it's such a good tip if you don't know it already. :)

I originally posted this tip over at Pennies & Blessings and shared my recipe for Beer Bread {so yummy}.

For years, whenever a recipe called for Self-Rising Flour, I headed to the grocery store and bought a bag of it. Once I discovered {which just happened within the last couple of years} what self-rising flour actually contained, I was a little embarrassed for buying it! The ingredients for self-rising flour are already in our cupboards! It's so very simple! Here's how you make it:

DIY Self-Rising Flour

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk ingredients together until thoroughly mixed. Store in airtight container. You can half or double/triple the ingredients as necessary for recipes. I just make it right when I need it instead of keeping it on hand in the cupboard.

Um, yes. That's it! See - you can totally do that! And now you never have to buy a bag of self-rising flour again! Saving time & money is always a good thing. :)

These are the recipes that I currently use self-rising flour in:
 ~ Beer Bread
 ~ Caramel Mud Cakes
 ~ Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

You CAN make your own self-rising flour!

Did you already know this tip? Do you have recipes that call for self-rising flour? Share in the comments!

Day 13 of #31Days. Find all the posts in this series by clicking the pic...

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Have a blessed day friends!

You CAN Bake Biscotti

If I can bake biscotti, then you can too! Some of you are like - Yes, I know, I already make it. And some are like - What??? No.way. Biscotti seems intimidating, but it's not that hard! If you can bake cookies, you can bake biscotti.

If you truly feel that even baking cookies is too much for you, then transition into it by trying Cake Mix Cookies and Marble Bars. Once you gain a little confidence, you can move on to other cookies and even biscotti!

I started making biscotti years ago, and couldn't believe how simple it actually was - I rarely even made cookies at the time! Since then, the biscotti has been a Christmas gift-giving tradition for my family. Immediate family, neighbors, and coworkers all get biscotti from us at Christmas time, sometimes paired with coffee or hot chocolate. I should mention that while I do like all biscotti, the recipes that I prefer are not considered traditional and use butter {yum}. Even people who claim that they do not like biscotti will like these recipes. 

Making biscotti is just mixing a batter, forming it into long "loaf" shapes on the pan to bake, slicing the baked loaves diagonally, and baking the pieces one more time. It does not take any more time and effort than baking multiple batches of cookies! I promise! Once you try it, you'll see that it's just not as difficult as it seems. And though it is much easier with a stand mixer, I made it for years with my hand mixer.

My go-to biscotti recipes are Dried Cranberry Biscotti and Double Chocolate Walnut Biscotti. I also made Nutella Biscotti that turned out yummy. Biscotti makes the perfect addition to my Coffee Break in a Box gift idea! Your coworkers or kids' school office staff just might love you for it!

You CAN bake biscotti!

Now take a deep breath, pick a recipe, and go try it! There are a *ton* of delicious biscotti recipes on blogs. You can search and find one that fits your mood. :)

Have you ever made biscotti? What's your favorite kind of biscotti? Does baking intimidate you? Share in the comments!

If you get brave and try it, do come back and tell me. I'd love to hear how it went for you!

This post linked to:
 ~ Chic & Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls
 ~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

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If you want to make sure you keep up with future series and posts, just click to Subscribe to Stop and Smell the Chocolates by Email or RSS!

Have a blessed day friends!

Puffy Apple French Toast Bake

Sometimes you need an extra special breakfast - and one that doesn't require a lot of work is a bonus! This is an overnight recipe, and then baked in the oven so you don't stand at the stove cooking the whole time! And it's DElish! 

Gotta have maple syrup drizzled over - that's what makes it perfect! :)

I was trying to use up some bread, so let it overlap and it turned out great.

The apple topping looks yummy all on its own!

Ready for the oven...

Now that's why I call it Puffy!! The puff does go down as it cools though.

Puffy Apple French Toast Bake

1 loaf French bread {or similar}, cut into 1 inch slices
2 cups half & half
2 cups milk
7 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large apples, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Place 3 rows of bread in baking dish lengthwise, overlapping the slices slightly to fit. {Or just cram it in however you like!}

In a bowl, combine half & half, milk, eggs, vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat with whisk until thoroughly blended. Pour egg mixture evenly over the bread. Push bread gently down into liquid. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight {or 8 hours}.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degress F. Remove baking dish from refrigerator. Uncover baking dish. With the back of a spoon, lightly press bread into egg mixture. Let sit at room temp while you prepare the apples.

Combine chopped apples, brown sugar, melted butter, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in a medium bowl. Top bread mixture evenly with apple mixture. Bake until puffed and golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve with maple syrup drizzled over top.

