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.

Lemons and Limes

Today we made... scratch that, my mom made Lemon Poppyseed Scones. I took the dogs for an early morning run again. Unlike the Maple Nut Scones, these are more like biscuits in moisture and texture. With the coming of spring, I crave fresh flavors. What's fresher than lemons?

Lemon Poppyseed Scones
(adapted from this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_1528,00.html)

3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 c butter
2-4 tbsp poppyseeds
1 c buttermilk
juice of 1/2 of a lemon
1 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and lemon zest together.
Cut in the butter until coarse meal.
Stir in poppyseeds and then buttermilk. (Mix as with the Maple Nut Scones, gently.)
Divide dough in half, pat into rounds on a floured surface.
Cut each round into 8 to 10 wedges.
Arrange on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit.
Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar into a frosting, drizzle over the scones.

I have some plans for these limes. I'll post that experiment soon.

Maple Nut Scones

I've realized that using a Mac with Blogger has its drawbacks. Like not having the option to insert a cool link into my post (that one down below was only acheived because I used a PC that time). Instead you get this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Restaurant-Quality-Maple-Oatmeal-Scones/Detail.aspx. Not exactly pretty, is it? Nonetheless, this link goes to a great scone recipe that I use regularly, even switching it up and making other flavors. My Gingersnap version is widely appreciated (at least the people at the local lumberyard love it). I do, however, make a few changes and have a few tips, if you should like to make these. First, I don't add the dried cherries, but instead a cup of chopped walnuts. Also, scones are a type of biscuit. I have no idea why so many of their recipes ask you to stir in the extras after mixing in the liquids. That is a quick way to end up with some tough, nasty scones. Instead, stir in any extras (nuts, raisins, poppy seeds) after you've cut in the butter and before you stir in the liquid. Speaking of the liquid, I add an extra splash of buttermilk so that I don't have to stir as much to wet all the ingredients, and I use 1 teaspoon of maple extract, not 1/2 of one. Why, you might ask? Because I am my father's daughter; if 1/2 is good, 1 must be extra good. (But don't tell him that. I enjoy teasing him mercilessly about the fact that if he's sent to the store for one quart of half-and-half, he inevitably comes home with two, "Just in case." This goes for most everything.)

Back to the stirring and preparation of the scones, I find that you should start off by gently folding to incorporate dry and wet ingredients. Then, when it's almost all mixed, I get my hands dirty (and sticky) by gathering the multiple lumps and working in that stubborn bit of dry lingering in the bottom of the bowl by patting the lumps into a large ball and dabbing the damp outside into the lingering dry bits. When you're done, the whole thing should be a moist, somewhat sticky ball. Don't try to pack the ball too tight, though, because you might ruin some of the biscuit structure. Basically, over-mixing is your enemy while making scones. Put a very liberal amount of flour on your counter, do NOT knead the dough as the recipe tries to trick you into doing, and proceed to divide the dough and cut as the recipe tells you. If you put this dough on a lightly floured surface, you WILL be using something to scrape it off. It sticks. But the end result is delicious. Oh, and keep an eye on them the first time you make them. Ovens are finicky appliances, and you don't want to end up with burnt scones. I top mine with a "never the same twice" icing of powdered sugar, dash of salt, maple extract and hot water or coffee. If you make it runny enough (but not so much that it just sinks into the scones), and put it on after they've cooled a bit, it should harden nicely on the outside. I find these store best uncovered, as when they're covered they tend to get sticky. Enjoy!