Peaches!

I bought 5lbs of fresh Georgia peaches at Whole Foods, and promptly went to work on them.

First, I started on peach butter.

I took about 3.5lbs of the peaches and cut them up, dumping them into my smaller stockpot, set on low.

After about an hour, they were nice and mushy, at which point I added 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2tsp of pumpkin pie seasoning.

Another 30 minutes, splashes of grapefruit and orange juices, and about 1/2 cup of Sugar in the Raw, and more cooking down (uncovered now).

Another 2 hours or so of cooking down, and when I remove the spoon the butter clings, rather than running off.

Perfect.

It's a little tart, still, perfect with sweet buttermilk biscuits in the morning.

I won't try to tell you how to can it, since I never can do it correctly (all of ym fruit butters come with a label reading "Please refrigerate, not properly canned)

Enjoy!

PERFECT scones

Many, many thanks to Foodess.com for this awesome recipe. I made it exactly as stated, only without strawberries. They were WONDERFUL, moist and chewy and just sweet enough.

Buttermilk Scones with Strawberries and Milk Chocolate Chunks

Adapted from “Our Finest Buttermilk Scones” in The Canadian Living Baking Book

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup hulled, sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chunks

1. Line a large, rimless baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using pastry blender, or two knives, cut in butter until crumbly. In separate bowl, whisk buttermilk with egg. Pour over flour mixture. Stir with fork to make a soft, ragged dough. With a wooden spoon, gently mix in strawberries and chocolate chunks.

3. With lightly floured hands, press dough into ball. On floured surface, knead gently ten times. Pat out into a 10 x 7-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle into 4 squares, and cut each diagonally in half to make 8 triangles. Place on prepared pan. Bake in center of oven until golden, 15-18 minutes. Transfer to rack and let cool.

I served them with homemade whipped cream and blueberry preserves, with Raspberry Black and Almond Biscotti teas.

Yesterday morning

Yesterday morning, I decided to be lazy. My work schedule is extremely flexible, and with my partner out of work at the moment, it made for a lazy morning.

The day before, I made butterscotch scones, so those were reheated along with some of Teavana's Thai Tea Blend (definitely our house favorite, along with Elmwood Inn's Indian Chai).

My wonderful partner surprised me by setting the table and bringing out the tea, milk, and sugar, and we all had an actual breakfast together.... it's been a while since we managed that!

Here is the recipe for the scones I made. They turned out a little dry, so I still have some more experimenting to do.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
4 Tbsp brown sugar
6 Tbsp cold salted butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup milk
1 egg slightly beaten
1 tsp. of vanilla
2 Tbl. of sugar in the raw for sprinkling on top

approx 3/4 cup butterscotch chips

(This recipe originally called for white sugar, less butter, and cream instead of milk, but I modified based on what I had on-hand.)

I blended the dry ingredients, plus butter, in the food processor, then added the wet ingredients. After mixing thoroughly, sifting in a little more flour to dry out the (very wet) dough, I folded in the butterscotch chips.

These were baked at 400F for about 15 minutes, and slathered with butter. As I said, they came out a little dry, but the flavor was good. Salty-sweet, just as butterscotch should be, and excellent with Thai Tea Blend.

Intro

While I have a completely unrelated blog, recently my creativity has been more focused on the kitchen than the bedroom.

I'm a tea afficianado, with a collection of over 2 dozen antique teacups, well over 2 dozen loose-leaf teas, and various and sundry tea accessories.

Approximately once a year, I throw tea parties for various fundraisers. My next one will be July 17th at a local kink venue, where I'll be teaching tea service and preparation.

Chronicled here will be my attempts at new scone recipes, experiences with various teahouses, and general thoughts on preparation and service of tea.