Category: Breads

Americans like our scones with all kinds of flavors, like blueberry, pumpkin, chocolate chips, apricot & white chocolate …  but traditional British scones are plainer, and are a vehicle for jam and cream. This cream scone recipe is plainer, and is perfect for conveying large amounts of jam and cream to the eater’s mouth. The picture shows scones made with some whole wheat flour. Since real British clotted cream is hard to get in the US, I recommend spreading plain scones with ricotta (homemade or purchased) or strained or Greek yogurt, or crème fraîche (homemade or purchased) and of course your favorite jam. The British method of eating scones is to break off parts of scone, and cream and jam the pieces individually rather than spreading the entire surface of a halved scone, as an American might.

For more tea party recipes see this document.

3 cups flour, all unbleached white or up to 1 cup whole wheat
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, plus a little extra for brushing

Combine the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the smaller amount of cream and the vanilla. Stir with a fork until you have a cohesive dough, adding more cream if necessary.

Libe a baking sheet with parchment. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide it in half, and shape each half into a disk. Cut each disk into 6 wedges. Place the baking sheet in the freezer while you heat the oven to 425°.

Remove the scones from the freezer and brush the tops with some cream, if desired. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes until browned and there’s no wet dough in the center. Serve warm with butter and jam and any other creamy toppings you like.

To keep the scones for longer, when frozen remove them from the baking sheet to a bag or container. Bake from frozen for 20-25 minutes. Baked and cooled scone can also be frozen for longer storage.

A mildly sweet corn muffin accented with blueberries

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup white or brown sugar or honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk, plus a little extra if needed
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries – if using frozen do not thaw

Heat the oven to 375°. Line the wells of the 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease.

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Cool slightly then add the sugar or honey and whisk until smooth. Add the eggs, and whisk again until smooth and emulsified.

Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, then add the sour cream and milk. Switch to a silicone spatula and fold together just until there are no dry spots. You should have a smooth, thick batter. Add the extra milk if necessary, then gently fold in the blueberries.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, and bake for about 20 minutes until firm and browned.

On a Monday morning, I was musing on what kind of muffin to make, using up various things that I had in the fridge and kitchen; banana? No, we’ll probably want to eat the bananas. Buckwheat flour? No, I made some buckwheat-date muffins recently, the ones I always make after Passover to use up the charoset. Ricotta? Yes! These are based on Yossi Arefi’s Black- and Blueberry Ricotta cake. I only have frozen blueberries right now, so was considering, and when I saw her suggestion of chocolate chips, that did it.

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup unflavored oil, such as safflower or canola
1 1/2 to scant 2 cups ricotta (16-oz. container with like a spoonful out)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon kosher salt
grated zest of one organic orange
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups mini chocolate chips
coarse sugar for sprinkling on top

Grease or line the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin with papers. You might need one extra muffin cup or ramekin – I got 13 muffins, baker’s dozen. Heat the oven to 375°

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, and add the sugar. Beat with a whisk until it’s looking a bit lightened – about 3 minutes. Pour in the oil and whisk until it’s nicely emulsified. Beat in the ricotta, breaking up the lumps until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt, grate in the orange zest, and stir. Switch from the whisk to a silicone spatula, and mix in the flour, the baking powder and soda, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 25 minutes until nicely browned and firm.

See original recipe here, makes about 2 dozen buns; updates based on this Bon Appetit recipe, April 2020.

Makes 9 large buns

For the dough:
1/4 cup  water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk yogurt at room temperature
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons salt (or just a pinch if you use salted butter)
3 cups unbleached white flour

For the filling:
3/4 cup King Arthur Baker’s Cinnamon Filling, and 2 – 3 tablespoons water
OR
Use this filling
OR
Date filling:
1 lightly packed cup of pitted and chopped dates, preferably Medjool
!/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
pinch of kosher salt

For the glaze:
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened – microwave for about 10 seconds if you forget to leave it out
1 lightly packed cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Make the dough: Pour the 1/4 cup water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle in the yeast, and let it soften. Add the sugar and buttermilk or yogurt. With the paddle beater, mix in the salt and a cup or two of flour. Start adding the butter by tablespoons. Add enough of the rest of the flour to make a very soft dough. Mix/knead on medium speed for five minutes. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a plastic container with room to let it rise. 2 quarts is a good size if you have one, otherwise cover the mixing bowl airtight. Refrigerate the dough for 8 hours or up to 24.

