and everything nice

The first bite is like heaven.

The other day, my friend Kristen texted me from Utah, saying that she had lost the recipe I gave her for my Maple Oat Scones, and she was having a craving. I don’t know about you, but when I have a craving and can’t find the recipe, it is very serious. I texted dear husband and told him exactly where the recipe was, and asked him if he could take a picture and text it to me (I was out browsing at a kitchen store just minutes before the beginning of the Great Seattle Snowpocalypse of 2019, and it was making dear husband very nervous, but I’m from the Midwest, and these things don’t bother me much).

Can you read my writing?

I texted the recipe to Kristen, and all was well in the world once more.

Kristen and I made these scones together at my house not long before she moved away, so this is a very special recipe to me. It was a recipe that I suffered over, searching high and low to try to achieve a certain texture; a dense, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth scone. Not light and cakey. If you are looking for a light and cakey scone, this is not for you. If there is anything I hate, loathe, despise and abominate, it is a cakey scone.

Dense, but still flaky and melt-in-your mouth perfection.

When I came across Rose Beranbaum’s recipe for Flaky Scones, I was thrilled. It was exactly what I was looking for… almost. The texture was wonderful, but they were plain scones, and I was obsessed with the idea of a Maple Oat scone, something brown-sugary cinnamony maply oh my goodnessy. So I tweaked a thing here and there, and this is what I ended up with, adapted from Rose (or Rosy, as I like to refer to her, since I love her scones so much) Beranbaum’s Flaky Scone recipe:

Preheat your oven to 400° 30 minutes before baking. Set a baking sheet in the oven before preheating.

Have ready and waiting for you in your fridge:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 to 16 cubes.
• 1 cup heavy cream, very cold.

In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed, 1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats (or quick cooking), 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

This is the easy part. Whisk it all together.

Now get that cold cubed butter out of the fridge or freezer,

and dip your fingers into the flour mixture, then press the cubes of butter into large flakes. Do this quickly so that the butter doesn’t melt. Sometimes I hold the cold plate with my fingers first, to make sure my fingers aren’t too warm.

Okay, it’s a weird picture, but I wanted you to see the flattened butter cube!

Do this with all the butter, adding them to the flour mixture as you go.

Stir in the cream just until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to come together in large clumps.

Knead the dough in the bowl just a little bit, until it starts to hold together, then dump it out onto a floured board or countertop.

There will be lots of crumbly bits, and that’s okay. It will all get slowly incorporated as you go along. Shape dough into a 4″ x 12″ rectangle.

Don’t worry if it looks sloppy.

If you have read my post about making biscuits, this is the same process. Cut the rectangle into three sections with a sharp knife or bench scraper. I love my bench scraper.

I love the crumbly bits.

Stack the three pieces and rotate one quarter turn.

Dense and beautiful.

Flatten the stack into a rectangle with your knuckles or bench scraper and do the whole process (cut, stack, and rotate) two more times. Do this quickly so the butter doesn’t melt. It’s messy and lumpy, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Imagine you are Daisy on Downton Abbey. No, wait, I am Daisy, and you can be Mrs. Patmore. Your third rectangle might look something like this, with most of the crumbly bits incorporated.

Still looks rustic.

Now take a lightly floured rolling pin and roll it out a little more, until it’s about 3/4″ thick.

Don’t roll it too much!

You should end up with a 4″ x 12″ rectangle. Mine this time was more like 6″ x 12″, which is why my scones look so long and narrow… Trim the edges and cut into triangles with a sharp knife or bench scraper.

Mash the edge scraps together to make a small rectangle, and cut into two triangles. These ones will be misshapen, but they are always my favorites. Nobody can have those but me.

What’s not to love?

Transfer all of the cut scones to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure there is about an inch (more or less) of space between the scones.

Place tray in the hot oven on top (nested) of the cookie tray that is already in there. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges start to brown. Place a tea towel on a cooling rack.

Take the scones out of the oven and carefully transfer them to the tea towel that is on the cooling rack.

The misshapen ones look weird, but they are so good!

Now cover them lightly with a second tea towel and let cool until scones are almost to room temperature.

When I first saw this technique for cooling scones (and I have seen it several times), I couldn’t believe it. I thought for sure they would end up soggy, but somehow, magically, they are still crispy and flaky on the outside, and oh-so-melt-in-your-mouth perfect on the inside. Believe it.

Now make your maple glaze – stir together 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until smooth.

Drizzle over the scones once they are at room temperature, or close to it. You can drizzle a little or a lot. The recipe makes a lot of glaze, just in case you like to drench your scones. That has never happened at our house.

This one makes me want to cry.

