I am a real scone lover. Who doesn't love scones! People have a tendency to think that they are the same thing as baking powder biscuits, but they couldn't be further from the truth!
They are not at all the same thing.
Baking Powder Biscuits are light as air, fluffy and flaky, or at least they should be. If your biscuits are like rocks, I hate to tell you but you're doing something wrong!
They are also on the more savoury side, rather than the sweet.
Scones are sweeter and denser, and much crumblier than biscuits . . . Biscuits tend to use shortening, although some modern versions use butter. Scones always use butter.
The fat in biscuits is cut in until you have a variety of bits, some the size of small peas. In scones, the flour is "rubbed" in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
So you can see, they really aren't the same at all. Both are beautifully delicious and wonderful in their own unique ways!
Its filled with tasty recipes using some of our favourite autumn ingredients like apples and pumpkin, sweet potatoes and plenty of warm baking spices!
Muffins, cakes, pies, breads, you name it!
I can't believe that it has taken me nineteen years to bake these! Wow! So long and now that I have baked them, I wish that I had baked them earlier!
They are actually called Golden Carrot Spice Scones in the booklet, but I thought Carrot Cake Drop Scones sounded so much tastier and believe me . . . these are plenty tasty!
They are everything a great drop scone should be. Dense, buttery, flavourful . . .
Flecked with sweet bits of carrot and studded with sweet sticky raisins . . .
Lightly flavoured with warm baking spices . . .
Glazed with a sweet and spicy glaze . . .
Altogether, all of these things create a scone that is so purely autumnal and delicious . . .
Put the kettle on and grab your tea pot, coz you are going to want to sit right down with one of these hot out of the oven and enjoy with a nice hot cuppa!
Yield: 8 large scones
Carrot Cake Drop Scones
If you want you can shape this into one large round and cut into 8 wedges. I like to just drop them onto the baking sheet, in large dollops. They have lots of character that way and are, as always, delicious no matter what!
ingredients:
For the Scones:
- 280g plain flour (2 cups all purpose)
- 45g sugar (1/4 cup)
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 80g cold butter (1/3 cup)
- 80ml double cream (heavy cream) (1/3 cup)
- 90g finely grated carrot (1 cup, about 1 1/2 medium carrots)
- 45g sultana raisins (1/2 cup golden raisins)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
For the glaze:
- 65g icing sugar (1/2 cup powdered sugar)
- 2 TBS milk
- 1/8 tsp mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
instructions:
How to cook Carrot Cake Drop Scones
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder and spice. Stir in the salt and sugar. Cut the butter into bits and drop it into the bowl. Rub or cut in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the carrots and the raisins. Mix together the cream and egg. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into that. Mix together with a fork to make a soft dough that leaves the side of the bowl, adding a bit of milk if it seems too dry. Drop by heaped spoons, 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown.
- While they are baking make the glaze by whisking together all of the ingredients until you have a drizzle icing. Remove the hot scones from the baking sheet to a wire rack and drizzle the glaze over top. Enjoy warm!
The are just wonderful! Not just for tea times either, they go fabulously at an autumnal lunch with the ladies served warm with a tasty salad. Yum Yum!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
My kids grew up on homemade granola and homemade granola bars. When you have five children you learn how to do these things yourself! You can't afford the fancy stuff!
I credit my next door neighbour Mabel for teaching me how to make granola. It was a tasty way to get my children to eat oatmeal. They wouldn't touch it cooked, but if I turned it into granola, they didn't mind eating it at all.
As mom's we all want our kids to eat things that are healthy for them, including their breakfast cereals, and especially their snacks.
I heard on the television yesterday that the government was going to be banning eating food on buses to try to combat childhood obesity. I was like what the heck?
How is that going to combat childhood obesity? I may not be a really smart woman but I don't think banning eating on buses is going to do a heck of a lot for childhood obesity!!
How about making healthy food more affordable? There is something wrong when you can buy a package containing half a dozen fatty sausage rolls in pastry for less than you can a pack of green beans or a bag of apples. But that's just my opinion.
How about encouraging them to get off their butts and out the door to play? Too many children spend all of their time in front of a screen. Playing computer games, or watching television.
We liked watching cartoons when I was a child too, but they were only available at certain times of the day and week. Saturday mornings (so our parents could sleep in I guess) and there was a few programs on after school.
