Summer Flavors

My friend whom I'm staying with for the summer bought a bag of lemons because they were a better value than buying just one or two lemons.  But she only needed one or two of them, so offered the rest to me.  I could have made lemonade, but there was also a pint of fresh picked blueberries from my parents' backyard sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten.  These two delicious summer treats were meant to be combined, so I went in search of a  recipe.  I had in mind that I wanted to make scones.  Scones are delicious!  Below is what I found and baked up.  Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Scones

Scone Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
zest of two large lemons
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup sour cream (I used plain Greek yogurt)
1 egg
1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze
3 T unsalted butter, melted
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set oven rack to the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, gently toss flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a separate small bowl, wisk sour cream and egg until completely smooth.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir sugar and lemon zest together until sugar is moistened and zest is evenly distributed.  Pour in flour mixture and toss to combine.  Grate frozen butter into mixture.  Using your hands, work in the butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Gently stir in sour cream mixture until just about combined.  Very carefully stir in the blueberries, being careful not to squish them.  Do not over work the dough!  It may be very sticky, so have extra flour on hand.  Very gently press the dough against the sides of the bowl a few times and form a ball.  Again, the dough will be sticky but will come together as you form it.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and lightly pat into an 8" circle and 3/4" thick.  Use a very sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles.  Transfer triangles onto prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1" between each one.

Bake scones for 15-17 mins or until the tops begin to golden.  Don't take them out too early or they will be too soft (which is what happened to me).  Allow them to cool for 10 minutes on the pan before transferring onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.  During this time, prepare glaze.  Stir together all ingredients until smooth.  Once scones have completely cooled, go ahead and drizzle the glaze on top with a spoon.

If you have left over glaze, save it and drizzle it over fresh blueberries for a sweet snack later in the day.

Mint + Chocolate = Tasty Treats

My baking theme for February was chocolate mint.  I didn't plan it that way, it just happened because I had two bags of baking morsels that needed to be used (way past the date on the bag) and they both were chocolate mint.  I must have bought them either with a coupon or when they were on sale, because I don't normally buy variety morsels.  So instead of using them in the typical chocolate chip cookie recipe, I went in search of something different.

The first bag was NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® DELIGHTFULLS™ MINT FILLED MORSELS.  I was delighted when I found on VeryBestBaking.com by Nestle this recipe.  I had all the ingredients with the exception of the Nescafe Taster's Choice instant coffee granules, but I did have Starbuck's Via which I thought would be nearly an equal (if not better) substitute.  I was baking them for my church small group gathering that evening and ran out of time to make the coffee glaze (not to mention, I ran out of instant coffee).  But they turned out "delightfull" and my friends really enjoyed them.  Hope you will bake some for yourself!  Here is the recipe:

MOCHA BROWNIES WITH MINT FILLED DELIGHTFULLS™

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (9-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® DelightFulls™ Mint Filled Morsels, divided

Coffee Glaze (optional - see recipe below)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil. Lightly grease.  Combine flour, cocoa and baking soda in small bowl.  Melt butter in large, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power until melted. Stir in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in coffee granule mixture and vanilla extract. Gradually stir in flour mixture. Fold in 1 cup DelightFulls morsels. Spread into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup DelightFulls morsels over batter.

Bake for 28 to 31 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

If desired, drizzle with Coffee Glaze. Allow to set slightly. Lift out by foil edges to cutting board. Carefully remove foil. Cut into bars. Store in airtight container.

For Coffee Glaze:

Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules and 1 tablespoon hot water in small bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking cocoa until smooth.

So, for the second tasty treat, I had a bag of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® DARK CHOCOLATE & MINT MORSELS (like I said, must have been a sale or had a coupon).  Really wanting to stay away from the usual cookie, I looked a bit online and then thought up how I wanted to use them.  Since they were so old that the cocoa butter had begun to appear on the chocolate morsels, they looked spotty and unappetizing.  I knew that they were still good to eat but would be best melted down so that the cocoa butter could mix back in.  I decided to melt almost the entire bag of morsels in the microwave (picking out a few of the mint morsels for decoration).  The best way to melt morsels in the microwave is in 20 second intervals - stirring well between intervals.

Mint Chocolate Brownie Bites

After having melted the morsels, I needed to put them in something.  What better treat to add a spark of chocolate mint to than brownie bites!  I usually almost always have a box of brownie mix in my pantry (never know when I'll be invited to a party and need to bring something).  So, I mixed up just a regular fudge brownie box mix and poured it up in a mini muffin pan (with cute brown and green liners).  Then I took a small spoonful of melted chocolate and added a dab to each brownie bite, swirling it in to the brownie mix with a toothpick each time.  Once they were baked I topped each bite with 1-2 mint morsels and let them cool.  They turned out well with the exception of a hollow spot in a few.  Once again, the mint chocolate combo is always a winner!

As a bonus, I'll share with you a new drink I created that goes along with this theme of mint chocolate.  Basically, I discovered that if I added 8oz of Pure Peppermint tea to one package of Hot Cocoa Mix I get a delicious hot minty chocolaty beverage!  I bought a box of Twinings Pure Peppermint tea Keurig K-cup pods at a local discount store and didn't really care for the tea that much by itself.  It's a very strong peppermint flavor and I'm use to peppermint tea having other herbs in it.  So when I thought of adding it to the hot chocolate it was the perfect blend!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Hope you're enjoying your week and living life the way it's "mint" to be lived!