Triple Cinnamon Scones

We've made these several times, and we like them a lot. They take a little while to make, but your time spent is rewarded with delicious cinnamony-biscuity-yumminess. The recipe calls for two specialty ingredients available from King Arthur, and while that can be burdensome, it's worth it to me to keep them in stock. I haven't tried to substitute for them yet.

I have modified the instructions (my part is in blue) from the original (in black, and also some portions deleted). There are also links back to KAF’s original recipe, and their blog entry. My technique is similar to that of my favorite pie dough recipe. I like it better because the dough is easier to handle, without becoming tough. This is, for me, the magical way that allows a bread baker to make tender pastries.

King Arthur Flour’s

Triple Cinnamon Scones, Modified

With cinnamon filling and cinnamon chips inside, and cinnamon-scented glaze (or cinnamon-sugar) outside, these moist, aromatic scones are a cinnamon-lover's dream come true.

Ingredients

scones

• 3/4 cup half and half or evaporated milk 
• 1 cup cinnamon Flav-R-Bites or cinnamon chips
• 11 ½ oz (2 3/4 cups) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pats 
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

filling

• 3/4 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling* 
• 3 tablespoons water 
• *Or substitute 5 tablespoons butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon for the Baker's Cinnamon Filling mix and water. 

glaze

• 14 oz (3 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 7 tablespoons water

tips from our bakers

• Want to substitute cinnamon chips for the Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites? Don't soak the chips; and reduce the half & half or milk to 1/2 to 2/3 cup, starting with 1/2 cup, and adding more if the dough seems too dry. 
• For a thicker, spreadable icing, mix together 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 3 to 4 tablespoons milk. Spread/drizzle over the scones.

directions

see this recipe's original blog »

1) Combine the Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites with the half and half or milk in a small bowl. Let the mixture rest for about 20 minutes.

2) While the cinnamon mixture is resting, get started putting together the rest of the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3) Dump the flour mixture out onto a clean board or countertop, and bury the butter pats in the flour. Using the heel of your left hand, plunge into the flour/butter, smearing the butter out. Use a bench scraper or similar spatula item to scrape any butter off your hand, and then use it to scoop under the flour, and flip it back over the top of the mound. Continue smearing and folding until all of the flour has become less powdery and slightly yellow, and the mixture is crumbly. Some larger butter flakes should remain. Take care not to melt the butter with your hands.

4) Stir the eggs and vanilla into the cinnamon-milk mixture. Mix the filling, and set aside. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

5) Add about ⅓ of the liquid ingredients into a well in the dry ingredients and use the bench scraper to fold flour back over the top. Continue folding, adding the rest of the liquid, until fairly evenly mixed.

6) Pat the dough into about a 9”x9” square, and move to a generously floured surface (I lift the dough, scrape the board clean under it, and add flour). Fold dough into a “letter”, by flipping up ⅓ from one side, brush off excess flour with a pastry brush, then fold ⅓ of the dough over from the other side. Use a rolling pin to roll back into a square. Repeat the “letter” fold for a total of three foldings, alternating which direction you fold from.

7) Roll the dough out into a 9” x 15” rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough. Fold in a letter fold over the filling, to make about a 3" x 15" rectangle. Gently pat/roll it to lengthen it into a 4" x 24" rectangle; you may want to cut it and make two 4”x12” rectangles, to make it easier to handle.

8) Cut into six 4" squares. Transfer the squares to a lightly greased (or parchment-lined) baking sheet. Now you have a choice.

• For large or med scones, cut each square in half diagonally to make a triangle; you'll have 12 scones. For medium scones, cut each square in half diagonally again (an “X” cut), making four triangular scones from each square.
• For scone strips, cut each 4" square into three rectangles, for a total of 18 scone strips.
• For tiny squares, cut each 4" square into nine ~1" squares, to make 54 bite-sized mini scones.

9) Gently separate the scones (if you like scones with crunchy edges), leaving about 1" between them. For softer scones, separate the scones just enough to break contact between them.

10) For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. If you’re hungry, skip this step, they’ll still be good.