Rather than a typical French toast texture, this is more custard-like. I actually liked it better the second day when it was a little firmer, but my son loved it the first day! Also, because I didn't add any sugar to the milk & egg mixture, the only sweetness comes from the apples on top and the syrup you drizzle over. Once you have the syrup on, it's perfect! But if you desire more sweetness in the French toast, you could add some sugar or honey to the milk mixture.

Do you like overnight recipes? Are you a French Toast fan?

This post linked to:
 ~ Chic & Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls 
 ~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

Have a blessed day friends!

The Muffin Fail

Things do not always go right for me in the kitchen!  Sometimes the fails are my fault and sometimes they're not, but I take comfort in knowing that all of my friends fail sometimes in the kitchen.  Right??  Just nod yes and make me feel good.  :)

Sometimes fails aren't pretty...

like this one...

Pound cake fail.

Or this one.

Strawberry ice cream fail.

But sometimes they are deceptively pretty...

like this one...

Chocolate chai fail.

Or my latest failure ~ Chocolate Raspberry Muffins!

Muffin fail.

Such pretty muffins ~ such horrible taste!

Don't those muffins look delicious?!  The recipe sounded yummy to me.  Unfortunately I was making them very late at night to take to church in the morning, so I was under time pressure.  I did follow the recipe exactly (which was in a cookbook!), but if I had more time I might have realized that something was wrong.  It was the salt.

The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of salt, but it only made 12 muffins.  And it called for a stick of salted butter too!  Now, I did hesitate as I was adding the salt, thinking it seemed like a bit much, but surely the cookbook couldn't be wrong (and it's not like they said something crazy like tablespoons!) - they must know something I don't!  LOL!  I knew there was a problem as I was putting them into the oven and then tasted the leftover batter from the bowl.  WOW - super salty!  But...maybe...possibly...the flavor cooks out?  Or combines with the chocolate and raspberry so you don't notice it?  Noooooo...it did not.

Sadly, I kept sampling the muffins thinking that they couldn't be THAT bad because they looked so good!  But they were bad every taste I took - LOL!  Hubs tasted them and was disgusted.  Son took one little teensy taste and couldn't stand it.  There was nothing I could do with them other than throw them away  - AFTER taking pics for a blog post, of course!  :)

So, what do you think?  12 muffins with chocolate chips, some raspberry jam filling, a stick of butter and the other usual ingredients - how much salt would you add?  If I can figure it out, I may try again, but I really don't want a chance of having to throw out another dozen pretty muffins - it makes me cringe.

Have you had any failures lately?  It's OK to share - you're in good company.  :)

Have a lovely day friends!

12 New Things ~ Attempting Pie Crust

Though Sarah Mae at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee is no longer doing this (she had to scale back), I decided to continue on my own and I thought you might like my November update!

For November I was supposed to make my own pie crust.  Ugh.  I made pie crust once or twice long long ago, as in over 20 years ago, and it didn't work out so well and was too much trouble I thought.  So I used Pillsbury refrigerated crusts all these years (and sometimes Marie Callender's frozen crusts).  I was perfectly content with this method as my hubs' grandmother complimented me many years ago on my flaky pie crust!  I had used Pillsbury, but didn't dare mention it as she only made homemade pie crust.  Instead, I simply thanked her!  :)

But as I'm trying to move toward less processed foods and more cooking from scratch, I made the decision to attempt homemade crust.  What I *should* have done was try out a few recipes before Thanksgiving.  But nooooo...that would not fit my procrastinator ways.  I decided to try out a butter crust (I don't care for shortening and am trying to use less oils that aren't extra virgin olive or coconut.)

I found a great tutorial on making butter pie crust at Smitten Kitchen.  I felt fairly confident that I could handle this crust and so went ahead and made it...the night before Thanksgiving.  It didn't go so well.  No fault of the recipe or tutorial!  Just my own unfamiliarity of working with dough!  I used the crust anyway.  'Cause wasting a stick of butter just doesn't sit well with me.  I should have started over.  Really.

Here it is.  Unsuccessful pie crust that should not be used.

Go ahead and laugh.  I won't be offended!  May I list out a bit of advice on pie crust?

- One should make sure that the chunks of butter in the dough are the size of small peas rather than the size of pea pods as in the above pic.

- When cutting the recipe in half to make a single crust, one should remember to cut the amount of water in half BEFORE adding it to the mixture.  Adding lots of flour after the fact to make up for it does not make good pie crust.

- After rolling out, if it looks like clumps of butter barely joined together by dough, one might consider starting over.

