Easy Peanut Butter-Banana Scones and a Giveaway . . . Works for Me Wednesday

Giveaways work for for me. Baking from pantry items works for me, too.  So today, we have both!  Yay!

First, let's start with the scones.  I love these because I typically have all of the ingredients on hand.  I think they're best at room temperature, so they are perfect to pop in a lunch box or for an afternoon snack. Or, for breaking off a piece as you walk by them in the kitchen. ;)

Peanut Butter-Banana Scones
{adapted from Maureen Cole and Family Fun Magazine}

3 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp coarse salt
3/4 c. peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. evaporated milk, plus more for brushing the tops
1 c. (about 2 ) chopped bananas

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 375.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until thoroughly combined.

In a large bowl, beat together peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, and evaporated milk until evenly blended.

Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Stir in the bananas.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it twice.  Pat it into a 1-inch thick disc.

Using a 2 and 1/2 inch cutter, cut into rounds.  Pat scraps together and re-roll.  (Makes about 12.)  Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

Brush the tops with evaporated milk.  Bake 20 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

 

{Sometimes the mess looks pretty to me...that's weird, right?}

Serve with strawberry jelly for a peanut butter and jelly scone OR marshmallow creme (fluff) for a fluffer nutter scone. (Oh, it's so good!)

{It occurred to me AFTER we ate all of them that these would be really good with a peanut butter glaze. Someone want to try it?}

Now to the giveaway....

You may have noticed Sweet Cuppin Cakes over in the sidebar.  They are a sweet little sweet shop that ships WORLDWIDE!  Worldwide, people!  This is so exciting! They've also been featured in Parent & Kraft magazines.

One thing love about this shop is that the owner has a real heart and heads up Bake up Awareness for Autism.  As a matter of fact, you can help by hosting a bake sale on October 15 2010....all proceeds will go to Bake Up Awareness Autism Foundation to be donated for research in the immune testing of those with Autism.
{If anyone is hosting one in Houston, please let me know.}

Sweet Cuppin Cakes is giving away one of these adorable Cakewich cake pans!!!  How FUN are these?!?  I'm thinking a peanut butter pound cake filled with peanut butter buttercream and strawberry filling.  What about you?

To enter...

• visit Sweet Cuppin Cakes and leave a comment here with what else from the shop you'd love to try,
• for an extra entry, tweet about the giveaway using @bakeat350tweets and leave a separate comment.

Giveaway open until 8pm CST, Sunday (July 25th).  Good luck!

French Toast Scones (!) and a GIVEAWAY!!!

You may have noticed that I enjoy baking...a lot. But, there are times when I'm just too lazy to read a recipe, assemble ingredients and measure out flour. These times are called MORNINGS! No, even though I want to be one, I am not a morning person....just ask my family.

So, I was really excited to try this King Arthur Flour French Toast Scone Mix!

First, let me say that if I could dab the mix behind my ears, I would. It would be my signature fragrance; it smells like I imagine heaven does.

Second, the mix and the instructions are simple. Just add butter, egg and milk. And the batter....I probably could have eaten the entire bowl raw. I settled for licking my fingers...and the spoon...and the bench scraper...

Third, I recognize all of the ingredients in the mix. I like that. And who but King Arthur adds Vietnamese cinnamon to their mixes?!?

Fourth, these are serious scones! They bake up big and fluffy and ,I'll just say it, glorious! If you've only ever had a scone from the coffee shop, these will knock your socks off! You'll want to try them!

Wouldn't a basket of scone mixes be a great gift for a new mom who doesn't have time to bake anymore, but still wants to? I want a stash for my pantry...for lazy mornings...or company...or tea time...

Guess what?!? The nice people at King Arthur Flour are going to send one lucky Bake at 350 reader a French Toast Scone Mix of their very own! Yay! Hop on over to King Arthur and tell me what other scone mix you'd love to try. I'm thinking Lemon-Blueberry...in the meantime, maybe they'll consider a line of women's fragrances? :)

Drawing will be held Sunday at 8pm central. Good Luck!

Still craving more? Click here:

Meyer Lemon-Vanilla Scones

Baker's Banter (the King Arthur blog!)

C'mon. . .EVERYbody's doing it!

If you are addicted to food blogs like I am, you may have noticed these guys cropping up all over the place. Meyer Lemons! Maybe you've seen these beauties from Tartlette, or this tart from 3B's, or this gorgeous lemony post from Cannelle et Vanille.

When I saw Meyer lemons at the store, I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I bought them anyway. :) After looking through all my cookbooks and much debating, I decided on scones!

Meyer lemons smell SO unbelievably good! If you come across them and don't plan to buy, at least pick them up and smell! Heaven!

Here are the scones just out of the oven. I didn't bother with an egg wash on the top since I was going to top them with a glaze.

Oh, man...were they ever good! See those flecks of vanilla bean? I used my vanilla bean paste again. I love that stuff!

The inside was super flaky and flecked with little bits of zest and vanilla bean. One word of advice...eat them while they are warm from the oven. For testing purposes only, I ate 2 warm from the oven, 2 for lunch that day and 2 for breakfast the next morning (my husband was out-of-town...someone had to do it!). Warm from the oven is definitely best, although I'd never turn down a scone in any form!

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour's "Basic Scone" recipe in their Baker's Companion cookbook. If you don't own this book, I highly recommend it! (Also, go check out their blog!)

Meyer Lemon-Vanilla Scones

(adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion)

3 c. all-purpose, unbleached flour

1/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. dry milk

3/4 tsp kosher/coarse salt

1 TBSP baking powder

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/2 c. combo of milk and Meyer lemon juice

4 TBSP butter

1/4 c. shortening

2 TBSP Meyer lemon zest (heaping)

~~~~~~~~~

Meyer lemon juice

powdered sugar

Place butter and shortening in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla bean paste and the milk/Meyer lemon juice. (I filled my 1/2 c measure about 1/3 full of juice, then topped it off with milk to make 1/2 c.)

Into the flour mixture, grate the cold butter on the large holes of a grater. Break the shortening into pieces and add to the flour mixture. Cut in the fat with a pastry blender or 2 knives, leaving some pea-sized pieces of fat.

Gently stir/fold in the liquid mixture and the zest.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and gather together until it is cohesive. Divide the dough in half (using your bench scraper) and move to the cookie sheet. Pat each half into a 7-inch circle and then cut each half into eighths. Separate the wedges slightly. (King Arthur says you can freeze the unbaked and cut dough...that's what I did with my other half. Add 2 minutes to the baking time.) 

Bake for 7 minutes, then turn the oven off (don't open the door!) and let them sit in the oven for about 8 minutes more.

While the scones are in the oven, mix a little powdered sugar with Meyer lemon juice. Just eyeball the amounts and mix together with a fork or whisk until you have enough to lightly cover the scones.

Remove the scones from the oven and immediately place on a cooling rack. Place the cooling rack onto the cookies sheet still lined with parchment (this will save more clean up later). Drizzle the lemon glaze of the tops of the scones. Enjoy them warm! :)