Maple Cheese Scones

ONE WEEK TO GO!!

From Avery aka Daryl:

In anticipation of next week’s debut of the fifth Cheese Shop Mystery: DAYS OFWINE AND ROQUEFORT, I’ve been sampling more cheese. It’s a given, right? When I’m wearing my “Avery” hat, I eat cheese, I cook with cheese, I sample cheese. 

In fact, recently I had the distinct pleasure of meeting my “cheese maven” Marcella Wright for the first time. Marcella and I met online…well, actually her cat and my fictional cat met online, and then  I learned she was a big shot in the world of cheese!



Marcella, who lives in Washington, came to Studio City, California to open a Murray’s cheese shop section, this time in the Ralph’s grocery store. Delicious cheese. We had a wonderful time.

Marcella & me at Murray's in Ralph's Supermarket

But back to this week’s post and why. In anticipation of the debut of another Cheese Shop Mystery, I was browsing cookbooks and magazines looking for cheese-y breakfast items. I found the most delightful scone recipe made with cheddar and maple syrup. I found the recipe in Culture Cheese magazine, but it was made with regular flour. I needed to make it gluten-free, so I tweaked the recipe.

 I fell in love. My husband adored them, too!!

By the way…three of my blogmates, Meg/Peg, Sheila, Lucy and I are having a giveaway on Facebook with books and more in anticipation of all of our releases next week. The contest runs through January 31^st. Click the photo below to check it out.

Also, I’m having a giveaway today!!  See details at the end of the recipe!

MAPLE-CHEDDAR SCONES

GLUTEN-FREE

(tweaked from recipe from Culture Cheese Magazine)

Ingredients:

(serves 6-8)

2 1/4  cups gluten-free four

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 tablespoon whey powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, diced

1 cup coarsely grated cheddar

1/2 cup chopped pecans, if desired

3/4  cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly coat with oil.

In a large bowl, combine gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, whey powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. With a blender or large fork, cut in butter until mixture is coarse and crumbly.

Stir cheddar  (and pecans, if desired) into GF flour mixture. Combine buttermilk and maple extract. Gradually add that to dry ingredients while tossing mixture with a fork. It will form a soft dough. (Note: you want to moisten the dry ingredients but NOT stir too vigorously, which stiffens the dough.)

Gather dough together. Press gently to combine. Transfer to a lightly gluten-free floured surface and pat out to 1-inch-thick round.

Cut with a serrated knife into 6-8 wedges. Arrange wedges on the baking sheet.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.

In the recipe in the magazine, it says “Dough can also be patted out and cut into 2-inch square scones, which will bake in 12-15 minutes.”

* By the way, if you want to make these using regular flour, just switch out the  GF flour with regular flour and omit the xanthan gum.

** Whey powder seems to add a ton of moisture to gluten-free baked items. I add a tablespoon now every time I bake something. It substitutes for 1 tablespoon of the GF flour.

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Giveaway: Leave a comment with your email in order to enter the giveaway! REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL so I might notify you. AND if you tweet or share on Facebook, tell me in your  comment and you'll be entered TWICE.

I'm giving away your choice of one of the first four Cheese Shop mysteries or FINAL SENTENCE, the first in the Cookbook Nook mysteries. Plus some fun swag!

* * * * * * * * *

ALSO, remember to sign up for my mailing list/newsletter. 

There's going to be a launch giveaway on February 3rd!

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Next up: 

Days of Wine and Roquefort 
Feb 2014, preorder here

                    Inherit the Word 
                     March 2014, preorder here

If you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list 

so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests! 

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!