11) Bake the scones until they're golden brown, about 16 to 20 minutes, or 13-15 if you skipped the freezer. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the scones to cool right on the pan.

11) Make the glaze by stirring together the sugar, cinnamon, and water. If the sugar seems particularly lumpy, sift it first, for an extra-smooth glaze.

12) Now you're going to coat each scone with glaze. You can dip each one individually, which is quite time-consuming. Or line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment, and pour about half the glaze atop the parchment. Set the scones atop the glaze, swirling them around a bit to coat their bottoms. Then drizzle the remaining glaze over the top. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each scone, to coat it entirely. The glaze is very thin, so this is easily done.

13) Transfer the scones to a rack set over parchment, to catch any drips. As you pick each scone up, run its sides over the glaze in the bottom of the pan, both to use up some of the extra glaze, and to make sure all sides are coated. Allow the glaze to set before serving the scones.

Yield: one dozen large triangles; 2 dozen med triangles; 18 strips; or 54 mini squares.

(Kentucky) Cream Candy

This recipe was passed to me by my father, who learned it from his mother, and simply called it “cream candy”. I do not know how far back it goes. They were both from Kentucky, and a similar recipe appears online as “Kentucky Cream Candy”. Dad is no longer here to help us make the candy right, and all I had was an ingredient list, about two lines of instructions, and my memories of watching him make it when I was little. Now when my brother and his family come to visit at Thanksgiving, we try making it, and I update the recipe once again. It's almost time to try again!
>>We made it again, forgot to take photos, and once again thought it was going to fail but pulled it off. I'm editing the recipe to include this year's discoveries.

This candy is soft, and yet crumbles when pinched, and has a smooth, creamy, melty mouth-feel. It has a delicate creamy, buttery, hint of caramel taste, and a texture similar to butter party mints. It might be good with vanilla or peppermint added during the pulling process, but is delicious unflavored.

While the technique is hard to pull off “just right”, it is none the less forgiving, entertaining for onlookers, and if not beautiful, always delicious.

Ingredients:

1 c whipping cream
3 c sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c water

Directions:

1. Fill a large bowl halfway with ice water, and place nearby in case you get hot candy on your skin. If that happens, dunk into the water immediately.

2. Place a glass of cold water and a spoon nearby. As the thermometer passes the various candy thresholds like thread, and soft ball, dribble some into the water and see what happens. It's fun to see it change, and you can fish out the blob and eat it. Dad always did this, and I’m sure it is vital to the process.

3. Prepare a cooling place for the hot candy, either an 18”x24” heat-resistant silicone mat on a granite countertop, NOT sprayed with cooking spray, or any combo of baking pans making a total area of about 9”x18”, sparingly sprayed with cooking spray. Too much spray causes a terrible threaded, stringy mess that will try your patience when pulling the candy.

4. In a very large pot, whisk cream, sugar, and soda until combined. Add water and salt, and whisk until combined.

5. Cook over med-low heat, stirring only until it begins boiling. Using a lid at this early stage may help clean the sides of the pot. Once it begins to boil, stop stirring, and remove the lid. Cook until it reaches 250°. The temperature will rise and level off as the candy goes through various phases, and the color will change to a light gold. If you pull it off the heat too early, you will end up with something like caramel-flavored maple sugar candy, and it will never “pull” right or become creamy; perhaps there is something to the “dribble test”, after all. I'm giving up on using electronic thermometers on my induction stove. They all seem to wig out, and give inaccurate readings.

6. Pour candy onto prepared surface. Do not bother scraping the pot when you pour, as this will cause an undesirable crystallized streak. After pouring out as much as possible, scrape the pot with one spoon for each “helper”, cool it in the cold water, and pass them out. Yum!

7. Allow to cool until you can handle it without burning your hands. I let it even get to room temperature, and it still worked fine. DO NOT grease your hands, and pick up the candy. Do not hold onto it for long, and it should not stick to you.  If absolutely necessary, add the smallest touch of butter/cooking spray to your hands. If you grease it too much, it becomes a horrible tangle of individual strands that look impossible to combine back into one mass. Patience will be rewarded; it will come back together eventually.

