Parmesan Herb Scones

I cooked brunch this past Sunday for my good friend and myself.  The deal was that she would bring the drinks and I would cook some fantastic brunchy type foods.  Personally, I've never quite understood brunch.  I feel like it's for people who just don't know whether they like breakfast or not, or hobbits who have already had breakfast and are now ready for a mid-morning snack.  Let's just call it what it is.  Second breakfast.

For you hobbits out there, here is a recipe for scones that I modified from one I found in December's Bon Appétit.  I've had these scones for breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I'm still eating them.  Naturally, if you aren't a clotted cream fan, you can pile the butter on them.  But, true hobbits eat them with clotted cream.  Brits too, I recon.  Enjoy!

Parmesan Herb Scones

Makes about 16 scones

Modified from Bon Appétit

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. smoked paprika

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1 cup chilled butter, diced

3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese, grated

2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh thyme

3 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Whisk baking powder, sea salt, paprika, and flour together in a large mixing bowl until blended
3. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until there are no large pieces of butter and you have a crumbly texture
4. Mix in the cheese and herbs
5. Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the eggs and cream
6. With your hands (or a fork, whatever), slowly mix the dry ingredients into the liquid until you end up with a shaggy dough
7. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about an inch thickness
8. Cut into 16 even scones (I cut diagonally to create diamonds)
9. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and divide the scones among them
10. Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream
11. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating half-way through
12. Serve warm with clotted cream!

Pumpkin Scones

Well, today marks my first day as a free woman from a company I was devoted to for over 2 years.  Originally, I had planned to bring these scones in today to share with everyone, as I did on occasion after baking something.  That's not happening, so I plan to eat all of them out of spite!

These scones are pumpkin flavored!
The recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson's Buttermilk Scones recipe that I had posted a few years ago.

Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
6 tablespoons cold butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1 egg, beaten, for an egg wash (optional)
1 large lipped baking sheet or half sheet pan
Pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, or 2" biscuit cutter

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large lipped baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Put the flour into a bowl with the baking soda, cream of tartar, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice
3. Chop the butter into pieces and drop it into the dry ingredients 
4. Rub the butter into the flour until it's crumbly, and then add the pumpkin and the buttermilk, working everything together to form a dough
5. Lightly flour your work surface 
6. Pat the dough into a round-edged oblong about 1 3/4 inches thick and cut out the scones with your cutter of choice
7. Arrange the scones fairly close together on your lined baking sheet, and brush with beaten egg (to give golden tops)
8. Bake for 12 minutes, by which time the scones will be dry on the bottom and have a relatively light feel 
9. Remove them to a wire rack to cool