The general rule in our house was unless it was raining, you had to be outside playing. End of story. Otherwise you got stuck doing chores and housework. Trust me, we didn't mind being outdoors.
We didn't get bored either, because if we did, my mom soon found something for us to do and it wasn't going to be anything fun to do! Being bored was not an option!
Anyways, I digress. These granola bars make a nice snack for kids. They are filled with less fat and sugar than ready made ones and are filled with plenty of fibre and protein.
You can skip the white chocolate drizzle if you want to, but I think it adds a nice touch. You can also add nuts to the mix, replacing half the dried fruit with them, which would add even more protein. Delicious any way you choose to do it.
Yield: 16
White Chocolate and Cranberry Granola Bars
Making your own granola bars is not that hard and they taste far superior to those you can buy. I like that I can control what is in them.
ingredients:
For the bars:
- 240g old fashioned large flake Oatmeal (3 cups)
- 2 TBS butter
- 2 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed
- 2 TBS pure maple syrup
- 85g liquid honey (1/4 cup)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 115g dried cranberries (3/4 cup)
- 90g white chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
- 35g mixed sunflower and pumpkin seeds (1/4 cup)
You will also need:
- 75g white chocolate (3 ounces)
instructions:
How to cook White Chocolate and Cranberry Granola Bars
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Spread the oats onto two baking trays. Toast them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, stirring them several times, until they are light golden brown and smell toasty.
- Like a 9 inch square pan with some waxed paper or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan on the stove. Add the brown sugar, maple syrup and honey. Cook, stirring until the sugar is melted and everything is amalgamated. Whisk in the vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon. Stir in the toasted oats and combine well. Let cool completely. Stir in the chocolate chips, cranberries and seeds. Mix well together and then press into the lined pan. Place another sheet of wax paper or parchment paper on top and compress the mixture really well, until it is of an even thickness all over. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next morning, flip them carefully out onto a cutting board and peel off any paper. Cut into quarters with a sharp knife and then cut each quarter into 4 to give you 16 bars. Place them onto a wire rack placed over top of some wax or parchment paper. Break your white chocolate into squares and put into a microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave according to package directions. Using a spoon flick the melted chocolate over top of the granola bars. Leave to set before storing in an airtight container. These will keep for about a weeks or so, or you can freeze them tightly covered for longer.
If you are not a fan of white chocolate you can use dark chocolate and semi sweet chocolate chips. I just happen to think that white chocolate goes very well with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds. These also make for a great breakfast on the go. Just sayin!
Up tomorrow: Carrot Cake Drop Scones
Fish for Friday here with a lovely dish this week of Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream. Sea Bass is a fish that people really enjoy eating these days.
Its a common name which is used to describe a variety of fish, but here in the UK, all sea bass that is sold is exclusively European Bass.
I sourced mine from Seafresh, the online fish monger. Their seas bass is farmed, which is the most sustainably sourced at the moment! I can attest that it is a beautiful piece of fish.
Not as thick as cod, or as flat as plaice it is white or light in colour and beautifully sweet and buttery in flavour, mild and delicious!
The sea bass from Seafresh comes in skin on fillets, each piece being frozen individually, making it easy to take out only as many fillets as you want to use at any given time.
Its very easy to thaw out overnight in the refrigerator, or for a few hours at room temperature.This is one of the things I really like about the way they pack their fish.
I roasted mine today in a hot oven. Prior to roasting I sprinkled it with a spicy rub mix, of herbs and spices . . . and dotted it with butter . . .
A beautiful piece of fish doesn't take much work when it comes right down to it. A good piece of fish speaks for itself.
This recipe cooks very quickly, only taking about 8 minutes in a hot oven. I had a sauce which I wanted to serve with it.
Because the fish cooks so quickly I made the delicious sauce that I wanted to serve with it first and kept it warm while the fish roasted. I also cooked the spinach that I wanted to serve with it.
That's one thing I really love about fish . . . the easy of cooking it and the fact that it cooks very quickly. Its an almost instant dinner!
Plus it is so healthy and such a great source of protein. I am always saying to Todd we don't eat fish nearly often enough. My mother always told us it was brain food.