8. Pull and fold and pull the candy, like a taffy puller would. Have a partner available to pass it to, because your arms will get tired. Or, have both people pull it together; this takes coordination, and is funny to watch. Don't hold it for too long or it will stick to your hands. Try to work all of the candy into the pull each time, rather than keeping the same portion in your hands. I read a post that suggested pulling as a ring, twisting it back into a smaller ring as it gets too large. It didn't work very well for us; it needs to be slapped back together, rather than just a twist.

9. Pull until you think something must have gone wrong, and keep going. Then, pull some more. This aspect lends "exhibition" potential; think of it as a magic trick, to entertain family and friends.

10. It eventually becomes more fragrant, lighter in color, and more "fogged" as you pull. Practice making a rope as cleanly as you can, getting it to pull into an even, ~1.5" dia rope before folding it over, so you can drop it quickly and cut it into nice little logs when it’s done. (Haha, good luck with that).

11. When you think all is lost, and someone is genuinely convinced that it is a failure, it becomes extra oozy-feeling, and shiny. It will get a different feel as you pull. Then it will heat up; we caught it go from a steady ~82° up to ~95°.

12. At this point, stretch it out into a nice rope and cut it. The candy will suddenly change from soft and stretchy to brittle and crumbly in one brief, magical moment. Here’s hoping that is after you’re done cutting. If you don't stop pulling at the right time, it heats again, this time to ~105°, just before becoming solid and crumbly. We need to check and see if it heats up again even if you stop pulling, as I expect it does. 

13. If you failed, and instead have a mass of crumbles glued to your hands, crumble it off and break it into chunks. Now you have small, irregular pieces to enjoy. If it turns out gritty and grainy, store it and give it a few days. It should eventually lose the grittiness, and achieve the creamy mouth-feel.

14. Cool, then put in an airtight container. I like a tight-lidded cookie tin, lined with wax paper. The texture improves overnight, but there may not be any left by then. I hear it’s good for several days, maybe more.

Cheesy Rolls

 I had almost abandoned my search for a bread to go with chili, when a co-worker brought in a loaf of her favorite cheese bread from the deli to share. Ureka! That had not occurred to me! A little searching, and I found one blog article describing an amazing cheese bread recipe, which turns out they got from King Arthur Flour's blog! Obviously, their cheese bread was the one to try.

Success! KAF's cheese bread is great; but I must confess I altered it...

I was in a hurry, so skipped the overnight starter step in favor of adding all the ingredients at once, like a regular bread.  I did not have the pizza dough seasoning, but I did have three of the main ingredients, so I added them: malt, cheese powder, and buttermilk powder. I also used all cheddar cheese. So, not exactly their recipe, but great anyway.

The problem is, a bread that is great fun for the family to rip into pieces and share is difficult to share at the office, which is where the chili party was going to be. So, I made it again, this time cutting the dough in half, patting each half out to about maybe 9" x 15", and spreading on half the cheese, rolling up, and cutting into eight rolls, for a total of sixteen. As individual rolls, it looks like more bread than when it is four small loaves. The rolls have all the same lovely flavors and textures of the larger ones, and they are easy to share, and great with chili.

 Here is my roll version of this bread.

Bread shaped as 16 rolls instead of 4 loaves.

Cheese rolls also make great ham sandwiches.

Pretzel test

Ok, I've gotten caught up in an exploration of pretzel bath methods for my pretzel recipe, and now I've got to find out which is best.  Here are the methods I have identified: 

1. Cold lye bath method: 1 oz. food-grade lye, dissolved in 1 quart of water. 30 second dip, sprinkle with salt, then bake. Please follow the link, and follow their safety instructions. This is the most desirable, authentic method.
2. Cold sodium carbonate bath method: 100 g sodium carbonate dissolved in 2 cups of water. Immerse raw, shaped pretzels in the bath for three to four minutes, rinse off the excess dipping solution in a large bowl of plain water, sprinkle with salt, and bake.
3. Sodium carbonate boil method: Boil 6 cups of water. Add 2 to 6 tablespoons sodium carbonate . Boil pretzels for 1 minute, sprinkle with salt, then bake. 
4. Baking soda boil method: Boil 6 cups of water. Add 2 to 6 tablespoons baking soda. Boil pretzels for 1 minute, sprinkle with salt, then bake.
5. Water boil method: Boil pretzels in water for 1 minute, sprinkle with salt, then bake.
6. Egg wash method: Beat an egg with 1 Tbsp water. Brush over the top of the pretzels, sprinkle with salt, and bake. But this is really just a bread twist with egg wash, not a pretzel.