Make the filling: Place the dates in a heat proof bowl and pour in 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Let stand to soften, 10 minutes or more. Drain the dates, and puree in a food processor with the sugar, oil, and salt. You can refrigerate the filling while the dough rises in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before assembling the buns or it wil be difficult to spread.

Assemble and bake the buns: Grease a 10-12″ cast-iron skillet or 9-10″ cake pan with vegetable oil or butter. Remove the dough from the fridge, and scrape out onto a very lightly floured surface. I like to use a pastry cloth (sometimes called a frame); it’s a piece of heavy cotton printed with a ruler and circles for rolling out the dough. Roll the dough out to an 8″ square. Fold in half into an 8 x 4″ rectangle, then fold rectangle over itself to form a 4″ square. If the dough resists, let it rest about 5 minutes to relax and try again. After the second folding, roll out the dough to a 10 x 12″ rectangle. Dollop the cinnamon filling of your choice onto the sough and spread it, leaving about a 1-inch border on one of the long sides, and going right up to the edge on the short sides.

Roll the dough up tightly and pinch closed. Cut the roll into 9 slices with a chef’s knife or (unflavored!) dental floss and place them in the pan. Cover the pan with a domed lid if you have one, or greased foil if not. Let the covered buns rise until puffy, 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Heat the oven to 350° and bake the still-covered buns for about 20 minutes, until they are risen and firm but not browned. Remove the lid, and continue to bake another 15-25 minutes until nicely browned.

Finish: While the buns are baking, mix up the glaze. Put the cream cheese in a bowl and whisk in the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.

When the buns are done, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle the glaze over and serve warm!

We had instant summer here in Wisconsin this week, and that meant I bought the bananas too ripe to last. We really only had one day when it got up close to 80° and today it’s chilly and rainy, but still, on Thursday morning there were 7 getting-almost-too-ripe bananas in the  fruit bowl, so I made these muffins.

For the streusel:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons butter (half a stick)

For the muffins:

• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 small)
• grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached white but some whole wheat would probably be good)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt, or a nice pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar

To make the streusel, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Slice in the butter and use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut in the butter until you have large crumbs.

Heat the oven to 375° and grease or line a 12-well muffin tin with papers.

Mash the bananas, and transfer them to a 2-cup spouted measuring cup. Add the lemon zest, and the sour cream, egg, and melted butter, and mix.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center, and add the banana, sour cream, butter mixture. Mix just until all the flour is moistened – a few lumps are OK.

Divide the batter into the muffin tin (I got 9 large muffins, but YMMV), and top each muffin with about 2 tablespoons of the streusel.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes until firm and brown.

Based on a 1997 State Fair Baking Contest recipe in the NYT; Originally posted April 2021

or, “How come I’ve never posted a zucchini muffins recipe? in over 10 years of blogging ….” Maybe it’s because I’m never sure if there are 2 c’s or 2 n’s in zucchini.

1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 small)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil, or 1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar or honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
optional: 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped nuts, raisins, etc)

Grate the zucchini and set it aside in a colander or strainer.

Heat the oven to 375° (or 350° for a loaf). Line a 12-well muffin tin with papers, or grease it with softened butter, making sure to get the top of the pan. For a loaf of zucchini bread, grease a loaf pan. I especially like the tea bread size, 12 x 4 inches, longer and narrower than a regular 9 x 5 loaf – it seems to work best for sweet loaves like this.

Measure the oil (or cooled melted butter) into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar(s) and honey of using and egg, and mix well. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Grate in the nutmeg, or just spoon it if you have powdered. Pour in the vanilla, and mix lightly. Add the flour, and top it the zucchini, squeezing some of the moisture out of it as you transfer it by handfuls to the mixing bowl. Fold in the flour and zucchini, then add the chocolate chips, if using. Mix everything until there’s no dry flour or big clumps of zucchini, but try not to over-mix.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until browned and firm. Bake the loaf 35-50 minutes at 350°

Originally posted July 2019