Blackberry Scones for our Royal Breakfast

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Yes, along with millions of other crazed Americans fascinated with British royalty, we watched the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The rest of the family was promptly in front of the TV (or should I say telly) at 2 a.m., and I stumbled downstairs shortly thereafter.

Nigella Lawson, a British food writer and one of my favorite contributors to National Public Radio, gave suggestions for making a royal breakfast fitting the occasion. And even though in England they are more of a tea time confection, Nigella recommended making scones. 

English scones are more what Amerians thinks of as biscuits, and biscuits are what the British call cookies. During our bed and breakfast days, Katie and I made our version of English scones with white chocolate and cranberries. They were very popular, but I have no idea of their authenticity. My only experience in Great Britain is a layover at Heathrow. Someday I hope to do some research in person.

For our little viewing party, I decided to try a new recipe for scones using blackberries. Blackberries are not in season and terribly expensive, so I used frozen. Frozen works fine but is a bit messy. But, the result was mighty fine.

I've always heard the English eat their scones with clotted cream, an extremely thick cream with an extremely high fat content (I'm sure the "clotted" refers to your arteries). Since clotted cream isn't sold here, Katie and I chose to top the scones with vanilla yogurt. Not only a healthier choice, but just what the scones needed. Absolutely brilliant!

I plan to try these scones with other seasonal berries. But for now...

I'm feeling sleep deprived...

and need a nap.

My best to Prince William and Princess Catherine. Good night.

Simply smashing!

Apricot Pineapple Jam with Lion House Rolls

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Apricot season has ended.

I'm glad we had several friends willing to share their harvest. And now, I would like to share with you our family's absolute favorite jam recipe, apricot pineapple. It used to be printed with the MCP pectin instructions, but for some reason, it's not there anymore. It would be a true shame if this recipe were lost, so feel free to make this jam and share the recipe with your friends and family.

We made quite a few batches this year. I pitted and pureed, and Katie did the rest. We ended up with about 30 jars of jam. One would think that many jars would last us until next summer. However, an opened jar doesn't last very long in our house, especially with our growing kids. I think I need to initiate a rationing program.

Or, better yet—a reward program.
"Yes, you may have some toast with apricot pineapple jam...as soon as you clean your room."

After we finished making the jam, I was in the mood to bake something to go with it. I immediately thought of my favorite rolls from the historical Lion House Pantry in downtown Salt Lake City. These rolls are incredible. They are light, airy, and buttery. And, what I love most is the shape. They sort of remind me of those of those round bales of hay. I'd post a photo of them, but I couldn't find a good one online, not even on the Lion House Pantry website. But, just try to imagine a roll looking like this.

This past year, the Lion House started selling a box mix of their rolls. Even though homemade is always better than a mix, I considered buying a box. But then it occurred to me, the recipe might be online. It was! I also found this video where a Lion House pastry chef, demonstrates the rolling technique to achieve the signature shape.

The rolls I made tasted just like what you would buy at the restaurant. However, I need a little more practice to achieve the signature shape. As rolls go, mine look perfectly fine, but they did have these little ends sticking out. I also ended up covered in the flour and butter. Once we spread on the apricot pineapple jam, we couldn't control ourselves, and the rolls were scarfed up in no time. I think I might volunteer to make the rolls at the annual family gathering at Thanksgiving.

Yep, I don't think it will be too long before we run out of jam.

Seriously, these rolls are heaven. Just looking at the picture
makes me want to make more.

Caribbean Banana Bread

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If you read my last post, you know I've got a lot of ripe bananas that need to be dealt with. Banana bread is an obvious choice, but I wanted something different. Katie and I both came across this recipe in the Cooking Light Cookbook. Banana bread with a twist—sounds intriguing.

I wanted to try this recipe because until recently I have always hated coconut. Now, I love it and want to try baking with it more. Toasted coconut is especially yum. I guess my taste buds are maturing. I wonder if I will start to like fish.

Katie, I'm guessing, was interested in the rum flavoring used in the bread. She loves anything with alcohol or coffee flavoring. However, you can probably guess from my blog that we're Mormon, so she's only ever had flavoring and not the real stuff. We often joke that she would be a lush on a constant caffeine high.

So, I baked a loaf and used up two more bananas. The recipe is totally easy, and the result is fantastic. The bread was so moist. The lime, coconut and rum flavoring go so well with the banana. My favorite part of the bread is the top crust with the topping. I could easily take a serrated knife, slice off the top of the loaf, and just eat that. Hey, that gives me an idea! I also love muffin tops. I think this recipe could be turned into some dang good muffins. Next time, I'll try that. Or, if you get to it first, let me know how they turned out.

That's a mighty fine lookin' loaf if I do say so myself.

I brought this to share at work. Didn't take long to disappear.

You know, the entire time I've been typing this, I've been 

singing that "lime in the coconut" song. I think it's going

to be stuck in my head for a while.