Cheese & Herb Scones

I'm of two minds about scones. If I make them or buy one from an independent bakery, they're amazing and delicious and tender and buttery. If I purchase them at a coffee shop or a chain grocery store, more often than not they're dry and crumbly and not that tasty. Drizzling glaze over them only makes them hyper-sweet and sometimes hard as cement; the glaze ends up glueing together chunks of flavorless crumbs. Ick.

I started making scones about the time I started high school. Someone gave me a little cookbook of scone recipes, both sweet and savory, and I immediately fixated on one particular recipe. It called for finely chopped walnuts in the dough and then before baking, you cut a slit in the top and slid in a teaspoon of strawberry jam which bubbled up in the oven and glazed the top. My dad loved them so I never varied that recipe. I've made other kinds of scones since then; lemon blueberry (pictured below), almond cherry, currant, and white chocolate craisin. 

My first savory scone was from a bakery in Leavenworth, Washington (which is a Bavarian themed village in the Cascades and not the penitentiary in Kansas). It was chock full of cheddar cheese, bacon, and scallions in a tender, buttery dough and I could've eaten a few more of them and skipped lunch altogether. This particular recipe focuses on fresh herbs and cheese rather than bacon and scallions, but they're just as delicious!

My first attempts at replicating savory scones weren't great. I mean, they were edible and had bacon in them, but they weren't very tender and flaky. There are a few ways to make tender and flaky baked goods; use real fat (butter and/or lard), handle as little as possible, and increase the amount of protein and fat by adding eggs and/or some kind of dairy. Don't freak out on me here. The fats and proteins are what make baked goods tender (not dry) and flaky (a desired result in pastries and pie crusts). If you're looking for a low-fat option for scones, you won't find it here.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and frozen (leave in freezer until needed)

1 cup grated or shredded Cheddar cheese or other cheese of your choice

1/2 cup fresh herbs of your choice, finely chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. You can also use a sheet of foil, lightly greased, to line the baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and sour cream together and set aside til needed.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Use a fork or a whisk to combine. Add the frozen butter pieces and use a pastry cutter to work into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Add the cheese and herbs and toss gently to coat with the butter and flour mixture. Use a fork to stir in the egg and sour cream mixture until just combined. Using your hands, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into two equal balls. Pat each one flat into a disk and use a sharp knife to cut into wedges.

Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. If you like, brush the tops with melted butter or a beaten egg. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer the scones to a wire cooling rack.

Cook's Notes:

1. Let's start with the herbs. The creator of the original recipe wanted a recipe that used up a lot of her herbs from her garden. A half cup may seem excessive, especially if you're not accustomed to using fresh herbs in your recipes, but fresh herbs don't have the same punch of flavor as dried herbs. Once dried, the aromatic oils in herbs are concentrated which is perfect for adding to dishes which need to cook for a long time. Fresh herbs are best for adding as a garnish to a completed dish, to salads of all kinds, or to quick breads and scones which don't spend a lot of time in the heat. If you're fortunate enough to have an herb garden or you know someone who grows herbs, you can mix'n'match: thyme, dill, rosemary, parsley, tarragon, oregano, basil, mint, cilantro, savory, etcetera and so on. Rinse the herbs, pat dry with paper towels, and use a very sharp knife to finely chop.
2. I prefer to use sharp Cheddar in baked goods as the flavor stands up better than medium or mild Cheddar. Like the herbs, the choice of cheese is up to you. Try Gruyere and mozzarella with oregano, basil, thyme, and a little mint for an Italian flavor. Use a blend of pepper jack and white Cheddar with cilantro, parsley, and oregano for a hint of the Southwest. 
3. Butter, people, real butter. It can't be beat. And even though a lot of recipes call for unsalted butter so that the baker can adjust the amount of salt to their preference, I always use salted butter because it adds another layer of flavor. Plus, salted butter's often less expensive than unsalted. 
4. I generally buy store brands products unless name brand are on sale and comparable. I make a few exceptions for items such as Best Foods mayo and Daisy sour cream. I'm not sponsored by these brands nor do I get reimbursement or freebies from them; they're just tried'n'true brands. I really like Daisy sour cream because it only has one ingredients: Grade A cultured cream. There are no stabilizers, no additives, and no preservatives. I like the fresh tangy flavor and the only drawback (if you can even call it that) is that the sour cream "weeps". I either stir the liquid back into the sour cream or drain it off into the sink.
5. I've pretty sure we've discussed pastry cutters before and if you don't have one, get one. They're not expensive and they're much more effective and efficient than using a couple of forks or knives to try to cut hard chunks of butter in to the flour mix.
6. Let me leave you with two very important pieces of advice: first, keep the fats (butter, sour cream, egg) as cold as you can. The cold fats between layers of flour is what creates the flakiness in the finished product. As they heat up in the oven, the waters boil and create steam which puffs up the dough. Second, work the dough as little as possible so you don't create gluten which gives baked products like bread their chewiness.