I made a Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce to serve with our fish today. It is lush and rich and goes beautifully with the flavour of the fish and that spicy rub.
Simple things like that can dress up even the simplest meals and without a lot of effort taken.
It is a basic cream sauce/or bechamel . . . flavoured with Parmesan cheese, white wine and garlic.
Bechamel is the most basic of sauces. It was one of the first things they taught us how to do and forms the basis for all sorts of other recipes. Its also very simple to make so long as you follow a few rules.
First rule being you must use equal parts of flour and butter to make a roux. There is no such thing as a low fat bechamel. You must also cook the roux for a few minutes to cook out the flour flavour. This is a must.
You also want to make sure you have the correct amount of liquid to bind to the roux. Too little and you will end up with library paste. Too much and you have soup. Quantities matter. A lot.
Finally a proper bechamel needs to be cooked long and slow. If you try to rush it by using too high a temperature beneath your saucepan, you run the risk of burning it and there is no coming back from that. Also whisk, whisk, whisk. You don't want it to be lumpy.
A bechamel at its very basic is simple to make and makes for a most luxurious finish for any dish. With its mix of white wine, stock, cream and Parmesan this sauce was exquisite with the fish.
I sauteed some spinach to serve along side. I love sauteed fresh
spinach. It cooks in a flash, which makes it perfect for serving with
fish.And its bright green colour set off the fish and the sauce beautifully.
You can cook the spinach while you are roasting the fish. It doesn't
actually take very long to cook the spinach at all. Its basically just
wilted. I just add it to a hot skillet, a handful at a time. Tossing it with tongs, it wilts perfectly in just a few minutes and retains its colour beautifully.
You can trim off any largish stems prior to cooking if you wish. They don't really bother me, but I know when I worked at the Manor, I had to make sure there were no stems on the spinach at all.
It would take me a good 10 or 15 minutes going through the spinach removing all the stems. I am not that pedantic at home.
That beautiful rich sauce goes very well with both the fish and the spinach. I did garnish it with a few micro-greens for colour, but you could also use parsley or even snipped chives.
The only other thing you will need is some potatoes, rice or pasta on the side. I steamed some baby new potatoes in the microwave.
Just wash them, cut them in half if larger, and put them into a microwavable bowl with a cover, along with a knob of butter and some seasoning.
Cover and then cook on high for 9 to 11 minutes until fork tender. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. Perfect!
Yield: 2
Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream
Deliciously spiced and perfectly baked sea bass served with a lush flavourful cream. Simply wonderful. You can easily double the quantities to serve more people if you wish. This would make a great dinner party first course.
ingredients:
For the fish:
- 2 sea bass fillets
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp each dried basil, dried oregano,
- 1/4 tsp each salt and black pepper
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- pinch cayenne pepper
- soft butter to dot
For the sauce:
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 30ml white wine (1 fluid ounce)
- 60ml chicken stock (1/4 cup)
- 120ml heavy cream (1/2 cup)
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
- the juice and zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon
- salt and white pepper to taste
For the spinach:
- 1 bag washed baby leaf spinach (about 5 large handfuls)
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
- salt and black pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a baking sheet. Place the fish fillets skin side down on the buttered baking sheet. Combine all of the herbs and spices, rubbing them together well. Sprinkle evenly over the fish. Dot with butter and set aside while you make the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking for about a minute to cook out the flour taste. Stir in the garlic powder, and then whisk in the chicken stock and white wine. Cook, whisking until the mixture comes to a boil and bubbles. Whisk in the cream and heat through gently. Whisk in the cheese to melt. Add the lemon zest and juice and whisk again until it all comes together. Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
- Put the fish in the oven and roast for exactly 8 minutes.
- While the fish is cooking heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the butter and garlic. Once the butter begins to foam add the spinach, tossing it into the butter and adding more once the spinach begins to wilt, a handful at a time, until it is all wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To serve lay a portion of spinach on a heated plate, top with a fish fillet and spoon a portion of the sauce over top. Serve immediately. Some boiled baby new potatoes would be lovely with this.
Look at how perfect and flaky that fish is and its beautiful colour. I am always so very impressed with the fish and seafood we get from Seafresh. Their service is impeccable, the packaging well done and environmentally friendly, and the product of exceptional quality and value. If you would like to know more about their products please click here. You really can't go wrong!
