Best Buttermilk Scone Recipe

It would be crazy to know how many scones I have baked in the past ten years, don't you agree?  This recipe was probably the first one I tried when I needed few morning pastry recipes for my very first job.  Joy of Baking was one of the first internet sites that offered a huge array of recipes, all of which were really good.  The recipe I use has been slightly modified from the original but it is such a good recipe I never felt the need to find another one.  At my second job in a tiny restaurant that was open for breakfast for its first 5 months two sweet ladies came in almost everyday just for the scones, and when I was selling them at a local farmers market, the ginger scones were among my best sellers.

The first time I had a scone was in Ireland, the morning after we camped on one of the Aran Islands.  We woke up early, started walking and stopped at a farm house that was converted into a restaurant.  The place  was not open for breakfast, but the lovely owner, a woman in her late 20's, invited us in and served tea and a delicious triangular pastry that must have been a scone.  The dried fruit and seeds made them delicious, I wish I could try her recipe, that was one of the most wonderful breakfasts of my life.  I suspect that the butter had a lot to do with the incredible taste.

I have made these scones with currants, dried cherries and anise seeds, chocolate chips, or crystallized ginger, and everyone who has tried them raved about them, so go ahead and try them, you will never go back.

The trick to light and flaky scones is to use cold ingredients and handle the dough as little as you can.  Once cut, they store for weeks in the freezer so double the recipe us and freeze some to keep for a moment's notice.

Buttermilk Scones
Adapted from The Joy of Baking

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 oz butter, cubed and chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375F.  Mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer.  Add cold butter, mix with the paddle attachment until the butter pieces are pea size.  Add the chocolate chips or any other dry ingredients, mix for few seconds.  Add the buttermilk and mix just until incorporated. Transfer the dough onto a floured surface, finish the mixing by hand to avoid overworking the dough, form a ball and flatten it to a disk 1.5" high.  Cut the disk in eighths, brush with cream, sprinkle with crystal sugar (optional), and bake until golden, 15-20  minutes (turn the temperature down to 350 half way).   Variations:  1 cup chocolate chips, or 1 cup currants.   Add other ingredients to taste, like anise or caraway seeds.  For ginger scones add 1 tsp ginger powder to the dry ingredients, and 2/3 cup crystallized ginger chopped in 1/4" pieces.

A New Career and a Diagnosis

It has been cold in the Bay Area!

I disappeared once again, I needed to regroup, so much has changed since my last post, I am still processing it, but as of April I am no longer baking professionally.  It has been a long and sad process to give up the pastry chef profession, but it was no longer sustainable for me to work in professional kitchens, physically and financially, so it was time to move on.  I have loved the incredible creativity, the many challenges, the ups and downs, the many people I met, especially the wonderful Mayan and Guatemalan cooks I have worked with, they have brightened many long and tiring days.  Besides the hundred wonderful recipes I have tried, and the skills I have mastered, the best thing of all was meeting my mentor and pastry chef extraordinaire Darren, whom I can't thank enough for the incredible work ethics he instilled in me.   Cooking and baking will always be part of my life, and I look forward to baking a lot of cookies for the Holidays.

These flowers are stunning even frozen

So now what?  About two years ago I started thinking of an alternative career, and becoming a Master Gardener in May 2012 pushed me past my indecision and fears and I decided that plants, soil, sustainable gardens, edibles, and getting my hands dirty were in my professional future.  After taking few classes in sustainable landscaping I launched my new career, I now work as a sustainable landscape designer, I have a handful of steady clients, one beautiful yard installation, an ever increasing collection of books, and still lots of learning to do.  I am now in the process of finishing my web site, so stay tuned...

As I close one door and open another, I have been trying to figure out which direction to take this blog, I want it to be about food, but sugar has become my enemy so baking is much harder.  In the hope to help other people with similar issues I feel the need to talk about some health issues which have taken six years to figure out (talk about failure of the western medicine to find a diagnosis!).  

I have been struggling with joint and back pain for the past 6 years, I was told to take anti-inflammatory drugs to control the arthritis.  Considering my age I felt that I was doomed to not being able to get out of bed by the time I turned 60, and I refused to think that that was my future.  Gluten made it worse so I gave up gluten three years ago, but that didn't completely solve all my symptoms, I still couldn't get off the couch without feeling frozen in my joints.  Many tests ruled out an array of autoimmune diseases but I knew deep inside that my GI and joint symptoms were correlated, and I suspected that certain foods were causing the joint inflammation, my primary doctor was clueless.  

At last, and paying out my own pocket, a stint with a nutritionist, and my incredible chiropractor helped me to finally get a diagnosis.  It turned out I have SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth, probably the result of the damage that gluten caused in my body.   SIBO causes inflammation, my body was/is trying to fight it, and genetically I am sensitive to inflammatory responses (my maternal grandmother had horrible joint pain all her life too).  Carbohydrates are my enemy, avoiding all carbs for 3 months made me lose weight, feel finally normal, and to my complete surprise, I am now pain free!  After feeling able to finally move without pain I realized how much the constant joint pain was controlling my life and my mood, so I am mentioning it here in the hope of helping others who deal with multiple symptoms that don't seem related.

Stay tuned for an amazing sorbet recipe!

I am now trying to figure out how to heal my body, medicines for SIBO are not covered by my health insurance (!), and although eating a no carb diet is not feasible, reducing my sugar intake is now my life style.  So now you understand how baking is no longer a simple pleasure for me, I can't bake the cake and eat it too, right?   Even if the cake is gluten free.  Turning this blog into a gluten free/paleo blog is not something I want to do either, so stay tuned while I figure it out.  I still want to bake for my family, my kids have been begging for a while, I need to get my hands dusted in flour again.

There are many amazing bloggers that made the switch to gluten free baking and few that went grain free, here are just a few.

Tartlette
Cannelle et Vanille
La Tartine Gourmande
The Art of Gluten Free Baking
and the most comprehensive of all...Gluten Free Girl 
And a grain free/paleo site Deliciously Organic

 

Refrigerator Chicken Soup

No need to go to the grocery store if you normally are well stocked.

I have been away too long!  Lots has happened, a change of career (yes, again!), few dietary changes, but I am still cooking and baking for my family so more recipes to come.....

When the weather is really gloomy like today a hot soup is what I want to eat.  Knowing I had some frozen chicken broth and lots of vegetables in the fridge I opened the door and pulled all the things that I thought would work in a tasty soup.  In just 20 minutes I had a delicious and nutritious soup.

The recipe below is just a guideline, if you don't have chicken broth use water or a vegetable broth. Beans or quinoa can be used if you are vegetarian.  If you really like ginger add more, or use parsley instead of cilantro, be creative!

Refrigerator chicken soup
serves two


2 cups chicken broth
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 shallots, chopped fine
1 scallion, sliced thin
1 medium carrot thinly sliced
1 stalk of celery thinly sliced
1 garlic clove
1 small piece of ginger, sliced
1/4 finely sliced napa cabbage
half bunch cilantro, chopped fine
1 cup water
4 oz chicken thigh, cut in small cubes
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan heat up the olive oil, add the sliced onions, celery, carrot, and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the ginger, the broth, the cabbage, and a cup of water.  Cook for 10 minutes, add the cilantro, the meat and cook for 5 more minutes.