These cheese and herb scones are great with soups and salad or as an alternative to rolls alongside a pot roast or grilled salmon. Don't be intimidated by all my instructions; it just sounds difficult! And I rather give you more info than not enough.

Savory Mushroom & Leek Bread Pudding

First off, I need to admit something to you: I dislike taking photos of my food. Apparently, the Instagram gene is not present in my DNA. I don't like taking the time at every step anymore because it slows down my efficiency; the lighting is not good in the kitchen where I work (fluorescent bulbs everywhere); and most importantly, it bugs me that some of the food blogs I read have more similar looking photos of the recipes in various stages than they have actual instructions. In fact, I just looked at one blog, counted the number of photos in ten different posts and came up with an average of 31 photos per post. If you want 31 of something, then visit your local Baskin Robbins. Who has that kind of time? Well, people who get paid for blogging have that kind of time, and I don't get paid. Plus, I'd rather be reading a cookbook or a great thriller than snapping away in the kitchen. Anyhow, I want to include one photo per post so you have some idea of what the completed dish looks like. Or should look like. Actual finished products may vary.

So, bread pudding. Most people think of bread pudding (if they think of bread pudding at all) as a sweet dessert. Found in cultures all over the world, sweet bread pudding utilizes stale bread in a mixture of milk, spices, some kind of sugar, sometimes liquor, and usually dried fruit of some type. Savory bread pudding takes the same concept of using up stale bread but instead of sweet additions, you add sauteed vegetables, grated cheese, and sausage. Similar to stuffing or dressing that's on the table for Thanksgiving or Christmas feasts, savory bread pudding is a great accompaniment to big pieces of protein, like turkeys or roasts. Even better, you can customize the ingredients to your particular taste. Don't like bell peppers? Leave 'em out. Have extra broccoli? Toss it in. Prefer turkey sausage? It's your dish; make it the way you like it.

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 leeks, white & light green parts, sliced & rinsed well

3 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage

1/2 pound Gruyere, grated

10 cups cubed day old bread

3 eggs, whisked together

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 tsp fennel seeds (optional but highly recommended)

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set out a large baking dish or two smaller ones.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together with about half of the grated Gruyere and set aside.

In a large stockpot, cook the sausage over medium high heat until browned. Reserving the rendered fat, scoop out the cooked sausage and set aside. Add the bell pepper, leeks, and mushrooms to the rendered fat still in the stockpot and saute for 5 minutes or so. Season the veggies with salt and pepper and the fennel seeds if using. Cook a few minutes more. Remove from heat.

Add the stale bread cubes and toss to combine with the sausage and veggie mixture. Transfer to the baling dish(es), pour the milk and egg mixture over, and top with the remainder of the grated Gruyere.

Bake for about 40 minutes, uncovered, and then broil for a few minutes to brown the top, if you'd like.

Cook's Notes:

1. The kind of bread you use is completely up to you. I found a great loaf of brioche sandwich bread which added a great buttery and slightly sweet flavor which paired well with the red bell pepper and leeks. You can use a sturdier bread, like a sourdough; completely up to you. At least two of my local markets carry bagged cubed bread in their bakeries. Just make sure that the bread is truly stale and a little hard; if it's too fresh and soft, the end result will just be mush.
2. Leeks don't get the love they deserve. They're in the same family as onions and garlic, Allium, and have a mild flavor somewhere in between the two. I've found that most markets sell leeks in bundles of three; go ahead and buy a bundle. Leeks are pretty hardy and can last in the fridge for longer than you might think. You can also slice them up and freeze them if you'd like.
3. Mushrooms. I love mushrooms. I wish more people loved mushrooms because then there'd be a more of a demand for different varieties in the local markets. I didn't have the time this past week to go to the Asian market where they carry at least a half dozen varieties, if not more, but I was quite pleased to find fresh shiitakes alongside the more pedestrian white and crimini mushrooms in one of the local stores. Use whatever mushrooms you want.
4. When I was frying up the sausage, I decided that it needed some flavor, so I added whole fennel seeds. Yum! I think next time I may increase the amount of fennel; I could taste it but not as strongly as I'd prefer.
5. Gruyere. This is a mild young Swiss cheese, slightly sweet and salty and nutty. It add savoriness without overpowering the other ingredients in the dish, such as quiches, crostinis for onion soup, and chicken cordon bleu. You can certainly use good ol' cheddar, but I urge you to break out of your cheese mold (see what I did there?) and try something new.

Serve savory bread pudding with roast chicken or a pork or beef roast and a nice green salad on the side. Give it a try and let me know what you think!