Tender Shortcakes TWD

I love scones. They are one of my favourite treats, (ok, I have a lot of favourites) right up there with cinnamon buns and banana chocolate chip cake. Now I know that these are shortcakes but the helpful people who contribute to wikipedia tell me that shortcakes are aka scones.  So I consider these scones by another name. I made them last night and didn’t have anyone to share them with so I ate two *gasp* I know, summer is coming and shorts and tees abound but I couldn’t stop myself.

I halved the recipe and made 6 plain shortcakes/scones and 4 raspberry ones (I couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to add fresh raspberries!) Admit it, you wish you could taste one. The raspberry ones were delicious. In addition to the raspberries, I added an extra tbsp of sugar and I substituted 2% milk for the cream (somehow I knew I would eat two!) I didn’t serve them with whipping cream because it is not my favourite. That’s the beauty of being the baker I get to pick how it all works out. I ate them straight up and so will my taste testers. S. will be stopping by later today to pick up his treats.

For the recipe head on over to Tortefeasor. Thanks Cathy for a GREAT choice.

Caroline

PS It’s Claire’s birthday today! Join me in wishing her a happy, happy birthday! Being seven years older I remember the day she was born and I am super lucky that she grew up to be a great sister AND a baker. Happy Birthday Claire!!!!

PPS The beautiful pottery dish in the picture came from Susan Card’s studio in the Distillery District. The Distillery is one my favourite places in Toronto because it is filled with local artists, great food and beautiful buildings. I love pottery and I am impressed with Susan’s work especially because she has little platters that I can serve my baked goods on. Be sure to stop by Susan’s gallery the next time you are down there.

Pumpkin Biscuits TWD

OK, so I know that this week’s recipe was supposed to be sweet potato biscuits, but I have a thing for pumpkin so I changed it up a little. This recipe was chosen by Erin of Prudence Pennywise. I notice that her biscuits are light and fluffy looking, unlike mine which are neither, light nor fluffy. That being said mine were super tasty. I used a cup of canned pumpkin and I added an extra tablespoon of brown sugar (’cause I like sweetness!).

Hmmm, pumpkin scones

Obviously, I need to work these to get to the light and fluffy place but all in all there were super tasty. Hmm, pumpkin.

I love strawberries!

Strawberry season is a personal favorite of mine. To me it symbolizes the start of summer and I really dig that delicious fruit. I thought I was going to miss this year’s season as I was in Kenya with my da. But given the lack of heat that we have been experiencing in Ontario, strawberry season was delayed (whoohoo). I  went strawberry picking on Canada Day (what could be more patriotic that picking red fruit on Canada Day?) with friends. I ended up making three different types of jam after realizing I still had TONS of last year’s berries in my freezer.  Despite the jam escapades I still had some strawbs left and I went searching for a recipe.

I went through my delicious tags and I found a recipe for strawberry scones over at Confessions of a Tart. I LOVE scones and since I came back to Canada by way of Ireland (where I ate my fair share), I was in a scone mood. This is how they turned out.

strawberry scones on a baking sheet

I guess since I had just eaten Irish scones my expectations were a little high. I thought they were okay, not enough sugar for my taste buds but once I put my fresh strawberry jam on them they were pretty darn tasty. The coworkers gave them the thumbs up, but then again, they will eat anything;) I think next time I will try adding strawberries to my momma’s scone recipe.

Scones on a plate

For the recipe and more artistic photos head on over here.