 I made a batch of sodium carbonate, and a batch of pretzel dough, and here we go! I'm skipping #1 because I don't have any lye. I might come back to it one day. I'm also skipping #6, because I know it will make a pretzel-shaped roll, having no true pretzel flavor. Here are my tests. I made one pretzel by each of these six methods:

2. Cold sodium carbonate bath
3. a. Sodium carbonate, 2 Tbsp in 6 c water, boiling
3. b. Sodium carbonate, 6 Tbsp in 6 c water, boiling
4. a. Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate), 2 Tbsp in 6 c water, boiling
4. b. Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate), 6 Tbsp in 6 c water, boiling
5. Plain boiling water

And here they are! I drafted my husband to help keep track of which pretzel was done by which method. He wrote what they are on the parchment in red Sharpie. Here's the layout:

5     2   4a
3a  4b  3b

5. Clearly the plain water pretzel did not get anywhere near the color that the others have. It also tasted more plain. However, my son thought it was the second best.
2. The cold carbonate dipped pretzel looks puffy, maybe because it was not restricted from its rise by being partially cooked by the boiling water. This tied for first in our family taste test.
3.b. The 6 Tbsp sodium carbonate pretzel looks the best (lower right), and tied the cold version for best taste.
4.b. The 6 Tbsp baking soda pretzel had a bit of a chemical taste to it in some bites, not very appealing.
3.a. & 4.a. Both of the 2 Tbsp boils did not add much pretzel taste.

I thought I was done at this point, and turned back to the remaining six ropes of dough laying on the table waiting to be made into pretzels also. I twisted two and gave them the cold sodium carbonate soak, and slipped two into the 6 Tbsp sodium carbonate bath.

The boiling pretzels looked terrible! They had been proofing for maybe 20 min before I twisted and boiled them, which looks like allowed the boiling water to burst some bubbles and soak into the pretzels. Yuck! I baked them anyway, but probably won't eat them.

I took the remaining two dough ropes, folded them up, and re-rolled them. On a whim, I tried for the Bavarian-style shape, where the twisted arms are very thin, and the big loop is fat. I boiled one and soaked one. I reduced the oven to 425° because the first tray browned too fast, leaving some boggy places in the pretzels. Here's the result:

Beautiful cold-bath pretzels on the left, gnarled boiled ones on the right.

I was able to bake them longer, and I let them get darker. The beauty in the photo above was clearly better than any from the whole first tray. Cold bath wins. The boiled pretzels, even the ones that didn't get mangled, all had a heaviness from the water. That wasn't the case for the cold soaked pretzel. Not only is that a pretty pretzel, it also has some of that true pretzel flavor, which must be approaching that of its lye-dipped cousins. It also crunched when we pulled it apart. :) I think this one isn't puffy like on the first tray because I inadvertently let the rope rise about 20 min before twisting it.

Then there's that curious fat Bavarian-ish pretzel using the cold-bath, in the lower left corner of the tray. I didn't get the shape quite right, it's too closed up, but it was tasty, and has lots of promise! The fat back edge was really nice, and the little arm nubs were crunchy. I'm definitely trying that shape again!

Pretzels: What goes in the bath?

I've been looking deeper into pretzels to develop my recipe, and learned a few things. I'm feeling a bit like a chemist now. Here's the deal: First, a Bavarian would say we're making pretzel-shaped brezels. Where I live, we say we're making soft pretzels, and can shape them various ways, including the traditional pretzel twist. Second, a Bavarian/German would say they must be dipped in a cold lye bath, then baked, to get that lovely deep pretzel color and taste.

