Strawberries & Creme Scones

On Wednesdays I have coffee with a group of friends that I met through my children's preschool days.   I look forward to those mornings.  We used to meet at Starbucks because it was close to the preschool, now we meet at Panera.   Who knows where we will meet next year but I'm sure it will be something that we continue. 

While there last week, I had received a free pastry on my Panera card.  Hmmm, what to get.  I tried their Strawberries and Creme Scone.  I knew that I had to 1) find a recipe and 2) try to make them.    That's exactly what I did today! 

The recipe that I used came from King Arthur Flour Co.  and you can link to it here.  I followed it exactly except for 3 changes.  The first change is I did not have enough  white flour so I used whole wheat white flour, the 2nd change is I added a handful of dark chocolate chips and the last change was for the glaze I added an extra 1/2 teaspoon of water (the glaze seemed too thick).    Used a medium Pampered Chef scoop and baked them for 17 minutes on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 

How did they turn out....moist, tender and very good.   I will be making these again! 

Where is the picture you ask?  My camera battery has quit working and I am currently awaiting my new one to arrive.    The next time I make them I will snap pictures to post!!! 

Almond Butter

A dear friend of mine said that she had made homemade peanut butter.   I have peanut butter in the cabinet but did not have almond butter.  Shannon and I love almond butter, though I do not enjoy the steep price tag that it carries.    Today I experimented!   

I searched for a recipe online and found a great Raw Almond Butter recipe here.  

I followed the recipe as it was written, however, I did not use the honey or the salt.  I may eventually decide to add honey for a sweeter almond butter.  But for now I really enjoyed how this turned out! 

Here are some snapshots of the stages the almond butter went through as I was making it.

Into the food processor they go.

After 2 minutes.

and at 4 minutes

at 6 minutes

somewhere between 8-10 minutes...I'm not sure

and this is the finished product in the food processor.

And in a 2 cup canning jar!  

I LOVE how it turned out!  I am very excited to try making other nut butters now.