Gingerbread Scones

Gingerbread Scones

One of my favorite cookbooks is the Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet and Sur la Table (find it on Amazon or your library) and they have a great basic scone recipes with lots of variations. I saw that Tracey's Culinary Adventures made the Gingerbread Scones and topped it with a maple glaze. Sign me up!

It's really easy to make. I used a food processor, but you can totally do this by hand too. See the little bits of butter? That's really necessary for good scones. If I remember all the stuff I learned in my baking class...when the dough hits the oven, water contained in the butter steams up and causes the flakey goodness of scones and yummy stuff like pies and croissants.

I made the scone dough the night before my work meeting. I cut them into squares and placed them onto a baking tray, covered with plastic wrap and then popped in the freezer.

In the morning, I pulled them out of the freezer and placed on the countertop. I preheated the oven and then popped them into the oven. If you are going to glaze them, be sure to give yourself time to let them cool off before glazing them.

I followed Tracey's lead and topped the scones with a maple syrup and powdered sugar glaze.

These were enjoyed at the meeting. It's a lovely taste of the holidays.
Gingerbread Scones. Make them today!

Gingerbread Scones
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

Scones:
2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz) cold buttermilk
2 tablespoons molasses

1 egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)

Glaze:
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

Place flour, brown sugar, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients. Scatter the butter pieces on top of the flour and pulse 5 times until the butter pieces are the size of peas. Whisk the buttermilk and molasses together in a measuring cup. Pour into the food processor (all at once) and pulse until the dough comes together (it took me about 20 pulses, but don't overmix the batter).

On a lightly floured work surface, turn the dough out. Quickly, but gently, bring the dough together into a square that is 1" thick. Of course, you can also shape into rounds to make triangle scones. Use a sharp knife to cut the scones. Transfer to a baking sheet.

At this point, you can freeze the scones and bake at a later time. When you bake them, allow them to sit on the counter while the oven is preheating.

Brush the tops of the scones with the lightly beaten egg wash. Bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until they are golden brown and firm to the touch. Move onto a cooling rack and allow scones to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze: Whisk the maple syrup and powdered sugar in a small bowl until combined. If you need to, add more maple syrup or milk to thin. Drizzle over the scones. Let icing set for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

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Gingerbread Pancakes - Mark Bittman

Gingerbread Pancakes

I woke up craving pancakes the other day. And gingerbread. Thus, gingerbread pancakes!

This recipe is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. It's a great book that I need to use more often. Are you a food blogger? I've finally started taking a photo of the recipe I'm using so I can keep track of things!

These pancakes are fluffy and have a hint of molasses and spices. Fresh minced ginger is added to the batter. When I make these again, I might also add some ground ginger to the mix to amp up the spices.

The liquid includes milk (I used almond milk), molasses and egg yolks. The egg whites are beaten until stiff and folded into the batter.

When you wake up with a craving for pancakes and gingerbread...make these!

Recipe:
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Base: Light and Fluffy Pancakes (page 202) + Gingerbread ingredients


1 cup milk
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoon peeled and minced fresh ginger, or 2 teaspoons ground ginger, or 2-3 Tablespoons minced crystallized ginger (I used fresh ginger)
4 eggs, separated
1 cup all-purpose flour
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves

1. Preheat griddle or pan. Cook these pancakes more slowly than others as they can burn.
2. Beat together the milk, egg yolks, ginger and molasses in a measuring cup or bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer until stiff but not dry.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and milk/yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites but don't overmix...you can leave streaks of the egg whites.
6. Butter or oil the pan and add batter. Flip when the pancake shows some bubbles, and cook through.

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The Mochi Factory...in Gingerbread by JustJenn

The Mochi Factory Gingerbread House

I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas! My December consists of:
Dec 7th - My Birthday. Yes, you may have heard about that! :)
Dec 25th - Christmas
Dec 26th - Mochi Making with the family
Dec 31st - New Year's Eve

Every year, my family makes tons and tons of fresh mochi (pounded rice cake) for a Japanese American New Years celebration. I'll post about this year's mochi making next...but on Christmas, my friend JustJenn dropped off the most awesome gingerbread masterpiece! Check it out!

Since she was a little girl, Jenn would make elaborate gingerbread houses with her mom (a librarian). And you wonder how Jenn grew up to become an architect, huh?! Now Jenn makes them with her boys!

See the Mochi conveyor belt in the window! Too cool. The mochi pieces are represented by cut marshmallows.

You can see thru the window and the conveyor belt goes up the side of the house! Jenn draws out ARCHITECTURAL plans for her gingerbread homes. Yes, gotta use that degree for good and yum.

The mochi conveyor belt climbs up the side of the house. The lamp post is a lollipop! The top of the house is covered with chocolate licorice. Awesome!

Did you see this detail? The fish pond is sprinkling sugar and the goldfish is, naturally, a cheese goldfish. Everything is edible! Jenn uses royal icing as her glue.The walkway is a fruit leather and the railings are pretzels.

My whole family was in awe during mochi making! And the kids were good that they didn't pick off all the pieces. Thank you sooo much Jenn for including our family tradition in your gingerbread tradition!!!

** Updated to add JustJenn's post about her Mochi Factory...you have got to click here and see it. It includes the behind the scenes architectural drawings, paper mock up and hints for making your own masterpiece! **
Next post, Mochi making!

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