Scones! 2 Recipes...

If you've ever been pregnant, had a newborn, or have been otherwise sleep deprived... your dreams definitely get a little crazy. I literally dreamed of these amazingly delicious cinnamon pecan scones one night... They tasted so yummy in my dream... so I woke up and had to find a good recipe! Weird I know. But hey, it was a good dream for once and not too bizarre which was kind of nice. ;-)

CINNAMON PECAN SCONES

Candied pecans

• 1 1/2 c. roughly chopped pecans
• 2 tbs. white sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the oven to 350. In a 8x8 pan spray pecans generously with cooking spray and toss to coat. Add vanilla to the pecans and toss to coat. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, add to the pecans and toss to coat. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes watching carefully so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let cool.

Scones

• 2 c. all purpose flour (I did half wheat, half white)
• 1 tbs. baking powder
• 3/4 tbs. salt
• 6 tbs. cold butter cut in pieces
• 1 tbs. white sugar plus some for sprinkling on top
• 2 tbs. honey
• 1/3 c. heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops (I used skim milk)
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c. candied pecans

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the texture is very small crumbs. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. In a small bowl stir together honey, cream and sour cream, add to the well in the center. Add the cinnamon and pecans at this point also. Stir with a fork until a ball forms, take out of bowl and knead just a few times, don't overwork as this will cause a tough scone. Form into a 6x6 square on your baking pan, cut into 4 equal squares and then into 8 triangles. Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 20 minutes. When cooled you can drizzle a "icing" on top. Just mix 1/2 c. confectioners sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and enough heavy cream to make a glaze. (I added butter and vanilla to my glaze as well...) NOTE: Maybe because I used milk instead of cream I had to add more milk to the batter to make it a good consistency.

Yum! They were so scrumptious. I totally loved them. Very cinnamony... but I LOVE the chunky pecan pieces. I just halved my pecans instead of roughly chopping them. If you love nuts and cinnamon you will love this recipe. I can't wait to make it again!

Next up... Orangy Craisin Scones. Gerron's Mom used to make these for the kids in the shape of cookies so they called them "Grandma Cookies." Colby was so excited to make them again... and needed some Mom and Colby time...

so Allie had her first baking experience right up on the counter as we made the recipe together. He LOVES to make and bake and is so fun to have in the kitchen. BUT I guess it had been too long since he had had them... and decided once we made them he didn't like the craisins. DOH! Luckily he had the idea of adding frosting to them, which we hadn't done in the past. I was going to do a glaze but he insisted on the thicker frosting and they turned out super yummy! So he picked the craisins out and liked the scones with frosting anyways.

We also decided to add our own touch of sprinkling sugar on the top. Colby loved "painting" the scones with milk and helping to sprinkle sugar on top. Ger said he never liked the recipe in the past because the Craisins were too tart for him- but with the sprinkled sugar on top and frosting he thought the flavors balanced out a lot better- the sweet with the tart- and loved them.

Super yummy and super fun recipe to make! Here it is...

Orangy Craisin Scones

3/4 cup cut or chopped Craisins (Can use more if you want)

1/2 cup water

Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Drain and allow to cool.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (again I use half wheat/half white)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Stir together in a large bowl.

3/4 cup butter (can substitute half applesauce for half the butter)

Cut butter into flour and sugar mixture until crumbly.

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 TBS orange rind (optional- I don't add!)

1/4 cup orange juice

Add to drained fruit and stir liquid mixture into flour and sugar until just moistened. Grease cookie sheet. Then either cut into triangle shapes from spreading out dough into large rectangler shape (as described above) or scoop dough with cookie dough scoop onto cookie sheet. Brush tops with heavy cream or milk and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Can add glaze or frosting as desired!

If you have any yummy scone recipes we are on a scone kick here and would love to try it!