Blueberry Scones with Browned Butter Glaze

A few weeks ago I went to a tea room and had tea so delcious I almost wanted to become a tea drinker. Almost. What really left an impression on me were the scones. So much so, that as I ate a leftover scone I took home I felt the need to make myself a video review of said scone.

I stumbled upon the video and thanked one glass of wine Lauren for thinking so clearly. Because I DID love that scone and needed to recreate it. So here we are. 

Dense and slightly crumbly, dotted with sweet blueberries, I kind of couldn’t stop eating them. The scones from the tea room had demerara sugar on top of them, but I wanted something else (slash forgot to buy some).

Cue the browned butter glaze. I feel like browned butter had a huge moment in the food world a few years ago, and for good reason. Browning the butter in a pan brings a warm, nutty flavor to the butter that is highly addicting. Forgetting the sugar was the best thing that could have happened to these scones. Sometimes forgetting your grocery list can be a good thing!

These warm, crumbly, slightly sweet scones topped with a rich, buttery glaze are perfect for brunch at home. As written, this recipe makes 8 HUGE scones. Like the size of my hand. In the future I think I will make two disks with the dough to make 16 little scones verses 8 GIANT scones.

• Servings: 8 HUGE scones
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: Easy
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Crumbly scones, with bursts of blueberries topped with a rich browned butter glaze. Perfect for a weekend brunch or eating by yourself in two days flat.

Inspired by Bon Appetit’s Cream Scones

Ingredients

For Scones

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick), cut into chunks
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen)

For Browned Butter Glaze

• 1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)
• 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• whole milk to thin to desired consistency, I used about 2 tablespoons

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour. Whisk to combine. Throw butter into the bowl and cut into the flour, using either a pastry cutter or two knives until only small pea sized pieces remain. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add your egg and 1 and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream. Reserve 1/4 cup cream for brushing over scones.  Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the center until a loose dough forms. From there, I just used my hands to gently bring the dough together in the bowl into a  firm disk shape.

Then transfer the disk to a piece of parchment paper and cut into 8 triangles. Transfer scones to a pan lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper, evenly spaced about 1 inch apart. These guys rise quite a bit. Brush with remaining cream and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

10 minutes before your scones are done, make your glaze. Place butter in a pan over low heat and melt. Once melted, continue to gently heat. occasionally stirring, until it turns a color similar to a light maple syrup. Add the powdered sugar and mix with a spatula. This should make a thick paste. Thin with whole milk until glaze reached your desired consistency. At this point your scones should be done. Pour glaze over your scones. Allow to sit for a second to let the glaze set, then eat.

 

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Chocolate Zucchini Banana Muffins

Growing up my Mom always kept a bunch of bananas on the counter. When someone (me) would whine that we(me) were hungry, she would direct us to the bananas. “Have a banana.” Naturally, I did not want a banana. She would then reply that we were not really hungry. And she was right, usually I was just bored.

Its funny what follows us into adulthood, because now I too always have a bunch of bananas on the counter. They are gratefully grabbed when hurrying out the door, cut into bowls of cheerios and smothered in peanut butter for snacks.  So I was quite surprised when I saw this weeks bunch rapidly turning brown. Knowing I would be the only person to eat banana bread, I pondered what else could be made.

 

Peering into our fridge, I saw some forgotten zucchini and an abundance of greek yogurt. Knowing if I made zucchini-banana bread I would still be the only one who ate it. my thoughts turned to breakfast.  Cloaked in chocolate and disguised as muffins, there was a chance my husband would eat them. Plus, a muffin with my coffee in the morning sounded delicious.

These muffins, dense, rich ,and chocolatey hit just the spot. Perfectly moist, I enjoyed one solo fresh from the oven, no beverage required to wash it down. The next morning, it was an excellent compliment to my morning coffee.

I was disappointed that they did not form the desired “muffin top” but I’ll chock that up to the greek yogurt. Or because I am not 100% sure what I’m doing. Either way, I loved these,  and my husband did not even consider that zucchini could be hiding inside.

If you have some bananas wilting away, or feel the desire to hide vegetables in baked goods, these are for you!

• Servings: 12-14 medium sized muffins
• Time: 1 hour
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Rich chocolate muffins with zucchini and bananas, excellent for breakfast or a snack.

 

Inspired by  Fork Knife Swoon

Ingredients

-1/3 cup All Purpose Flour

-2/3 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 cup cocoa powder

-3/4 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-3/4 cup greek yogurt (I used 0% fat vanilla)

-1 large zucchini, peeled and grated

-1 very ripe banana

-1 egg

-1/3 cup butter, melted

-1/2 cup whole milk

-1 cup chocolate chips (I bet walnuts or dried cranberries would be tasty, or cinnamon chips, or peanut butter chips! Or whatever you have hiding in your pantry).

Directions

• Pre-heat your oven to 375° F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners, or grease using softened butter/Baker’s Joy/whatever you like to grease pans with. I used cupcake liners, and then butter when I ran out of cupcake liners.
• In one bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until all ingredients are completely combined. You could sift them together, but I did not.
• In a large separate bowl mash the banana. To the same bowl, add the shredded zucchini, greek yogurt, egg, and melted butter. Mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two or three large increments, mixing just until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated, being sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. The batter will be thick.
• Once mixed, scoop batter into muffin tins, filling until they are just about to overflow. Bake muffins for 20 minutes, if you press your finger to the top of a muffin it should feel firm, not gooey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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