Crumpets and Scones

In honor of Prince William and Kate's wedding, Jeff and I had crumpets and scones for dinner. Actually, the day before we were having a conversation and I said something about crumpets for tea and we both realized that neither of us was quite sure what a crumpet was. With a little research, I learned that it is similar to an English muffin.

I found a recipe and we were pleasantly surprised with how tasty crumpets are. I think it was the butter you fry them in! They are a mix between English muffins and pancakes I think. I have never had them before but can definitely see myself doubling this recipe and using these for breakfast.

With the scones, I decided on a chocolate chip version (from Joyofbaking) because, let's face it, everything is better with a little chocolate. Although I was very tempted by a recipe with a cinnamon streusel on it. The scones were great because they didn't have to rise at all: so I can easily make them again without much planning/thought beforehand.

Crumpets:
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp SAF instant yeast
1/4 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/3 C warm milk
1 Tbs butter, melted
1 egg
1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt





Directions:
Mix yeast and water. Add sugar and let proof 5 minutes. Mix in milk, butter, and egg. Add flour and salt and mix until smooth. Cover and let rise 45 minutes in a warm place. Fold over and let rise 15 more minutes.

Heat pan on low. Add some butter to the pan (let melt). Spoon batter onto pan (enough to make the size of crumpet you want). Cook on medium low for about 5-7 minutes until the bottom is browned and the top has bubbles and appears dry. Flip and cook another 2 minutes or until the other side is browned. Add more butter to pan as needed.

Serve with butter, jam, nutella, or other suitable topping. Eat warm or save and toast at a later time.

Scone:

Ingredients:
2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C butter
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C milk*
3/4 Tbs vinegar*

*you can substitute 3/4 C of buttermilk for the milk and vinegar

Directions:
Mix the milk and vinegar, let sit 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut in the butter with two knifes or a pastry blender (just as if you were making biscuits). When it looks crumbly, stir in the chocolate chips. Add the vanilla to the milk mixture. Slowly add 2/3 C of the milk to the bowl. Stir just until dough comes together. Add the remaining milk if necessary. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead a few times and then flatten out into a 1 1/2 inch thick circle. Cut the dough into 8 wedges (like a pizza). Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush tops with milk.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Lemon Bars

I am a chocolate lover. So I rarely make a dessert that doesn't involve some form of chocolate. I especially seldom make lemon bars because they just aren't my favorite. But a co-worker brought these in my last day of work and they were so good I started craving more! That is impressive for a lemon bar. So I asked her for the recipe. I was pleasantly surprised to know that I already had all the ingredients at home.

I made these in a small rectangular dish (I think 7 by 11). The original recipe called for an 8 inch square pan. So my dish was slightly bigger. But the lemon bars turned out quite thick so if you prefer a thinner crust, you can make it in an even bigger dish.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 C butter, softened
1 1/3 C flour
1/4 C sugar

Filling:
3 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
3 Tbs flour
3/8 tsp baking powder
5 Tbs lemon juice

Directions:
Mix butter, flour, and sugar until crumbly. Press into bottom of pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Don't worry if it doesn't seem like a dough. It should be crumbly. Take out of oven while still white (should not have browned).

Meanwhile, mix the filling ingredients. Pour over the crust. Bake again for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

You will have to wait for the bars to cool before you cut them because the filling has to set.

These are delicious cold out of the refrigerator!

Crockpot Barbecue Chicken

Here is a deliciously simple recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I was a little wary of adding the italian dressing to it but it turned out absolutely wonderful.

Stick it in the crockpot and enjoy a few hours later. Works great with my bread machine hamburger buns.

I always get so excited to eat, I forget pictures! So I took one from allrecipes.

Since there are only two of us to eat, I like to be stingy on the meat to make our food budget last longer. However, our crockpot is quite large so I often burn whatever food I put in it because there is not enough. This time, I learned that you can put a smaller oven safe dish inside the crockpot and cook successfully in that. It was great! I put a little ceramic bowl in an covered it with foil to keep the moisture inside. My chicken cooked perfectly.Ingredients:
One large chicken breast
1/3 bottle of barbecue sauce
1/4 C italian salad dressing
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs soy sauce

Directions:
Put the chicken breast in the small container inside your crockpot. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover with foil. Cook on low for five hours. Open up crockpot and shred chicken with a fork. Cover and cook one more hour. Serve on buns.

This recipe makes a small amount - only two servings. It can easily be adjusted for larger groups.

Bread Machine Hamburger Buns

Today I wanted to actually make something for dinner since it has been a while (the arrival of a new baby will do that!). But I knew it needed to be something that wouldn't take too much work because I never know when I will be interrupted by his cries.

I decided to make crock pot barbecue chicken and homemade buns. I found this recipe at Food.com

These were very easy to make and taste delicious. I will use them as dinner rolls as well. And since they are made in the bread machine, hands on prep time is really only about 15 minutes total. The original recipe called for bread flour but I used all purpose flour and added wheat gluten.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 C milk, slightly warm
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs butter
1/4 C white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 3/4 C flour
1 Tbs + 1 tsp vital wheat gluten (optional)
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast


Directions:
Mix all ingredients into bread machine according to manufacturer's directions. Run the "dough" cycle. Turn out onto floured surface and split dough into two pieces. Roll out each piece until 3/4 inch thick. Using an inverted cup, cut out 6 rolls from each piece (I chose to freeze half the dough). Place dough disks onto greased pan. Brush with melted butter and let rise until double (about 1 hour). Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

These would make excellent dinner rolls as well. Just size them a bit smaller or bake in a muffin tin!