Pancakes for fall

I've been following The Kitchen Magpie for quite awhile. Love the stuff she makes. I was hungry for pancakes this morning, and remembered a recent post of hers for Apple Pie Pancakes.

Made them, loved them. Even husband, on first few bites, said "MMMMMM".

go, make apple pie pancakes. Your tummy will thank you.

Triple Cinnamon Scones

As I was perusing King Arthur Flour the other day, I came across Triple Cinnamon Scones. I like scones, but I haven't made them very much. And when I have, they haven't ended up as tender, crisp-toppped, "perfect" as I expected, though they have been tasty. These sounded so good, I felt I needed to make them.

I tweaked the recipe a bit. The recipe calls for cinnamon Flav-R-Bites & Baker's Cinnamon Filling, which are special products King Arthur Flour makes & sells. I wasn't interested in purchasing those items, so I used my own items to make something of similar substance.

These were great. Husband ate two last night right out of the oven, and I had one for breakfast. The innards of cinnamon filling spilled out in the baking process, but still clung around the edges. I didn't put the glaze on. So technically I guess they weren't Triple Cinnamon, rather Double Cinnamon, but whatever. Cinnamon Scones = yum!

Triple Cinnamon Scones
Original recipe by King Arthur Flour, with my tweaks below

Ingredients
Filling
1/2 c butter, very soft, but not melted
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1 1/2 TBSP ground Saigon Cinnamon

Scones
1/4 c milk
1/4 c heavy cream
1 c cinnamon chips
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground Saigon cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pats
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (I didn't add it, don't know that it misses it)

Optional Glaze
3 1/2 c confectioners' sugar
1 tsp ground Saigon cinnamon
7 TBSP water

Directions

For filling:
1. Take softened butter, and combine w/ remaining ingredients, stirring well to incorporate. Leave and prepare scone dough.

For scones:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

2. Cut in the butter just until the mixture is crumbly; ok if larger chunks of butter are still showing. Toss in the cinnamon chips.

3. Combine beaten eggs, milk & vanilla.

4. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients lightly stirring until all is moistened and holds together. (you may need a splash or two more of milk)

5. Place dough out onto a heavily floured work surface. Pat it into a rough 9" square, around 3/4" thick.

6. Take the filling & spread it over half the dough. Fold dough in half over filling. Pat down to about 8"x10" and about 1/2" thick.

7. Cut the rectangle into whatever sizes you want. I did kind of triangles that I then cut in half. Ended up with 10 scones that were about 7" long & 3" at widest. You can cut them into long rectangles, bite-sized pieces, triangles, etc. Place scones on a lined baking sheet, leaving about 1/2" between each.

8. For the best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered.

9. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

10. Bake scones for 16 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and leave to cool on the pan.

For glaze:
1. Stir together sugar, cinnamon, and water until combined.

2. Coat each scone with glaze by dipping into glaze or drizzling or brushing glaze over the entire scone.

3. Transfer the scones to a rack (scones will drip glaze, so be prepared with a covering under them, or a cloth to clean up later)

Homemade Granola - camp-style

Each summer we have a worker´s retreat at our summer camp, Camp MiVoden.

This last year they served us granola as one of the breakfast cereal options. I´m not usually a big fan of granola - it´s always too crunchy, multiplies in my bowl of milk, and just isn´t that great. This granola looked a little different, a little softer, so I took a little bit, added some raisins, and ate it. I had it each day for breakfast, and then craved it two weeks later! It was so yummy. I asked a coworker, and she told me they made it there, and she had a request in for the recipe. She finally got it, and shared it with me. The first batch I made I ate within a week, though I think I screwed up the recipe, but it was still great.

Granola - MiVoden
(I translated it from pounds & ounces to cups)
Makes about 14 cups

7 c rolled raw oats, old fashioned
2 c coconut flakes
2 c wheat germ
1 1/3-1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 c slivered almonds
about 10 oz vegetable oil
2/3 c water
1/4 c vanilla or maple extract

Mix dry ingredients together.

Combine liquid ingredients into another bowl, stir to combine, then add liquid ingredients to dry and mix to distribute evenly (do not overmix).

Divide evenly between 2 baking sheets.

Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes. Do not stir.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly on pan. Break apart gently and store in an air-tight container.

OPTIONAL ADD-INS (I´ve added the following with success): cinnamon, various nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, oat bran instead of wheat germ. You'll want to add things like raisins, dried cranberries, dried other fruits after baking.)