- If one is going to really mash the dough into a glass pie plate trying to shape it into something that resembles crust, it might be nice to butter the pie plate so the crust will actually come out later.

- If one gets too tired and decides to make pie in the morning instead, one should probably cover crust that is already in pan in refrigerator with plastic wrap so crust doesn't completely dry out.

- If one decides to use the crust anyway because one rationalizes that it will be filled with pumpkin deliciousness (I tried this Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie) so maybe nobody will notice, then during dessert time one should declare loudly "I don't know WHAT happened to this crust - I should get my money back!"

- One should get pictures of failed pie crust as it's sure to make a good post if one happens to be a blogger.

So now I see that pie crust takes practice and patience!  Yes, I will try to make this butter pie crust again.  I have a feeling that it will take me a few tries to get it right.  I guess that's what learning a new skill is all about!  It doesn't mean that you will be instantly good at it!

I did not yet finish my November project of reorganizing my China cabinets, but hey, the month isn't quite over!  My book for November was Pride and Prejudice which I finished today - *happy sigh*!  Love that book!  In fact, I didn't start it until after Thanksgiving because I knew it might distract me from making things like...pie crust.  I hadn't read Pride and Prejudice in years and realized that the A&E version of the movie (which I own thanks to hubs!!) is very close to the book which makes me happy!

Do you make homemade pie crust my friends?  Any tips?  Or are you a faithful Pillsbury user?  Did I make you smile today?  Are you laughing *with* me?!  :)

Have a great day friends!

Chocolate Friday ~ Chocolate Chat On Cocoa Powder

Chocolate Friday is here!!  That means you deserve a bit of chocolate at the end of a hard week!  That's right - I say you deserve it and don't let anybody tell you different!  :)  I don't actually have a recipe for you today, but I want to give you a little chocolate education instead!  I'd like to tell you a little about the difference between cocoa powders.  I only discovered the difference in the last few years, so maybe this info will be helpful to some of you.

When we think of cocoa powder, we think of basic unsweetened cocoa powder - the most common brand being Hershey.

But have you ever looked at a recipe that asked for Dutched cocoa powder or Dutch-process cocoa powder?  Did you know that it was something different or did you go ahead and use the regular cocoa powder?  There is actually a difference and it will make a difference in the flavor of your cooking!

Dutched cocoa powder has gone through an alkalizing process which gives it a darker color and makes it less acidic.  The result is a richer, more intense chocolate flavor and a nice deep chocolate color.  You will sometimes see Dutched cocoa powder called for in recipes for beverages or desserts that aren't baked since the flavor is less bitter than regular cocoa powder.

If you substitute one for the other, you might not notice a huge difference, but it will affect flavor and could affect how your dessert rises.  I personally stock both kinds in my cupboard and use exactly what the recipe calls for.  I have seen it suggested that you could use the Dutched cocoa exclusively, but the other fact to keep in mind is that the alkalization process removes antioxidants - more than half!  Plus your cocoa has gone through additional processing which might not be as healthy for you.

So - Dutched cocoa powder will have the better flavor and color, but regular cocoa powder is less processed and will give you a higher number of antioxidants.  Also, I find that Dutched cocoa powder is more expensive and harder to find in the grocery store.  But I will continue to use both!  Here's my Dutch cocoa powder:

The tricky thing is that it doesn't say Dutched anywhere on the front!  Check the ingredients on the back:

That is definitely only dutched cocoa powder.  You might want to check the back of your own cocoa powder!  The other alternative is to buy a brand that combines the two types.  Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder is actually just a combination of regular and dutched cocoa powders (so don't spend your money on it if you already have both kinds in your cupboard!).  And remember - in this case - just because it says "Dark" doesn't mean it's healthier!  It's a darker color, but has less antioxidants.

Here are some recipes I have that use Dutched cocoa powder:
Chocolate Cinnamon Bread
Chocolate-Pecan-Cranberry Cake
Cocoa Crispy Bars
Iced Cappuccino Smoothie (from my old healthy blog)

Did you already know all of this or did I teach you something new today?  Was that too educational of a post for you or did you like it?  Did I make you think that I was a Professor of Chocolate?  LOL!!

Now it's your turn to bring on the chocolate!!  Write up a new chocolate post or find a delicious one in your archives and come back here to link it up below!  Chocolate!  Chocolate!  We love chocolate!!  Don't forget to stop back here later to check out the yummy links (did you check out the ones last Friday?).

Have a chocolatey day friends!!  Oh and I should remind you that since next Friday is the 1st Friday of the month, it will actually be Dessert Friday!  That means that chocolate is allowed but we can also bring the non-chocolate desserts so they don't feel left out!