Yes, that is the misshapen one. I’m not obsessed over it or anything. What I really want to try sometime is to make these scones, but skip the whole stacking and turning thing. Just knead a teeny bit and make a large round of the dough and bring it together as best as I can, and then cut the round into pie shaped wedges. But the way I do it now works so well that I’m not willing to mess with it. I may just try it tomorrow. In the meantime, if you are still following along, grab your scone and cup of tea and relax. As Millie once said to me when she was less than 2 years old and I was hustling and bustling around the kitchen, “Wewax Mommy, wewax and dwink woh tea.”

Do you like my sincere fox mug?

By the way, these keep nicely for a couple of days, wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature. Reheat in a 250° oven for about 5 minutes.

Oat Scones

• 2 cups (9 ounces) all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup old fashioned or quick cooking rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 16 cubes, chilled
• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Maple Glaze

• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° 30 minutes before baking. Set a baking sheet in oven before preheating.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
3. Add the butter, and with your fingertips, press the cubes into large flakes.
4. Stir in the cream just until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to come together in large clumps.
5. Knead the dough in the bowl just a bit, until it holds together, and turn it out onto a floured board or countertop – it will be crumbly.
6. Shape dough into a rectangle (4″ x 12″), and cut into three sections, stack, rotate, flatten and repeat two more times. End up with a 4″ x 12″ rectangle (roll with rolling pin if necessary).
7. Trim edges and cut into triangles with a sharp knife. Transfer scones to cookie tray lined with parchment paper.
8. Mash the edge scraps together to form a small rectangle. Cut into two triangles and transfer to cookie tray.
9. Place cookie tray in the oven, nesting it in the hot cookie tray that is already in the oven. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
10. Cool in tea towels on cooling rack.
11. Drizzle with glaze when scones are almost at room temperature.
12. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

These were done with the second, more traditional method.

Yes, well, tomorrow has come, and is now today. I had to try doing this the other way, without all the stacking and turning, without flattening the butter into large flakes… in other words, a much less fussy way. My conclusion? Both are fabulous! The first method, stacking and rotating, etc, makes scones that rise evenly and are smooth on top, and have a very smooth texture. The second method, that I will go over, the scones (shown above) are craggy and nubbly, less fussy to make, and still have a wonderful crispness on the outside and a dense but melt-in-your-mouth texture inside. So if you like a more rustic scone, keep reading.

Have ready and waiting for you in your fridge:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 to 16 cubes.
• 1 cup heavy cream, very cold.

Mix the dry ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats (or quick cooking), 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, (but not the brown sugar). Once everything is well combined, toss in the cubed cold butter (1/2 cups worth).

Now cut the butter in with a pastry cutter or two sharp knives. Should look like this.

Now stir in 1/4 brown sugar. And then stir in 1 cup cold heavy cream just until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to come together in large clumps.

Now knead the dough a bit to bring it all together in the bowl.

Cut the dough in half.

Turn both halves out onto a floured board or countertop and shape into rounds.

Grab a sharp knife or your bench scraper and cut each round into 6 wedges.

Transfer all of the cut scones to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure there is about an inch (more or less) of space between the scones.

Place tray in the hot oven on top (nested) of the cookie tray that is already in there. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges start to brown. Place a tea towel on a cooling rack. Take the scones out of the oven and carefully transfer them to the tea towel that is on the cooling rack. Now cover them lightly with a second tea towel and let cool until scones are almost to room temperature.

Now make your maple glaze – stir together 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until smooth.

Drizzle over the scones once they are at room temperature, or close to it. You can drizzle a little or a lot. With these craggy, nubbly scones, the glaze will seep a bit into the crags which makes them extra delicious.

Oat Scones

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup old fashioned or quick cooking rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 16 cubes, chilled
• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Maple Glaze

• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions (method #2):

1. Preheat oven to 400° 30 minutes before baking. Set a baking sheet in oven before preheating.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients except the brown sugar.
3. Add the butter, and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until butter is size of small peas.
4. Stir in the brown sugar.
5. Stir in the cream just until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to come together in large clumps.
6. Knead the dough in the bowl just a bit, until it holds together, cut in half, and turn out both halves onto a floured board or countertop.
7. Shape each half into a round that is about 3/4″ thick.
8. Cut each round into 6 wedges. Transfer scones to cookie tray lined with parchment paper.
9. Place cookie tray in the oven, nesting it in the hot cookie tray that is already in the oven. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
10. Cool in tea towels on cooling rack.
11. Drizzle with glaze when scones are almost at room temperature.
12. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

I can’t believe I’m posting this recipe, since I give this granola as gifts every Christmas… anyway, if you have a couple of hours to spend in the kitchen, this granola is well worth your time. My entire family is obsessed with it, even my youngest, who enjoys it with yogurt and maple syrup. Who am I kidding? That is my favorite way to eat this granola as well… she got the idea from me :).

