Homemade Scones and Cinnamon Rolls over the long weekend

So, I was a busy baker over the long weekend we had, my daughter was off school Friday and Monday! Our original plan was to head to Iowa to see family, but the weather decided not to cooperate with us, so what was there left to do with unplanned time, bake! I made some chocolate chip scones and homemade cinnamon rolls for the very first time ever! I am shocked I never made them before, I always remember my Great Aunt Ellen making them and my mom making them. I wish I could find my mom's recipe! So for the first time making these two items I do not think they turned out bad at all. For the scones, I found a recipe on Skinnytaste.com, Gina's Skinny Recipes. This is a wonderful site I have found many great recipes! The scone recipe, Skinny Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones, although very good, was not what I think of when I think scone. I always think more biscuit like when I think scone and this was more coffee cake like in my opinion, maybe I did something wrong in making it; not sure until I try it again! I would for sure suggest it!

The recipe is as follows, but I do suggest you click on the link and go to her page, she has some amazing recipes! For all her recipes she also list Weight Watchers points, how great is that!



Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones
Taken from Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 1 scone • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 199.6 • Fat: 8.1 g • Protein: 3.7 g • Carb: 29.8 g • Fiber: 2.3 g • Sugar: 12.8 g
Sodium: 257.4 mg



Ingredients:

3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces
3/4 cup chocolate chips
cooking spray
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp sugar


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use 2 knives, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist.

Place dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands. Form dough into an 9-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4" thick. Using a knife, cut dough into 12 wedges all the way through.

Brush egg white over dough and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Serve warm.



Now, onto the amazing cinnamon rolls my friend suggested to me that came from cooks.com. This is a site I am familiar with, but do not use all the time. I have to admit these are not as good as mom or Aunt Ellen used to make, but they are very good for using Bisquick mix (which I have come to love using for quick recipes!)! They are soft, flaky, and would even be good without the powdered sugar frosting. They would also be good with a cream cheese frosting!

BISQUICK BUTTER CHUNK CINNAMON ROLLS
Taken from COOKS.COM

1/4 c. cold butter
2 1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
2 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease square pan, 8"x8"x2".

Cut cold butter into 1/4" cubes. Toss baking mix and cubes until coated. Beat milk and egg; stir into butter mixture. Turn dough onto cloth-covered board generously dusted with baking mix; roll to coat.

Fold and knead 10 times; roll into rectangle, 15"x8". Spread with soft butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up tightly, beginning at 15" side. Pinch edge into roll. Cut into 12 slices with sharp knife. Place cut sides down in pan.

Bake until golden, 15 minutes; cool 15 minutes. Drizzle with Glaze. 1 dozen rolls.

GLAZE: Mix 1 cup powdered sugar and about 1 tablespoon milk until smooth.


**For both of these recipes I found them to be a bit sticky, even with the additional flour on the counter. I found that if I put the dough in the refrigerator for a 15 minutes it was much easier to work with.

Happy Baking!



These are a must try on a lazy day!

Banana Nut Bread

I had some bananas laying around and thought I would give a new recipe a try. Everyone in our house loves banana bread. I found this recipe to be interesting because it is actually called Vegetable-Nut-Bread. I found this in an article on Yahoo! called Sneak in Veggies! 7 Ways to Trick Anyone (Yourself Included) into Eating Greens. It had some great ideas in it. I am as guilty as a lot of people when it comes to eating my veggies. I do it, but do not always like it. For me reading recipes is like reading a feel good book. I love to see what others are putting together. I would consider myself to be a cookbook junkie. This I have my mom to thank for, she had a love for cooking and cookbooks as well. I collect all kinds, but my favorites are the ones that have a story behind the recipe or the type of food. One of my favorites is called Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson. It tells the story behind the food, about the people, when and why it's served. This leads me to my second favorite type, the ones from small communities. The older books that are from the area I grew up in contain a lot of food I grew up on, I have very fond memories of this.

This bread was great hit in my house. I hope you try it and let me know what you think! I will post the original recipe after mine for anyone that would like to give that a try as well! I plan on trying it, again, I just used what I had on hand.

Banana Nut Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (I use half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup orange or apple juice or milk
1 egg
1 cup banana (about 2 banana's), mashed with fork
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan butter or spray it with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.

In another bowl whisk together the juice, butter, and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until the batter is smooth. Add the bananas and the nuts, then pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, or until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.




Vegetable-and-Nut Bread

For this loaf, I used grated raw sweet potato and chopped walnuts. You could alternatively bake the batter as muffins: Prepare as directed, then divide among 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups and bake at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes. Adapted from How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman.

2 cups all-purpose flour (I use half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup orange or apple juice or milk
grated zest of an orange or lemon
1 egg
1 cup any raw fruit or vegetable: small berries left whole, anything else peeled and grated or chopped (I used grated sweet potato)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with butter or spray it with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry blender or your fingers, until there are no pieces bigger than a small pea. (You can use a food processor for this step, which makes it quite easy, but you should not use a food processor for the remaining steps or the bread will be tough.)

In another bowl whisk together the juice, zest and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until the batter is smooth. Fold in the fruit and the nuts, then pour and spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, or until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.

Banana Bread

I love banana bread, it is one of my all time favorites! Counting calories and watching what I eat makes it difficult to eat it and not feel guilty. I have found a person/site that I love to follow, Hungry Girl, she has some of the best recipes and make over recipes. I found this one on her site and it is great! There is not a thing I would change about it. It is full of flavor and satisfied my sweet tooth. I bought her cookbook, 1-2-3 and plan on making a few things this week that I will post.


Banana Bread


Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters)
1/2 cup no-sugar-added applesauce
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Optional Toppings: no-calorie spray butter, Cool Whip Free

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine both types of flour, Splenda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (in other words, all dry ingredients). In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg substitute, applesauce, and vanilla extract (all the wet ingredients). Add this mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir until just blended. Spoon batter into a large loaf pan (about 9" X 5") sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (I only baked mine for 40 and it was done). Allow to cool slightly, and then cut into 8 slices. If you like, spritz with some spray butter or spread on some Cool Whip Free.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 (thick!) slice
Calories: 140
Fat: 0.5g
Sodium: 267mg
Carbs: 31g
Fiber: 3.75g
Sugars: 7g
Protein: 5g

POINTS® value 2*