maple oatmeal scones

Yes, I have already mentioned them. And yes, they are quite delicious. In fact, I may go so far as to say that these are some of the best scones I've made. Now, I could never cheat on my one true scone love, the chocolate chip scones from Baking with Julia, but these are of a different type entirely. They have a more hearty texture because of the oatmeal and are delicately sweet, thanks to the maple syrup. Also, I have to add that you should really use real, good quality maple syrup--not the fake stuff (and this is coming from a girl who loves her Log Cabin "Maple" Syrup). It's the only way the maple flavor is going to come through after baking. I also added some cinnamon chips to give them a little extra something. I swear, cinnamon chips are good in nearly everything.

So try them! They're scones with a little more character and they are absolutely delicious. Perfect with a cup of tea on a rainy day.

Recipe here at 101 Cookbooks.

monday morning: things to try

googly eyed breakfast (photo by angie naron)

So Blogger has been doing this cute little thing where it eats the comments I write. I want to, and do, respond to them but for some reason Blogger makes them dissapear! If anyone knows what to do about this, I'd appreciate it because I've tried to fix it and it has not worked.

Anyway, this weekend was filled to the brim with baking. I made some Bailey's chocolate cupcakes for a St. Patricks Day party and a enough cinnamon granola bars to last me the rest of the semester. Also involved was a huge pot of cauliflower soup, which is amazing and delicious, but I probably won't post here because I don't even know the recipe anymore...it got lost in my shuffle of moving between four different places this summer so I'm just kind of making it up at this point. The others will be coming soon, but until then here's a lovely little roundup of things from around the internet that I can't wait to try.

caramel corn from joy the baker I have never, ever gotten caramel to work...here's hoping someday it will happen.

maple syrup scones from 101 cookbooks Ok, so I did actually make these. In fact, I just ate two for breakfast...they're really good.

horchata rice pudding from brian boitano/food network I watched him make this on tv yesterday morning and boy, did it look awesome. Also, "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" is really funny...especially when he has the Yamaguchi's (Kristi Yamaguchi!) to a Mexican themed dinner party.

peanut butter muffins

what a cute little muffin

Peanut butter and muffins? I've never heard of such a thing! Turns out though, they are actually mighty tasty, especially when made with white chocolate peanut butter and chocolate chips. We had them as an afternoon snack with warm cups of tea, back when it was still freezing outside and it was quite delicious. I'm just now reading what the book has to say about them and they suggest serving these with a curry or chicken dinner. I'm not too sure how I feel about that, though if they were more peanutty and less chocolatey, like I made mine, that might work well! I'm still all about the chocolate and peanut butter though, and that ain't ever gonna change.

I also got to use my new silicone cupcake liners for the first time. I've always wanted them, but somehow I couldn't justify spending 20 bucks on cupcake liners. Luckily, I found these cute ones at the clearance aisle at TJMaxx! They're really great because you never need to buy liners, though it does get to be a pain when you have to wash each one by hand. I can deal with that though because I never, ever remember to buy liners or I always end up using holiday-themed ones at the wrong time of the year. Not cool.



Peanut Butter Muffins
from Williams-Sonoma Baking

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 salt
2/3 peanut butter
1 1/3 milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup peanuts (optional, I used chocolate chips instead)

Preheat the oven to 450. Grease or line standard muffin pans.

Mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the peanut butter and a few spoonfuls of the milk until it is smooth, then add the remaining milk. Beat in the butter and eggs. Stir in the peanuts. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until it just comes together.

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans, about 3/4 full. Bake about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

blondies, once again

happiness is...sunshine and blondies

What can I say, I love them.

My favorite way to spend a morning is to bake. Whether sunny or rainy, I love filling the kitchen with sweet smells and savoring the quiet hours with a warm cup of tea. It's the perfect way to start the day.

This weeks study hall yummy was the brown butter blondie, which was absolutely delicious. I added a handful of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips which made for one sweet blondie. I'll probably use less sugar next time, but the brown butter lent these blondies a subtle nuttiness that was just perfect.

Brown Butter Blondies Recipe

i love...gourmet magazine

I don't even like cherries, but that pie looks amazing.

Best part of the weekend? Finding issues of Gourmet magazine at the library for 25 cents. I'm so sad it's out of publication because it is such a beautiful magazine (and a great resource for recipes). I'm head over heels for the cover images and I love that the cover is text free.

Love love love.

monday morning: things to try

flowers, unrelated, but nevertheless nice.

Oh me, oh my, the last few weeks seem to have flown right on by.

So sorry for being lazy and neglecting this dear old blog. I'm thinking about how I can expand my horizons a bit to include things other than just recipes, because it seems as though I've gotten bored of that very very quickly.

In the meantime, here are some recipes from around the web that I've been obsessing over (and in the case of that tomato sauce...made 3 times in the last 3 weeks....) or just dying to try...

tomato sauce with onion and butter from smitten kitchen

british flapjacks (no they're not pancakes!) from bon appetit magazine

rose cupcakes from joy the baker

milk chocolate cookies from martha stewart via heart of light

and finally, the ever elusive croissants. I want to try them so very much, but ever since the pound of butter that went into the filling for the bouche de noel I made in the 10th grade, I still harbor a fear of using that much butter at once. Someday...

butter croissants from gourmet magazine