I found out about this granola from my friend Glyn, and she found out about it from the “MAKE-A-MIX COOKERY” cookbook. Glyn said the recipe was very forgiving, and I find that definitely to be true, so here is my version of this granola.

I hope you like the cat sticker, which hides an unsightly stain.

Oh, and I don’t use shredded coconut; I use coconut chips. And although there are sesame seeds and sunflower seeds in the recipe, I don’t use them. (The sesame seeds all fall to the bottom, and I’m not big on the flavor that the sunflower seeds add. ) The nuts are raw and the coconut chips are raw as well. Here are the first ingredients you’ll need if you make your granola as I do. Everything but the wheat germ can be found at Trader Joe’s, which I find very convenient. I got the wheat germ at my local health food store. You can probably just skip it if you can’t find any.

Front row is raw pecan halves, raw walnut halves and pieces, and raw almonds.

Preheat your oven to 300°. Put the oats, coconut chips and wheat germ in a very large bowl and set aside. Now, the fussy part. The nuts need to be chopped. If you buy them already chopped, they are ridiculously expensive, so I just buy them whole and raw. I use a cup each of almonds, walnuts, and pecans. I don’t like to chop nuts by hand, so here’s what I do: one cup at a time, I put the nuts in my blender (I have a Vitamix, but other blenders should work as well, or of course, a food processor, which I do not have.)

Just pulse a few times to get the nuts chopped as you like. Nobody in my family likes large pieces of nuts in their granola, so I go pretty fine.

Dump the cup of chopped nuts into the bowl with the oats, and then chop the next cup of nuts, etc. When done chopping the nuts, mix the oats, wheat germ, coconut, and chopped nuts thoroughly.

Set that big bowl aside again. Here are the rest of the ingredients you will need.

Now put the brown sugar, water, oil (I was low on canola oil this last time, so I added coconut oil as well and it came out great), honey, molasses (I use a bit less than a quarter cup… more like three tablespoons, and I find that black strap molasses is too strong a flavor, so I don’t use that kind), salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a sauce pan on medium heat and stand there and stir until the sugar melts. Don’t let it boil! Don’t check your phone! Don’t do anything but stand there and stir. My assistant is helping me. Notice the bits of coconut oil that haven’t melted yet, but also notice the lovely color and smoothness of the syrup. It won’t look like this if you let it boil. Also, never  forget the salt! Glyn said this recipe is very forgiving, which is true. But not if you forget the salt. Trust me, I know.

As soon as the sugar (and coconut oil if you use it) has melted, pour the syrup over the oat mixture and mix well with a large wooden spoon. The mixture will be wet and heavy.

Now you will need two large cookie sheets with sides. Don’t use nonstick. Divide the mixture between the two sheets and spread evenly with that wooden spoon.

My cookie sheets are very large – 13″ x 18″ – so I cook the granola one tray at a time. I suggest you do the same. Once I tried putting a tray on each rack in the oven, to save time. The granola did not cook evenly, and it was way more of a hassle trying to switch the trays to different racks, etc., etc., to try to get it to cook evenly, so don’t do that. You can’t be in a hurry when you make this. Another thing I tried once was putting all of the granola on one tray, to save time. That was a very bad idea. Don’t do that either. Now, write down what time it is on a piece of paper or sticky note somewhere, then put the first tray on the center rack in your preheated, 300° oven, and set the timer for 10 minutes.

When the timer goes off, open the oven, pull the rack about halfway out, and stir the granola… go find that large wooden spoon you were using. Push the rack back in, close the oven, and set the timer again for ten minutes. Don’t forget to set your timer! When the timer goes off, stir your granola again, and set the timer for ten minutes again. By the time your timer goes off the third time (this should equal thirty minutes of bake time… if you are unsure, go walk yourself over to that piece of paper where you wrote down what time it was when you started this whole process), your granola should start to have golden edges appearing, and should look something like this:

Golden edges starting to happen.

Now, stir it again, and set the timer for 10 minutes. Be careful! I find that around 40 minutes or so makes the perfect granola for me – crispy, and deep golden brown. BUT, there have been times where I forgot that last timer, or even that I didn’t forget the timer, but wandered off to do something (which is fine!), but then when I heard the timer go off, I was distracted and waited a few minutes too long to get back to the kitchen. If you’ve ever tried toasting nuts in your oven, you will know that they can go from perfectly toasted to horribly burnt in a matter of minutes, and so it is with this granola. When the timer goes off, take a look. If you think it needs a minute or two more, set your timer for a minute or two more, and then stand there and wait. Srsly. When it looks right, don’t stir it, just take it out of the oven and set the tray somewhere to let it cool completely. It crisps up as it cools. It should look something like this:

This is perfect.

