A Sweet Treat for Your Weekend: Cinnamon Scones!!!

Happy Friday To All!

I thought I’d share a recipe for one of my favorite weekend treats—scones! This recipe is super-easy and soooooooo good!

Cinnamon Scones:

SERVES 12

• 4 cups whole grain flour (see note below)
• 1 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sour cream (less if you use yogurt, probably 1 ½ cups)
• 1 free range egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter up your baking sheets!
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt
Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
In another bowl, combine egg, sour cream and cinnamon
Gently stir until just moistened
Knead dough briefly—don’t overdo it! Your dough should just barely stick together, and be light and fluffy (the more you knead it, the tougher your scones will be—use a light touch!)
Divide dough in two. Place on baking sheets ad pat down into rounds about 1 ½ to 2 inches think
Cut each round into 6 wedge shaped pieces. (if you butter the knife the dough won’t stick to the blade)
Spread scones so they are evenly spaced from eachother.
Bake 20 min or until scones are golden brown. (this will depend on your oven. Mine can take up to 30 min)

Note: when I make baked goods, I use the King Arthur brand “white whole wheat” flour. It’s a whole grain flour that has been ground really fine, so you still get the fiber of a whole grain without the heaviness—perfect for baking!

bake your own biscuits:

today's breakfast: homemade whole-grain biscuits, yogurt w/maple syrup, grapes, and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice! yum!

in an attempt to cleanse our home of processed foods, we have banned cereals in our house. the initial aftermath of this decision was pretty bloody. tantrums over having to take the time to fix breakfast ensued. indecisiveness. more tantrums. regret over missed cereal. grieving for the cereal. but now that we've been making breakfast for the past few months, a funny thing has happened. we are forced to get up a tad earlier. we sit down and eat together. we are not as cranky by lunch time, because we had a real meal first thing in the morning! amazing! i know that not all of you have the time to make a big meal before you rush off to work and school, so i thought i'd share a recipe that is quick and easy, and something you could do on a weekend and have enough to get you through the week!



this is actually a pretty quick breakfast. it takes about 10 min to prep the biscuits and 15 min to bake them. makes 13 biscuits, so you have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week! take the last couple minutes while your biscuits are in the oven and prep your yogurt and fresh fruit. so good!

my biscuit recipe:

-preheat oven to 450
-makes 13 enormous biscuits

ingredients:
3 cups whole grain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unrefined sugar*
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk (or buttermilk)*

-in a large bowl, combine dry ingredients
-with a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
-add milk
-stir until just moistened
-turn dough onto floured surface
-work dough just so that it holds together (if you work the dough too much your biscuits will be more like hockey pucks--so don't over do it!)
-break off in small handfuls, rounding the dough into shape in your hand, and plop the biscuits down on your baking sheet
-bake for about 15 min, or until golden brown.
-stuff your face with deliciousness.

*if you don't have access to a true unrefined sugar, either leave it out or substitute 1 tbsp of maple syrup. add the maple syrup when you add your milk
*i use fresh dairy we get directly from the farmer. if you're already spending the dollars on the organic stuff, it might be worth your while to consider switching to raw, as it has a TON more nutritional value than the pasteurized stuff, and the price difference is negligible if you're already spending the cash on organic. Just be sure to get it from a reputable source!

enjoy!

--rachel