Bake! Cream Cheese Scones ~

It isn’t for lack of cooking that I haven’t posted…it was for lack of photo-editing time, and and getting the new camera squared away in my head.  And in the photo editing program. Different cameras…different settings… Oh well.  Here we go…

My host recipe for Bake! this summer was Cream Cheese Scones, found on page 182 of Nick Malgieri’s Bake!  I had the best intentions, even cooked my scones at the right time…the rest of my time avalanched!  *Ü*  These went together amazingly easily…and were soon ready to bake…

After an appropriate amount of time in the oven, the scones emerged nice and golden brown…

A bit of cooling and…voila!

These scones had a nice rich flavor…butter and cream cheese…how could it not?  And a really tender crumb…  While rich, these cried out for something a little “more” at serving time…  Butter…no…they were already buttery…ahh….  Homemade jam…choose your flavor!  We selected Pluot.  A pluot is a cross between an Apricot and a Plum…big as a plum, with flesh more like an apricot than a plum, and if you’re lucky…easy to release seeds!  And the flavor…oh!  That reminds me…it’s coming on to Pluot season!  Got to get some for snacking!

Tasting Notes~
These were good…but we didn’t gobble them up for some reason.  We polished off another recipe of scones in lightning fast time…so I don’t know if it was just this recipe, or we just weren’t in the mood…  Still, the recipe is great, reliable and clear, and the scones were rich and tasty.  I don’t know what happened this time!

Bake! Baking Powder Biscuits~

The second recipe I made from Nick Maglieri’s cookbook, Bake!, was the Buttermilk variation of his Baking Powder Biscuits.  The dough intimidated me right away…it was MUCH more moist than I anticipated.  I decided maybe my flour was more moist than his had been, and added some to at least be able to manage the dough.  It was still very, very moist, but more manageable than batter-like.  I made sure I floured my biscuit cutter well between each cut, and re-rolled my scraps very carefully so they didn’t get tough.

The biscuits bake quickly at a high temp, as most biscuits do.  In just a few minutes we had lovely golden-brown morsels…

Tasting Notes~
Best darn biscuits I can ever remember making.  We usually have one or two biscuits left over…not with these.  Somehow, we managed to eat them all…one way or another!  I had made them for biscuits & gravy with scrambled eggs and ham…they also went very nicely with honey, and homemade jam too.  They even got Jasmine’s 4-paw approval.  I tell you…some times those eyes just won’t leave you alone!

So far, everything I’ve made, albeit only two, actually, by the time I got this post done, I’m up to three…, recipes I’ve made from Bake!, is a winner!

Bake! Best & Easiest Carrot Cake~

Easter is a great time for Carrot Cake…and Nick Malgieri’s recipe from Bake! makes a really good carrot cake.  To be utterly fair…it’s still not my favorite recipe though.  My mom made a killer carrot cake, and while this one is really good…it’s not as good as Mom’s was!

Moist and tender…full of juicy carrots and bits of toasted walnuts, this cake couldn’t be easier to put together.  Dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, combine…with perfect spices…and frost with cream cheese frosting…what could be better?

Okay, I confess… It was Easter Sunday and I didn’t have any cream cheese in the house.  I thought I did, but I sure didn’t.  What I did have was a fresh quart of whipping cream… We had just had strawberry shortcake, so I knew whipped cream was merely moments away.   That actually made a lighter topping for the cake than the cream cheese icing, and was a little more refreshing.

Our next recipe is for a Strawberry Chantilly Cake…with whipped cream icing…LOL!  I don’t think I’ll trade the icings…  I made a 9 inch square layer and 12 carrot mini-cakes that I froze for those nights when we yearn for something sweet.  I think the Strawberry Chantilly cake will need to be done as a half recipe…there are still only two of us here to eat all these goodies, and I’ve still got a dozen or so to catch up on!

Bake! Banana Bread~

I’ve been watching all the lovely things coming out of Kayte’s kitchen for awhile now…enviously, no less!  She’s been baking from one or the other of two of Nick Malgieri’s books, Modern Baker and Bake!  While I’ve purchased both books, I’m going to commit to cooking from Bake!  for now!  I’m a dozen or so recipes behind, but I’ll catch those as I can.  Kayte wondered what my first recipe would be…and I had planned it to be one of the recipes on the list, but several very ripe bananas made the decision for me!  Banana bread!!  I’m sure this recipe will pop up sometime in rotation…and I won’t hesitate to bake another one!  It came out very moist and sweet, and the 5-fingered mouse kept nibbling at it until it was gone… I’m glad I was able to get a picture before it completely vanished!  Now…on to the list!