A lye solution is a strong "base". In cooking, acids (lemon, for example) are common, but bases are not. Well, I'm not really ready to deal with lye in the kitchen just yet. The only other option I knew of was baking soda, which is a much weaker base, but is more kitchen-friendly. Then, I ran across this article, where they suggest baking your baking soda to get a stronger base.

They said that baking drives off water, making a stronger base, then you add it to a water bath. Hang on, then do you gain anything in the process? This is where it becomes chemistry. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO₃. When you bake it, you get sodium carbonate, Na₂CO₃ 
 
2NaHCO₃→ Na₂CO₃+ H₂O + CO₂
 
Hmm, then you mix the Na₂CO₃ with water, and you get more OH- than mixing the original baking soda would provide. I can't nail down the reaction, but I guess it isn't that important.

I took 8 oz of baking soda, spread it on a baking sheet and baked it at 275° for an hour, and ended up with 5 1/8 oz of what must be sodium carbonate. I noticed a fine dusting tended to float into the air as I poured, so I tried to not breathe it or get it in my eyes. Interesting. Now to make some pretzels...

8 oz Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda)

Baking the baking soda at 275° for an hour

5 1/8 oz Sodium Carbonate

Pancake Update

We made the "Good Old-Fashioned Pancakes" again (see first posting here), doubling the recipe and adding vanilla. A double recipe makes about 18 pancakes. Three per person is plenty; four worked for my pre-teen son, two for my youngest daughter. We're going to freeze the extras, and pop them in the toaster, or maybe microwave, on a school morning. I plan to make these when we want waffles, but we're out of buttermilk.

Update: The kids put frozen pancakes in the toaster on "defrost", and ate them for breakfast on school mornings. I didn't get any because they ate them all. I take that as an endorsement.

Something Unusual

I've been trying to think of a "bread" that would go well with chili. I usually use Fritos, which I think are great in chili, but it seemed some sort of bread should work. But what? Crackers? Bread sticks? It would be best if it was quick to make, so you don't have to plan ahead too much.

The other evening in the shower, an idea just emerged from nowhere, simply appearing in my head. Scoop out some sourdough starter from the fridge, mix in self-rising cornmeal mix and water, and cook it kinda like a pancake.

Tonight we had vegetable beef soup, but had no good bread, so I decided to try it.

Roughly, it was 1/2 cup starter, maybe 1 1/2 c self-rising buttermilk cornmeal mix, enough water to make it about like pancake batter, a pinch of salt, about 1/2 tsp baking soda, a tsp of sugar, and maybe 2 tbsp of powdered cheese. I didn't measure though, so that's all an estimate. We heated a skillet with about a tablespoon of bacon grease to 375°, and dumped it all in. It cooked like a pancake, browning and setting on the edges as bubbles slowly formed. Gave it a flip, cooked the other side, then slid it out and buttered both sides.

I thought it was a little underdone in the middle, so would try 350° next time. It tasted pretty good, a lot like cornbread sticks, and not very noticeably sourdough. The kids liked it a lot. I think next time I'll try shredded cheese instead of powdered, because the powder was lumpy, and I'm not big on keeping ingredients like that stocked in my home. My husband suggested jalapenos.

A Hoe Cake or Johnny Cake is a cornbread flat-bread kind of thing. A flapjack is a sourdough pancake. So what is this? A Jack Cake?  Or maybe a Flap John? I'll have to try it again, next time my sourdough starter needs to be "fed", and I don't want to make sourdough bread.

Engilsh Toffee Success

I tried the toffee again (refer to previous post), this time cooking it to 300°. Oh, what a great move! The butter flavor was so great, very "browned". The texture was also better. A nice crushy crunch. This time I used milk chocolate, which usually isn't my favorite, but I think it's the right thing here. I had the full amount of almonds this time. After toasting them all, I chopped  a few, maybe 1/4 cup. I put the whole slivers on the bottom, poured the toffee over them, spread the chocolate on top, and sprinkled with chopped almonds while still soft. I don't know if the chocolate bloomed this time, it wasn't around long enough to find out. :)

Update: I made it again with Nestle's semi-sweet chips, and preferred that to the milk chocolate. It's so good, though, the chocolate is really more of a personal preference. White chocolate would probably work too.