On a Scone Kick

I know my last post was about scones, but since I've been busy with training for my half-marathon, going to yoga and working, it leaves very little time for other things.

I don't know about you, but baking is a big stress reliever for me.  Last Thursday I was having a rough day at work, so that night I decided to do some baking.  I've been on a scone kick ever since I made the cherry almond scones from this post.  About a week prior, I was thinking about other flavor scones I could make and I stumbled upon this cinnamon chip scone recipe.  I was planning to make them that weekend, but cinnamon chips were nowhere to be found!  I searched several grocery stores and could not find them so I ended up buying  them off of Amazon.  Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!  :)  I ordered the Hershey's brand cinnamon chips which came with 6 10oz bags, so I should be stocked for awhile.

Cinnamon Chips!

That Thursday after work I decided to make a batch of the cherry scones and a batch of the cinnamon scones to bring into work on Friday.  Since I've made the cherry scones a few times I felt comfortable bringing them into work, but the cinnamon scones were a first for me so I was a little apprehensive to share them with co-workers.  Dave tested them out and of course loved them.  I had a little piece and thought they were pretty good.  I think next time I won't use the whole 10oz bag of cinnamon chips it called for because it was hard to keep the dough together with so many chips.  So, Friday morning I brought the scones into work, being a little skeptical of what people were going to think.  I love to bake but I'm a tough critic on myself so I get very nervous sharing things with other people because I'm afraid they might not like my baking.  I got nothing but positive responses and people asking for my recipes.  I don't know if they were just being nice or if they truly liked them; I like to think it is the latter.

Description cards to bring into work

Cherry Almond Scones

Cinnamon Chip Scones

 

The final product!

My father-in-law made the cherry almond scones and said they were the best scones he has ever had!  That meant a lot to me since he is an excellent baker.  I'm hoping to do some baking this weekend - maybe try out some treats that would be great for Valentine's Day.  If anyone has some great recipes they would like to share, I would love to try them!

Cherry Almond Scones

Dave and I have been visiting Northside Social quite frequently and I must say, I'm in love with their cherry almond scones.  The other night I decided to find a recipe online and try to re-create them.  This was my first time making scones and I'm so happy with the way they turned out.  I used this recipe, but decided to brush the tops with butter and top with a little sugar like one of the readers suggested.  I highly suggest trying this recipe - they were easy, tasty and fun to make with your loved one! :)

Delicious!!

Happiness Is...

Things that are making me happy these days:

<Sunday morning coffee dates with Dave>

<Boot weather>

<Baking with Dave!  Here is our yummy pumpkin granola!>

<Pumpkin EVERYTHING>

<A night of baking and drinking with my love>

<Picnicking >

<My new iPhone case!  Love being a Mrs!!!>

<Caramel apples>

<Our yearly apple pick!>

<Fun nail polish>

<Fro-yo with colored sprinkles is a MUST!!>

<Wine with a view with my better half!>

What makes you happy?  Are you enjoying all the festivities as much as I am?

Baking Extravaganza (Thanks Pinterest!)

Dave's good friend, Jared, moved to the area this past week.  He was coming over on Sunday to watch the Patriot's game with Dave so I decided I would make him some yummy treats to welcome him to the area.  I got most of my cookie ideas from my Pinterest board.

A little drinking & baking with my hunny! 

 

The best sous-chef!

First I made the dough for sand dollar cookies from the recipe I found here since it had to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours (I ended up refrigerating it over night.)  Next it was onto the pumpkin snicker-doodle cookies.  This dough needed to refrigerate for at least an hour so while the dough was cooling, I decided to whip up a batch of classic chocolate chip cookies.  Dave was a tremendous help throughout the whole process by measuring out ingredients, cleaning up after me and keeping me company.  It was such a fun night of baking together.  Once we were done with the chocolate chip cookies, it was time to bake the pumpkin snicker-doodle cookies.  Before I could put them in the oven, I had to roll the dough into little balls and dip the balls into a cinnamon sugar mixture.  After that, I took a small wine glass and rinsed the rim with water then dipped the rim into the sugar mixture.  I took the bottom of the glass and pressed down on the dough to form flat cookies.  Once I finished this process it was time to put the cookies in the oven.  The cookies made our home smell like fall...it was fabulous. 

Flattening the pumpkin cookies

Pre-bake

Delicious pumpkin snicker-doodle cookies

Sunday morning we finished making the sand dollar cookies.  These cookies were not the easiest cookies to make because it involved trying to find the perfect almond shapes and pressing them into the cookie deep enough that they would stay put but not hard enough that they would break.  The sand dollar cookies tasted ok, but I prefer my Martha Stewart snicker-doodles any day!

Sand dollar cookies - NOT worth the effort! :)

Jared's goodies! :)

The next task for the cookies was how was I going to give them to Jared.  I had seen on Pinterest a wrapped Pringles jar to put your baked cookies in.  I picked up some wrapping paper from The Container Store, along with some tins and gift tags.  I bought some Pringles, something we never have in the house, took out the Pringles and put them in a Ziploc bag and cleaned out the Pringles container.  After I dried it, I wrapped it with wrapping paper, made a gift tag and tied it onto the container.  I put the other cookies in separate tins that we also picked up at the Container Store.  It was such a fun project that I got to do with my husband.  I hope Jared enjoys his cookies and his new home!