compliments always make a girl feel good

This time of year is especially brutal at work. Customers are angry, coworkers are grumpy, and it hasn’t stopped raining in months.  I think I’ve mentioned before we don’t have a dress code at work. This leaves what folks show up in to great interpretation.  I usually dress business casual most days, the days I feel the shittiest are the days I dress the nicest. What makes a girl feel better than having folks compliment you all day?  Today a gal came up to me and said “why are you so dressed up?”  My response was “so you’ll say that!”  she laughed. she knew where I was coming from!

This year, even dressing for success isn’t helping my psyche. I realized I needed people tell me how fabulous I’ve done at something, even if it isn’t my job, so I decided to bake treats for my work peeps.

I made three different scones: bacon cheddar, toffee chocolate chip, and vanilla oat.  The bacon cheddar and the toffee chocolate chip are the same King Arthur recipe just with different add-ins. The vanilla oat scone has been running around in my head for about a year (Hi, I’m the world’s greatest over-thinker).  I cannot tell you how many scone recipes I have book marked, but I have a scone I’m trying to emulate. This morning, I finally pulled the trigger and I’m delighted with how it turned out.

In all of my baking exploration, I’ve learned what I like in a scone and I’ve learned how different ingredients make the final product. I know I like an egg in my scone (without the egg, it’s really just a biscuit.) Super cold butter is a must.  Mixing dry ingredients plus the butter in my food processor gives me a good, even distribution of ingredients and a tender, flaky crumb.

I started with a King Arthur recipe as my jumping off point, but made enough variations I’m calling this my own. It came out perfectly; simple and delicious, not too sweet. Hopefully some of the gals will give their thoughts here.

Here’s what I did:
Add the following dry ingredients plus butter to the food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup  brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) butter
then add
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats and pulse two more times

In another bowl, mix
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 tablespoon (generous) vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined.  Dump out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a jelly roll pan with a silpat.  Using your hands work dough into one one disk then divide into two.  Shape into two rounds, about 3/4-1″ tall.  Using a bench scraper, cut each round into 8 wedges.  Separate the wedges from the circle, leaving about an inch between each wedge.

Bake at 400* for about 20-25 minutes, until scones are golden and edges appear done.  The centers will seem a little soft, but when it cools, they will be perfect and tender.

The picture ain’t pretty and I didn’t take pictures along the way, but they were tasty.  Even got me a marriage proposal.  I’ll call this a win, my psyche sure will!