Blueberry Almond Scones

I just got back home to Boston from my wonderful week in Iowa. I baked these scones at Allison's house on Wednesday morning. I did the baking, but it was a team effort as Allison passed me all of her baking supplies from the pantry cupboard while I mixed up the dough.

Found this photo and thought I'd share the recipe in case you feel like baking up some weekend goodies yourself. These scones are full of fresh blueberries. Lots of fruit means they're a little crumbly when eating, but sometimes messy is good!

Blueberry Almond Scones

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp cold, unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat over to 400F. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Slice the butter into pieces and drop it into the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or two knives, tossing butter in the flour as you work, until mixture is crumbly and butter pieces are no larger than the size of a pea.

Toast the sliced almonds in a hot pan on the stove, until they just begin to brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then toss the sliced almonds with the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg and vanilla, then add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the blueberries. 

Using your hands, gather the dough into a sticky ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat the ball into a circle about 8-inches around, and slice into 8 wedges with a pizza cutter. Place the wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, at least 1-inch apart. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are golden. For best results serve warm, fresh out of the oven!

Allison, hope you're having a great weekend. Happy packing and I can't wait to hear of your food adventures in France coming up next week already! Safe travels, thanks for always welcoming me in your kitchen. xoxo Cara

Almond and Apricot Thumbprint Cookies

Here's a little goodie I made last week for the Fun-A-Day Boston opening show at the Aviary Gallery. These cookies are chock full of one of my favorite foods: Almonds!

This recipe calls for almond butter, and last week I had tried my hand at making my own homemade almond butter. I love the stuff, and it can be a bit pricey in store. I ground up the almonds in my food processor. It took about 15 minutes and while the almond butter turned out well, my food processor wasn't very happy with me. By the time the almonds had turned to butter, the machine was smelling a bit overdone and I was sensing imminent mechanical failure. Perhaps an industrial rated food processor would handle this better. Not sure if I'll try it again on my own (my food processor is one of my favorite kitchen tools). So for this recipe you can try making your own following this perfect tutorial from a cozy kitchen, or just buy your own (I find Trader Joe's has the cheapest store-bought almond butter).

And now to the cookies! This is a Martha Stewart recipe, I've made it several times. Click here to find the full recipe. I follow it to the "t" with perfect results every time.

Voila! They were a hit at the art show. Check out our spread...

A little note about this 2-tiered dessert stand: I picked it up at Laura Ashley in the UK while I was in Wales for grad school. Its one of my favorite things, I use it to display desserts or just as a spring and summer fruit basket at home. The whole thing comes apart and packs flat for easy transport. Love it!