Spotting Breakfast - Scones with Honey and Dried Fruit

Sometimes I'm not in the mood for a full blown breakfast. That feeling really kicks in after something like a holiday weekend filled with all kinds of food goodies. I often enjoy a muffin or scone and a cup of tea or coffee instead of a whole meal, so when I saw carina's scone with honey and raisins on TasteSpotting I thought it would be the perfect addition to a morning checking e-mails or editing photographs. Not only did the scone itself look amazingly yummy, but carina's photography is breathtakingly beautiful. The only downside is that carina's website "carina-forum" isn't in english. The recipe is kind of "funny" looking because of the google translation, but it looks simple enough to mess around with to figure out.

Photo from Carina-Forum

Scones with Honey and Dried Fruit
via Carina-Forum

400 ml wheat flour
2 st.l. honey
50 g cold butter
2 st.l. orange liqueur
200 ml natural yogurt
70 g dried fruit
50 g chopped walnuts
1 ch.l. baking powder
1 ch.l. baking soda
dried peel of half an orange
1 egg
pinch of salt

preheat oven to 200 degrees C (392 degrees F)

cut dried fruit into pieces and put into orange liqueur

toast nuts in frying pan until golden

mix flour with baking powder and baking soda

cut butter into flour mixture

add orange peel, lightly beaten egg, yogurt, salt, honey and knead dough

add fruit and nuts last

sprinkle work surface with flour and roll dough to 3cm thickness

use circle cutter to cut scones

line baking pan with parchment powder, and put scones in a single layer

bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown

slice and serve with butter or jam

* carina's notes - The amount of flour depends on the thickness of the yogurt you use. It's better to use very thick yogurt.

I'm not super sure about the tempature. I'd probably choose to round it up to 395 degrees F and make sure to keep an eye on the scones. I'm going to have to experiment with this recipe... It was disappointing to find out the website wasn't in english, but I couldn't use that as an excuse to not post about the scones.

Here's to google translations and full bellies.
- Cait

Plate Planning

My friend Patty likes to blog... and it turns out that she wrote a little bit about me. Her blog is called Colored Sprinkles and the bit about me can be found in her newest post. Patty lives in New York... In Oyster Bay to be exact and works in Soho. So, if you're in the Long Island area, her blog is worth a read. She writes about things she's up to, so you can learn about some different things to do and places to go.

I started working on a list of things I want to post about like "sherbet vs. sorbet', possibly "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" posts utilizing TasteSpotting (a great cooking inspiration), along with posts about what I'm cooking/have cooked, restaurants, and a bunch of other things. It's going to take hours to edit all of the food photographs I have and I want to go out on a nice day to take some pictures of the towns I love eating in around here. I also want to get some of the local farms and farm shops and farmers markets. There's a big farmers market that happens in Doylestown every week, and one in New Hope. I'm not sure if they are still going on now since the weather isn't great and spring is just rolling in - or if they are year round rain or shine kind of things. I need to do some research about that.

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.

- Cait

Annie's Oreo Cupcakes

I was checking out new posts on TasteSpotting.com and fell in love with these darling Oreo Cupcakes. The post was made by a woman named Tracy who apparently keeps a food blog, Tracy's Culinary Adventures.

Photo from Tracy's Culinary Adventures

It turns out that she didn't make the recipe but found it from yet another food blogger named Annie. Annie's blog is called Annie's Eats and she includes recipes along with her photographs... Her food photographs are really great and, the food itself looks awesome. If you also love these cupcakes - here's the recipe!

Oreo Cupcakes
from Annie's Eats

Cupcakes
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

Whipped Cream Frosting
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons Oreo cookie crumbs

Garnish
24 Oreo cookie halves

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the brown sugar and continue beating until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, being careful not to overmix.

Divide the batter between the prepared cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

To make the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs with a rubber spatula.

Transfer the whipped cream to a pastry bag and pipe frosting decoratively on top of the cupcakes. Garnish with Oreo cookie halves.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Now all I need to do is find an occasion where chocolate cupcakes would be appreciated... Any ideas? Twenty-four cupcakes is a lot of cupcakes to make just because, especially if you're the only person that can eat chocolate in your house... Hmmm.

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.

- Cait

Taste Spotting

Okay, I wasn't planning on posting again so soon - but a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a rather fun website. It's called TasteSpotting.com - It's a collection of photographs having to do with food. Anyone can post to it, all you have to do is register and follow their submission guidelines.

Here's a screenshot of the page I got when I went to the site...

There's a category page so you can check out pictures depending on what you're looking for - like drinks, restaurants, or people with food items, etc.

Here's a screenshot of the category page...

I found the website interesting and the photographs are pretty great. Go and check it out! Maybe you even have photographs that you could add to it...

Here's to busy shutters and full memory cards.

- Cait