Monday, September 7, 2009

Avery’s Favorite Scones


Congrats to last week’s winner, Sally Minyard. She won a $25 Williams-Sonoma gift certificate! We have a new winner, who will be announced this coming Saturday.

So, dear readers, we’ve been blogging now for nearly six weeks and we have covered everything from pork roast to frappacinos and antipasto platters to the best way to prepare asparagus. If you scour our archives, I’m sure you can put an amazing meal together.


What we haven’t covered is afternoon tea. For cozy readers, this is a must. There’s one character in my new Cheese Mystery series, Lois [she is NOT my protagonist...I thought I'd introduce you to a few characters along the way.] Lois owns the Lavender and Lace Bed & Breakfast. She’s a tea cup collector, and every afternoon she serves high tea. With her scones, she likes to serve a little jam and a wedge of cheese. There’s nothing as decadent in the afternoon as having a scone slathered with jam and a nip of cheese.


For this particular tea plate, I chose a fabulous boysenberry jam and a wedge of Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese.

It’s smooth and nutty, with flavors like a good Camembert. The Cowgirl Creamery is located in Pt Reyes Station, California. For over a decade, they have been furthering the fine art of artisanal cheesemaking. If I might quote from their website: “They started with an old barn,made it beautiful, put in a small plant for making hand-crafted cheese…” And the rest is history. Check out their website: Cowgirl Creamery


Now...being the nice person I am, I decided to lend my quirky fictional Lois my favorite scone recipe, and get this (all of you who are celiacs), it’s gluten-free. [*Note: I often use Pamela’s Gluten-free products as my base. For this recipe. I tweaked her scone recipe to give it an extra richness that is melt-in-your-mouth yummy.]


AVERY’S FAVORITE GLUTEN-FREE SCONES

Ingredients:


2 1/4 cup Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
4 Tbs. butter, cold
1/3 cup 1%milk
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup raisins
1 egg, extra-large, beaten


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the Pamela’s mix, baking powder, and sugar together. Cut in the butter, using a knife and fork, making sure the butter is still cold. It’ll form small pea-sized balls. Add milk, cream, and eggs, stirring briskly until all incorporated. Add the raisins.

Drop by large spoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet. Makes 9 good-sized scones.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, checking at 14 because you DON’T want the bottoms of the scones to burn.

So this afternoon, grab a good mystery, make yourself a cup of your favorite tea, and enjoy a delicious scone! Major comfort food!

And if you like, visit my website: http://www.averyaames.com/ and sign up for my newsletter with recipes and tips and a recurring column about the history of cheese.

Lastly, don’t forget to check back for our next Mystery Lovers' Kitchen contest, coming soon. This last week's winner of the $25 gift certificate to the Williams-Sonoma will be announced Saturday!

Smile and Say Cheese!




10 comments:

  1. Avery - I *love* scones and these sound absolutely fabulous. Thanks for posting this and Happy Labor Day!

    Julie

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  2. It's overcast and rainy here. A mystery, a scone and tea sound like the perfect way to spend Labor Day afternoon!

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  3. So your protag owns a B&B and not a cheese store. And she serves Teas. And collects tea cups. Gosh, not what I expected when I heard Cheese Mysteries. Looking forward to it, and trying your recipe. Scones, to me, are about the hardest things in the world to make and have them taste good. Heck, buying them in stores can be a disaster. I've eaten them in several countries, and wouldn't you know it, you can never get the recipe for the best.
    By the way, I've never heard of Pamela's. Will any gluten free mix do?
    Patg

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  4. Now that my kids are finally going back to school tomorrow I think I might give myself a treat like this every once in awhile!

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  5. SCONES!!! Oh, it makes me happy just to say it. And the way you describe that cheese is making my mouth water. (No disrespect to tea time, but you know me by now - I'm going to have to enjoy mine with coffee! lol...)

    ~Cleo
    Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    Free Coffee Drawing today at 7 PM (Eastern)

    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  6. Just so I don't confuse anyone, one of my characters is Lois. She is not the protagonist. Charlotte Bessette owns the cheese shop in town. She is the protagonist.

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  7. Scones! I love them, but I always get them at the store. This sounds like an easy way to make them myself. Thanks!

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  8. Afternoon tea should be a requirement. I could certainly use it at work. It has been hard finding good scones (did find some, but the bakery is 60 miles away). Thanks for the recipe and the tips. Will be checking out the cheese.

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  9. A lover of food and mysteries (and a writer of the former but, alas, not the latter), I was so happy to find your blog. Don't ask me how I found it--how I get anywhere on the Internet is always a mystery! I'm rather famous for my scones and had to develop a recipe for gluten-free scones when called upon to host an afternoon tea for a friend with wheat allergies. I have a cupboard full of various gluten-free flours I stir up to make my own GF things. But if you don't do it very often, it makes a lot more sense to use a GF mix. Glad to know Pamela's is a good one.

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  10. Jean, how delightful that you stumbled on a post from 2009 and felt comfortable making a post. I am gluten-free and post often about gluten-free alternatives.

    Love that you're famous for your scones and that you like our blog. Hope you'll visit us often!

    ~Avery

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