Now, write down what time it is on a little piece of paper or sticky note somewhere, set your timer for ten minutes, put the second tray in the oven, and do the whole thing over again. Yep, that’s right. 40 more minutes. You can do this. If successful, you will end up with about 10 cups of ridiculously delicious granola, and you will feel nervous when your family snarfs it down in a couple weeks time. Don’t they know how long it took you to make this?

Update: I have recently been baking both trays of granola at the same time, with better luck, and it makes the whole shebang much less time consuming. Just make sure that you rotate and switch pan positions every ten minutes for even baking, and don’t skip the stirring. When you place your trays in the oven, do it like this:

A few notes:

Make sure to let the granola cool completely before storing it, otherwise it will get mushy from condensation and be ruined. Store it in airtight containers, and it should last up to six months (!!!), but it never does at my house. Not even close.

Also keep in mind that some ovens run hotter than others, so your timing might differ from mine. Change your cooking times as necessary. I find it comforting to use an oven thermometer so I know what’s really going on in there.

If you want to add dried fruit, do this once the granola is completely cool and just before storing. And if you have lots of time to spare, you can, of course, double the recipe, which is how I used to make it, but I find the whole thing rather unwieldy and difficult with that much granola to mess with, so I just make it more often.

Put it in lovely, airtight containers and give as gifts. I do.

Comfort food is big at my house. Simple is better. In fact, SO simple, that I sometimes despair at ever being able to make “fancy” food again. So when my older daughter came home from babysitting and told me that she had a tuna melt, and it was good, I was overjoyed! Something new I could start to make without complaints from my lovely family. And it falls into the comfort food category, of which I am very fond.

Okay, tuna melts are not fancy, but I can get excited about them if they are on croissants. For now, they are on store bought croissants – – really good ones from Whole Foods bakery. Also, when I was a kid, my mom used to put Worcestershire sauce in her tuna salad. It was so good! So that is the secret ingredient. I really don’t like tuna salad without it. It adds a zing. I was curious, so I started looking around on the internet, and sure enough, Worcestershire sauce in tuna salad is a thing. So this may not be news to you, but if it is, you must try it!

This is what you will need, plus your favorite cheddar.

Oh, if you have cats, put them outside now so they won’t bother you while you are making this. And don’t ask me how those splash marks got on the glass doors. I have no idea. I have children and cats. Preheat your oven to 375°.

They both really really wanted to sit on that cushion.

Okay, I use three small (5 oz) cans of tuna – albacore packed in water. I like the tuna with salt added; that’s just me. Drain it, but save the water for your cats. They will love you. Orange boy LOVES tuna juice.

I don’t really have exact measurements for this, but just put the tuna in a bowl, and throw in some mayonnaise. Just regular mayonnaise please. I don’t like tuna salad that is too mayonnaise-y, so I just put a couple of dollops in.

Mix it lightly, but not so much that you can no longer see the flakes of tuna. I don’t like a mushy tuna salad.

Now add the Worcestershire sauce. Like I said, I don’t have measurements, but if I did, it might be a tablespoon? I just douse the tuna with it and mix it in.

Now chop up your celery (one stalk or so) into cute little tiny cubes. I cut the stalk in half. Then cut each half into four long strips, then chop. This may seem obvious, but really, it’s more fun to have teeny tiny cubes of celery than to have large chunks.

Then mix in that celery. Now cut your croissants in half and place the halves on a cookie sheet with parchment paper (that makes the bottoms get nice and crispy, and makes for easy clean up). Top with the tuna salad. Okay, so I have some picky eaters at my house. One only wants the croissant :), one doesn’t like celery… Hey!!! If you have leftover tuna salad, put it in a smaller container and refrigerate it, but DON’T rinse the bowl that you mixed the tuna salad in. Just set it aside; and no, you are not saving it for the cat.

Now top with small slices of your favorite cheddar cheese. Or another cheese if you prefer.

Put it all in your preheated 375° oven until the cheese melts. This usually takes less than five minutes, but make sure it melts. Dear husband complained one time that the cheese wasn’t melty enough… If it’s easy to do so, switch to broil for the last minute or so to make sure the cheese melts. Here is what I like: crispy bottom, melted cheesy top, but the tuna is still slightly cool in the middle.

Now, I like to serve this with a green salad. I get some mixed greens and put them in the bowl that had the tuna salad in it.

Dress your salad with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then turn your salad around in the bowl to make sure the tuna salad leftover bits get mixed in. By the way, in France, they don’t toss their salad, they turn it. Aller, vas tourner la salade!

Serve and enjoy!

And by the way, my younger daughter requested that I learn how to make croissants… now that really would be a fancy tuna melt! So stay tuned.