A few things about Seafresh:
- Same Day dispatch on orders received before 1 PM.
- All packages are carefully hand packed.
- Free delivery on orders above £50, £8 on orders below that amount.
- Responsibly and sustainably sourced.
- Air Blast Frozen at source within 4 hours of being caught.
- Wide variety to choose from.
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Cauliflower is a really popular low-carb option these days for those who are looking to cut back on their carbs.
It is one of several vegetables considered to be Cruciferous vegetables, or members of the brassica family.
Sometimes I like to treat Todd to a pub fare meal on a weeknight. Pubs here in the UK are somewhat similar to Diners in North America, in that they usually serve nice comfy meals, home style.
They also serve alcohol. Some do the meal thing really well and others not so well. It is hit and miss really. Some just re-heat frozen food.
They offer a variety of things on the menu, but most will offer meat pies and chips, roast dinners, fish and chips, curries, etc. and most will also have Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips.
You will normally be asked if you want a ring of pineapple with it or peas.
A gammon steak is like a thick slice of uncooked ham or green ham.
It can be smoked or unsmoked, and, unlike ham you MUST cook it before you eat it, like bacon in a way, but quite different in flavour and consistency.
It comes from the leg of a pig whereas bacon comes from the belly.
My husband will sometimes order the Gammon, Egg & Chips, but I have always found it quite disappointing myself.
Hardly worth the money paid. It does, however, make for a great weeknight supper at home.
Today I decided to make my husband a Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips dinner from scratch, here at home that he could really enjoy.
I did use oven chips, but I used really good ones, thick steak cut, gastro style chips . . . you could of course fry them from scratch if you wanted to but these are actually quite good.
In all truth that's all you get in most pubs anyways, deep fried frozen chips.
When we are eating eggs like this, I always like to use the freshest free range eggs that I can get.
With brilliant yellow yolks, they taste so good when simply fried in butter. Fried in butter until the edges get all crisp and brown, but the yolks are still runny.
I like to get the butter foaming and crack in the eggs.
Then I cook them slowly, basting them with the fat in the pan until the edges are crisp and golden, but the yolks still a bit wobbly . . .
The gammon is also fried. I rub it with some dry mustard powder first for a bit of spice.
I fry it in a bit of olive oil until crisp and caramelised on the edges and cooked through. It doesn't take long.
I added oven roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine that I cooked at the same time as the chips. Again not long.
Perfect!
I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and scattered them with some sea salt and cracked black pepper before roasting. So tasty!
We had frozen petite pois with ours.
Simply cooked in the microwave. 2 minutes on high, in a small covered container does the trick. I never add any water.
All in all this was most delicious. My husband enjoyed his along with a slice of buttered bread on the side.
Yield: 2
Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
Pub Fare on a weeknight for a simple supper.
ingredients:
- 1 thick sliced gammon steak, cut in half crosswise
- some olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 spring of cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 2 portions of frozen gourmet style oven chips
- knob of butter
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 portions of frozen peas
instructions:
How to cook Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
- Preheat the oven according to your package directions for the chips. Place them onto a baking sheet. Place the tomatoes on the same baking sheet, drizzling with some olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cook according to the package directions.
- Clip the fatty edge of the gammon steak. Cut in half and rub it all over with the dry mustard powder and black pepper. Heat a bit of oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the gammon steak pieces and cook on the first side until golden brown and caramelised on the edges, flip over and do the same on the other sides. Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
- Wipe out the pan. Add the knob of butter and heat the pan until the butter begins to foam. Crack in the eggs. Cook basting them occasionally with some of the butter from the pan with a spoon, until your eggs are to your desired doneness. Remove and keep warm.
- Cook the peas in a container in the microwave for about 2 minutes until done.
- Divide the chips between two heated plates along with the tomatoes, place a half gammon steak on each plate and top with a fried egg. Add a portion of the peas to each and serve immediately.
A simple supper like this makes a really nice mid-week meal every now and then. Its easy to make and quite delicious. My husband was really pleased with it, and in truth so was I.
I hope you will give it a go and picture yourself sitting back in the corner in a pub here in the UK, but a good one, one that serves tasty homemade from scratch food. Those are my favourite kinds!
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