Scone Heads

Just the second week in and already I have to take a hiatus! Holidays mean holiday parties and there is one for my job this coming Thursday. This means free food, booze, stimulating conversation, and a night out with people I spend 35 hours a week with.. all well and good. I'm planning Christmas Eve dinner right now and i have a feeling it will be the work of 3 Thursdays in one.

I've recently, as of last week.. quite recently, started baking a batch of something or other once a week. Last Wednesday we had the muffins/cupcakes. This week..

SCONES!
After going crazy reading all of the reviews and deliberating over substituting white chocolate morsels for the orange peel.. I stuck with what most of the people suggested:
Bump the sugar up to 1/2 c., the cranberries up to 1 1/4 c. and the orange peel to 1 1/12 or 2 tbsp.
Something I found out about myself recently is that i really hate grating, zesting, getting citrus in my eye. However, it is a mainstay in most of the things I've wanted to make recently. I wonder what little things other cooks (amateur and pros alike) hate to do, but have to for a recipe.

i also made a vanilla glaze to put on top of the scones. A little less than 1/4 c. buttr, 3/4 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla.. stir until it, well, until it looks like a glaze. I'm not being a smartass, that's what the website said.
This time I actually took pictures and will put them up, but not tonight. I still have Season 5 of Lost to catch up on before January.
Priorities.

Thursday 12/10 One bird, three people

Secret to a great cooking success? Pick a really easy recipe and then humbly take all the credit for it. The picture I've put up is from the website, but better ones will soon follow.. because the one I made just looked better.

http://tiny.cc/czoju
^ So, this is the recipe we made. The chicken that was used was actually 3.5 pounds and I can't say I measured the grapes out at all. I have to say, with the red and green grapes sitting around that bird, damn it's a gorgeous dish. I'm finding that presentation makes something taste so much better. Even if it doesn't turn out great, you can't deny if something looks great.
For a former vegetarian, this new experience of cooking with meat (did I mention I took on a 5lb turkey roulade for Thanksgiving.. twice?!) is really exciting. There are so many recipes, flavors, and variety that I want to try everything .. and then tell Blogger about it.

To get ready for Thursday's dinner, I went home Wednesday night and put my one muffin pan to full use twice. First up were Lemon/Raspberry Corn Muffins and then I put together some Lemon / Raspberry cupcakes. I know, a little repetitious, but tendency for monotony comes out in weird ways sometimes.

Cupcakes:
With this recipe, I have to warn you.. unless you are in hypoglycemic shock, do not make the frosting. Or, make it and only put a thin coating on the tops of the cupcakes. One taste test and I thought a kool aid packet got dropped in my mouth instead of what was supposed to be delicious frosting. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of confec. sugar and then some jam. I went with the sugar, put some real raspberries in, and the jam. It also calls for 4 tbsp of lemon juice. I dutifully followed orders and had to drink some water after trying it out.
like I said, I put a thin coat on the cakes and then baked them for 5 more minutes at 325. The cakes themselves are very sweet, but the buttermilk evens it out.
Discussing it last night, we decided that my way would work or maybe a buttercream frosting.
I was told today by my friend Rusa that she woke up today and was thinking about those cupcakes. That has "baking success" written all over it. so, try it out.



Raspberry/Lemon Corn Muffins:
Red and yellow made green somehow with this recipe. Under my office's flourescent lighting there was definitely a .. glow.
It was helpful to read the reviews for this recipe because a stick and a half of butter definitely would have been too much. I used one stick and my muffin liners were still very greasy at the bottom.
If you like zesty corn muffins, this is for you. I think I could have done with a little less time grating the (soft) lemons I got from the store. I ended up with what looked like pulp, but tried to throw in what I could. i doubt I met the recipe's requirements, but I think it came out well.

i'll actually post my own pictures soon if I can just remember to bring my camera around. I mean, everyone I know has an iPhone so I have been using them to take pictures, but haven't gotten them yet. Yes, the mooch system is flawed everyone.
And that's your takeaway

heya

Ah another food blog! Revel in the originality for a moment, and then understand that this isn't meant to be my stepping stone to being the next Julia Childs, that other Julie, or, to set my sights a little lower, Rachel Ray... I am just girl in Brooklyn who has taken up cooking/baking as a hobby rather than a rare event.
I have been cooking my whole life. Cooking pasta, cooking rice, steaming vegetables. Since most of this involves simply boiling water and then boiling other stuff, I figured it was time to get a little more complicated.
I did not grow up in a house where cooking happened all that much. Single mom, latch-key kid, you get the idea. At age 13 I was a culinary peanut butter/jelly sandwich genius, but not much else. Always making due with what was around and getting a little creative here and there sometimes led to disastrous conclusions, but maybe gingerbread cookie batter as dinner is a well rounded meal.. yea, maybe that'll come to light one day.

I chose Thursday out of all the days because it's the day that I have set aside for having a sit-down meal. I will be taking pictures and putting up recipes from those nights. Most of the things will be pretty healthy, but since someone is getting a Cupcake/Muffin of the Month certificate from me, there will be something for the sugar fiends.

that's all for now!