Search Results for: apricot scone

Start the Day Off Right with Blackberry-Rye Cream Scones

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Buttery, tender, and filled with fresh blackberries.
Buttery, tender, and filled with fresh blackberries.

It doesn’t have to be a holiday like Valentine’s Day to make any day a whole lot sweeter and more pampering with “Blackberry-Rye Cream Scones.”

Rye flour gives them an earthy color and a nutty taste, while a sprinkling of sugar on top before baking creates that crackly sweet crunch none of us can resist.

The recipe is from “Bake Smart” (Harvest, 2023) by Brooklyn-based Samantha Seneviratne, a recipe developer and food stylist who stars on the Magnolia Network’s “Everyday Cooking.”

It’s a collection of 100 recipes for homespun treats such as “Burnt Caramel Basque Cheesecake,” “Chocolate Chestnut Loaf,” “Pretzel Cheese Buns,” and “Buckwheat Walnut Linzer Cookies.”

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Chewy-licious Blueberry & Apricot Bars

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Chewy, sweet, and loaded with dried fruit, there's a wonderful old-fashioned quality about these tasty bars.
Chewy, sweet, and loaded with dried fruit, there’s a wonderful old-fashioned quality about these tasty bars.

There’s a lovely wholesome taste to these chewy-soft fruit bars, which is not surprising, given that the recipe hails from a baker who got his start selling farmhouse-baked treats out of an old red truck.

“Blueberry & Apricot Bars” is a recipe in the new “The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Brian Noyes, founder of the Red Truck Bakery in Marshall, VA, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and at the King Arthur Baking School in Vermont.

In his previous career as the art director at the Washington Post and Smithsonian magazines, he would spend his free time baking pies and breads at his Virginia Piedmont farmhouse, which he sold from that vintage red truck that he bought from none other than designer Tommy Hilfiger.

Noyes now operates two Red Truck bakeries, both in historic buildings, and has fans in Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama.

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Panettone Scones for the Holidays

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These scones are so buttery, flaky and fluffy, plus redolent of candied citrus and layers of almond paste.
These scones are so buttery, flaky and fluffy, plus redolent of candied citrus and layers of almond paste.

Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to the aroma of buttery, almond-scented, candied citrus-studded scones turning lusciously golden in the oven.

“Panettone Scones” were made for leisurely enjoyment alongside a cup of coffee or tea on a lazy, holiday morning with loved ones gathered around.

This festive recipe is from “Baking for the Holidays: 50+ Treats for a Festive Season”‘ (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

The new book is by Sarah Kieffer, creator of The Vanilla Bean Blog, and originator of the the pan-banging method for baking cookies that’s detailed in her previous cookbook, “100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More” (Chronicle Books, 2020).

As the name implies, her newest book features more than 50 baked treats perfect for celebrations, including “Nutella Star Bread,” “Coffee-Cardamom Monkey Bread,” “Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Irish Cream,” and “Coconut-Cardamom Cupcakes.”

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Thumbprint Scones

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Thumbprint scones filled with sweet-tart, creamy lemon curd.

Imagine your favorite thumbprint cookie, but blown up to the size of a tender, crumbly scone.

That’s what these pastries basically are. They also boast the unlikely name of “Thugs-‘n’-Harmony.”

They’re from the new cookbook, “The Sugar Cube” (Chronicle Books), of which I recently received a review copy.

Author and baker Kir Jensen gave up her fine-dining career path to sell her handmade treats out of a food truck called the Sugar Cube in Portland, Ore. instead.

Jensen, who worked at Trio in Chicago and Florio Bakery in Portland, offers up 50 recipes for cupcakes, cookies, tarts, muffins and candies. Her treats are homespun meets kick-ass. They’re familiar, but given newfangled spins, as well as playful names such as “Twisted Toll House” cookies and “Beta Believe It” smoothie.

You can make these scones as simple wedges. But why, when you can make over-sized thumbprints instead? Fill them with your favorite jam or lemon curd, as I did.

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Apricot Muffins with a Topping of Crunchy Goodness

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Sweet, salty, tender and crunchy -- that's what these apricot muffins are like.

Sweet, gooey caramel with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Skinny jeans with a billowy top.

And the gregarious jock with the shy, bookish girl next-door.

Plain and simple, opposites attract.

Why? Because in the immortal words of Tom Cruise to Rene Zellweger in “Jerry Maguire,” they complete one another.

The same can be said about the best baked goods. If there’s soft, there ought to be crunchy, as well, to provide added contrast and greater interest.

When I decided to bake a batch of muffins the other week, using summer apricots fresh from the farmers market, I knew I wanted the tender treats to sport not only a crunchy top, but one that was both a little sweet and a bit salty.

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