Christmas Eve Breakfast

My whole family has postponed our Christmas celebration to January. While this meant that we haven't quite felt that holiday spirit this year, it turns out it wasn't that bad of a decision. If my brother and his girlfriend had been flying home, they would have found themselves stuck on the west coast due to the recent weather. Let's hope that January, which tends to be snowier all around, doesn't throw us for a loop too!

Postponed family Christmas celebration means postponed traditional meals. On Christmas Eve we usually have sausage, cheese, dill bread and soup. Christmas morning brings caramel rolls and scrambled eggs. The Christmas Day meal is typically either ham or turkey. There was one Christmas where my mom and I tried to break with tradition and had an Indian meal one day and Cajun the next. I still haven't heard the end of the gastronomic adventures my weaker stomached family members experienced.

Since I have tradition to look forward to and I'm spending this Christmas Eve and Day with my brother and sister-in-law, we're covering the Puerto Rican traditions of my sister-in-law's family. If you haven't had the pleasure to eat good home cooked Puerto Rican food, you are missing out! Earlier this week Jen (my sister-in-law) made Frijoles con bollitas (stewed black eyed pea with green banana dumplings). It's one of my favorite Puerto dishes. Tonight, for Christmas Eve dinner we'll be having Alcapurrias (green banana and plantain dough filled with seasoned beef and deep fried). Tomorrow we'll be having pork roast seasoned with garlic, green olives and adobo. Yum!

This morning, while my brother, Kurt, and Jen went for a run, I made breakfast. I fried up the mashed potato filling from the varenyky like hash. I scrambled a few eggs and cooked some sausages. While all of that was delicious, it mainly played the role of accompanying my first attempt at Ginger Scones. Jen and I have both had Ginger Scones that we've loved. I wanted to capture the variety of tastes you can get from ginger in its many forms, so I used candied ginger, ground ginger, and freshly grated ginger. The only thing I would do differently is to squeeze the juice out of the grated ginger and not use the pulp. Oh, and follow the recipe accurately and not add an extra 1/4 c of butter (oops). What follows is an adaptation of a Buttermilk Scone recipe that my mother found online and which we've found to be the best basic scone recipe. I've marked the items I added with an asterisk. That way you can omit or change those to make your own creations.

Ginger Scones

3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon*
1/2 tsp ground ginger*
3/4 c unsalted butter
1/2 c candied ginger, chopped*
1/4 c walnuts, chopped*
juice from 3 inches of fresh ginger, grated*
1 c plus a dash buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ground ginger in a large mixing bowl and stir together well.
Cut butter into the dry ingredients until coarse meal is achieved.
Stir in candied ginger and walnuts.
Mix fresh ginger juice into buttermilk.
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients.
Using a wooden spoon or stiff rubber spatula, gently mix. (I slide the spoon into the bowl along the edge, scooping up through the center.)
When everything is JUST moist, gather dough into your hands and gently form into a loose ball.
Divide dough in half.
With each half, pat into a loose ball then place on a lightly floured surface.
Pat ball flat to about 1 inch thick.
Cut each dough round into 8 wedges and arrange on cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until inside is dry and outside is only slightly browned.
Serve warm.