Sunday Morning Dilemma – “to glaze or not to glaze, that is the question” (I had this little “discussion” with one of my favorite mentors yesterday.)
Today is a good day for baking something and returning to bed with a treat and the Sunday NYT!
Bitter + Sweet – ahhh, the combination is such an intriguing invitation in the pastry kitchen, as so many opposites are……… You could write an entire book about it now, couldn’t you? One of my most bittersweet memories is of my Mom surprising us with some fragrant yeasty breakfast rolls in the morning. In addition to her prized Cinnamon Rolls, she often made Orange Rolls, the aroma of which was tantalizing enough to get anyone out of the bed. These treats were not limited to weekends – I don’t know how she did it.
These days I’m taking every opportunity to employ/enjoy the citrus season. Sometimes it is one of the more unusual varieties, but sometimes it is just a common navel orange or two. I love it when the zest is so filled with essence that when you apply the grater, the little mist of orange wafts off in an expressive way – sending a plume of delight upwards toward your nose! Today was such a day.
I awoke this morning to the sound of rain outside – sort of uncommon these days. I was instantly reminded of my somewhat misguided ideas about weather — one being that is should only rain at nighttime – the nighttime part when we are sleeping and then we should awaken to a crisp and sunny morning, every single day. Oh well, yes, such is my imagination.
Several weeks back I secured two lovely bags of Dark Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans. This was well before Christmas when my agenda was much longer than my ability to execute. They sat on the shelf in the pantry until today.
When I awoke, rain coming down in buckets, I somehow imagined myself with an 8″ round tin of my Mom’s Orange rolls, just out of the oven, complete with orange glaze. I’m not sure why, but this just appealed to me, and I could smell them in my memory. Knowing I had no previously risen yeast dough at the ready, I decided to fool around. My collection of citrus right now is deep, but I grabbed two heavy navel oranges for the task.
You might be bored with all of my scone recipes, but honestly they present the quickest return on investment in the baking department. It is a bonafide breakfast bun you can make in about a half hour! And, anyway, I wanted to try yet another version of the bitter-sweet combos I love – this one was to try bitter coffee and sweet orange together!
THE ORANGE-ALMOND SCONE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE-COVERED ESPRESSO BEANS –
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tblsp granulated sugar
zest of one large navel orange
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
scant 1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup slivered almonds, crushed
egg wash
orange sugar – zest of one navel orange combined with 3 tblsp granulated sugar with your fingertips
1/4 cup chopped Dark Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans Orange Glaze – if desired)
Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of your food processor whir together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and orange zest. Add the cubed butter and pulse 8-9 times or until the butter resembles small peas. Dump the dry mixture into a low wide bowl. Make a well in the center.
In a large measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, eggs, almond extract and orange juice. Pour about 3/4 of this into the center of the dry ingredients. Working with a dough scraper, gently bring the dry ingredients into the wet, adding more wet as needed. When the dough begins to hold together, knead into a mass with your hands.
Move to a well floured surface and pat out to a 1 1/4″ height. Using a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle, about 12″ x 8″ (or whatever size keeps it at about 1 1/4″). Use a bench scraper to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface. Sprinkle the crushed almonds over the surface and, starting from the long end, roll into a log. Finish with seam side down. Using your hands, mold the log into a uniform shape. Using the bench scraper, cut the log into 9 scones. Place cut side up on the prepared baking sheet. Mold the scones with your hands into nice rounds.
Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with the orange sugar and top with the chopped espresso beans.
Bake for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. Glaze with orange glaze, if desired.
Take these back to bed with the Sunday Times and Enjoy!
that’s amoré