I'm a slacking blogger. But, not a slacking baker. I've been busy with projects of varying sizes, and haven't had nearly the free time I imagined "summer vacation" would give me. I had envisioned days of baking brilliant new inventions, interrupted only by an urgent need to lay poolside. It hasn't quite worked out that way, and summer break is half over. I've been busy making things like graduation cakes that look like Oreo cookies,
and small projects that take no time at all, like the wedding cake I made this past weekend for my niece (Congratulations, again, you two!):
But last night, I was taken with the whim of invention. Just like that, my desire to be creative is back!
My scone recipe is basic, and I've posted it before. That's where this whim starts. I had some bacon ends from the place that produces the best home smoked bacon in Ohio, Grandpa's
Cheesebarn, and I thought that some candied bacon belonged in a scone. I fried up some of the bacon, and once it was almost done, I sprinkled in some brown sugar, and a bit of maple syrup (from the maple trees in my back yard!). I cooked it until it looked candied, then moved the bacon onto a buttered piece of foil to cool. Here's the rest of the "recipe":
While the bacon is cooling, make the scone dough up to the point where you have blended the butter into the dry ingredients. The only change I made here was using brown sugar instead of white, and I added a few cinnamon chips to the dry ingredients at this point. Chop up the cooled bacon, and toss into the dry ingredients. It's important that you let the bacon cool, or else it will melt the butter and ruin the texture of the scone.
To the egg and milk mixture, add in some maple extract. Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry, and proceed with the basic recipe. I brushed the tops of the uncooked scones with a mixture of cream and maple extract, and sprinkled with coarse sugar.
As these baked, they smelled like a pancake breakfast: smoky bacon, sweet bread, cinnamon and maple. Obviously, this is a good thing. A really good thing.
