Caffeine Diary

Since I had a cast and crew for whom to bake, I baked a lot -- I mean a LOT -- of scones over the past month or so. Primarily, I made jaunthie's Honey Scones (which I would link to if I had the url for her old blog post, but I don't) with random variations:  dried cherries, dried blueberries, and vanilla powder; crystalized ginger and dried pineapple; dates and hazelnuts; pumpkin, dates, and walnuts.  The one I want to share with you, though, is chocolate.  Mm-hmm.  I said chocolate.  Not usually my thing in scones, but I was inspired on Saturday I went wild!  Here's what I did, if you want to recreate it.  As I said, based on jaunthie's recipe.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 Tbls unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/8 cup chopped hazelnuts

Mix together and add:
3 Tbls cold unsalted butter (I grated it in with a cheese grater.)
2 generous spoonfuls of honey

Mix with hands and add:
1/4 cup milk

Mix together.  Knead a few times on cutting board.  Split into two balls.  Flatten balls and cut into four wedges each.
Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 425F for about 12 minutes.
Devour with glee.

or

( My Eclectic Weekend )

So, my weekend in a nutshell:  medieval music and great food and drinks.  Not too darned bad, if a little bit odd in this particular combination.  ;)

Now I need to finish up my stuff for my publisher and get it sent off.  Woot!

Oh!  I almost forgot!  Go check out the free holiday stories over at The Samhellion Blog!  Mine will be up tomorrow. :D