Baking + Breads = Happiness

I love to bake and it truly is a passion of mine. I guess you can say it's in the "genes." My great-grandfather on my mom's side was a baker in Missouri. I like to think he would have loved that I find so much happiness in my baking! My favorite things to bake are any kind of quick breads, such as muffins, biscuits and scones. I actually found a copy of my great-grandfather's biscuit recipe from 1959 that I will be putting on my blog in the near future! One baking item I have never used in my entire life are cinnamon chips. I didn't even know that the grocery stores sold them. One of the first recipes that I sent to MomsEveryday.com was my cinnamon scone recipe. I tinkered with the recipe a little (reducing the cinnamon and eliminating the nutmeg). I added 3/4 cup of cinnamon chips and the end result turned out pretty well. Scones sound like something really fancy and make you think they are hard to make. It is quite the opposite.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups white flour
2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (slightly softened)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cinnamon chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together except the butter, milk and cinnamon chips in a large bowl. With two knives, "cut" in the butter until mixed together or use a spoon to mix in the butter until it's kind of crumbly. Next, add the milk. The batter will be kind of stiff. If it's really stiff, add milk a teaspoon at a time until it's easier to work with. Once it's well mixed, take it out of the bowl and place on a slightly floured surface (I usually put a little flour on my hands too). Knead it about 25 times and flatten out with a rolling pin or your hands (I have used both) until it's about the size of a large dinner plate and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (depending on how thick you like your scones) - I have a personal preference of liking them more on the thicker side. Once you've got the circle the desired size, cut them into eight equal triangles. Place them on the the cookie sheet and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let them cool on a rack about 10 minutes.

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