Tags
bacon, cheddar, compliments, dress code, King Arthur, rolled oats, scones, toffee, vanilla, work attire
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!