blueberry scones {recipe}

These aren't those rock-hard, dense scones that seem to be readily available here in America.  These are flakey and delicious and biscuit-like, similar to the scones I fell in love with in London.  I didn't think I even liked scones until I moved to London.

They were delicious and looked oh so pretty on our new wedding gift.

Blueberry scones

makes 12 large scones

slightly adapted from Tartine 

Ingredients

 - 4 3/4 cups flour + more for work surface

 - 1 tbsp baking powder

 - 3/4 tsp baking soda

 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar

 - 1 1/4 tsp salt

 - 1 cup and 1 tbsp unsalted butter, very cold and cubed

 - 1 cup buttermilk

 - 1 cup milk

 - 1 tsp lemon zest

 - 1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries (depending on how berry-ful you like your scones - I like a lot)

Topping

 - 3 tbsp butter, melted (if you don't want to add more butter, you can use skim milk instead)

 - raw sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl.  Mix in sugar and salt.  Using a pastry blender (or a fork) cut the butter into the dry ingredients.  You want to end up with pea-sized pieces of butter throughout the mixture.

Add buttermilk, milk, lemon zest and blueberries all at once and gently mix together until dough forms.  If dough appears too dry, add a bit more milk.

Dust work surface with plenty of flour.  Pat dough into a rectangle approximately 18 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.  Cut into 12 large triangles and place on baking sheet.  It's okay if they're a bit close together, you can easily cut them apart if they bake together in the oven.

Bake until the tops are lightly golden brown, approximately 25-35 min.  Serve immediately.  If you want more scones, cut them into smaller triangles and remember to bake them for a bit less time.

Delicious served with honey butter {1 cube butter combined with 2 tbsp honey}.

These were so yummy, I made them again the next weekend with strawberries.

Enjoy!

LMF

Tylney Hall - Hook

When I was living in London, one of the places I "visited" was Hook in North Hampshire, England.

I use the term visited loosely as this is not a place that I would have thought to travel too.  I was there for work.  Most of us who were on international rotations in the London office were sent out on the client work that was outside of the city, which was considered less desirable.  

I didn't mind though.  I got to see parts of England I never would have and got to know the train system fairly well.  There were weeks I arrived back at my flat in London on Friday night only to pack, do laundry, repack and leave again early Monday morning.

As I was catching up on Downton Abbey last night, I was reminded of the place we stayed at in Hook: Tylney Hall. 

Unfortunately, I don't have too many photos.  But I do love these wintery sciences I managed to take during one of our weeks there.

Before our team went out there, it was kind of a joke around the office that we would be spending a couple weeks out of the year in Hook.  Apparently, it is not known for being one of England's great tourist destinations. And the hotel where the team had stayed previous years wasn't anything to write home about.

One night at a work dinner, I got to chatting with my engagement partner.  He mentioned that one of his favorite places that he'd ever stayed happened to be right outside of Hook.  Not knowing the price, he asked why we didn't stay there.

I immediately jumped at my chance and asked if I could book the team there if there wasn't much of a price difference.  Perhaps, because we were there in the winter months, the cost wasn't much more.

The rooms were all unique and adorable, exactly as you'd picture that English countryside charm.

My favorite part was the enormous breakfast they'd lay out every morning in the dining room. 

(Of course, my favorite would be the food.)

via

Tylney Hall in summer

via

Totally Downton Abbey, right?

LMF

Cupcakes & Jam {the only cupcake recipe you need}

A couple weeks ago, I saw this post on Joy the Baker's blog {Love her!}.  I don't know anyone who doesn't need Strawberry Raspberry Vanilla Quick Jam in their life.  The recipe looked simple enough and the jam my mom and I made a few weeks ago turned out so delicious {see post here}, I thought we needed to try this one as well.  

{Vanilla cupcake topped with Strawberry Raspberry Vanilla Jam}

Joy's recipe was so easy and so delicious.  Instead of using a vanilla bean we used vanilla paste {found here}.  Every baker should have this in their pantry.  It's amazing.

 We doubled her recipe and made about 4 fairly large jars.  We didn't do the whole canning process like before.  We figured we'd freeze a couple jars instead. 
{Now that we've tasted it there will be no need to freeze any. We'll go through it pretty fast, I'm sure.}  Start to finish it took us less than 30 minutes.  Love that!  

After we made it we started looking around the kitchen for things we could put it on. {I'm not joking.} 

This isn't a typical jam.  It's kind of like jam's super sexy cousin, it's a bit syrupy, but has some thickness to it as well. Joy recommended it as a topping for yogurt or ice cream aside from your standard toast and jam.

Our eyes fell upon the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.

This was my favorite bakery when I lived in London.  I used to take the bus to South Kensington, wait in the "queue" that reached out to the sidewalk and down the street, just to buy one of their delicious cupcakes.  A tourist once stopped me while I was waiting in line and asked if they we're giving out free cake.  I told him no, that it was just that good.

We found a few different ways to use the jam with the cupcakes:
{see cupcake and frosting recipes below}

1.  Jam filled cupcakes - when we poured the cupcake batter in the pan we added a bit of jam to the middle of a few of them, covered it with a bit more batter, and baked it as the recipe directed.  It turned out perfectly.

2.  Vanilla cupcakes with berry frosting - we mixed a small amount of jam with the vanilla frosting which made this beautiful pink frosting and topped with a strawberry, so pretty! {I may have frosted the cupcake a bit too soon, which is why it looks a bit melted.}

{My mom decorated the one on the right with pansies.}
Can you see the black specks of vanilla bean in the frosting? So delicious!

3.  Vanilla frosted cupcake topped with berry jam

4.  Or my personal favorite:  Cupcake - sans frosting, topped with plenty of strawberry raspberry jam.  Fork and napkin necessary.

This is the only vanilla cupcake recipe you'll ever need.

Vanilla Cupcakes {modified from Hummingbird Bakery}
  makes 12 cupcakes

 - 1 cup all-purpose flour
 - 3/4 cup sugar, scant
 - 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
 - a pinch of salt
 - 3 tbls unsalted butter, at room temperature
 - 1/2 cup whole milk
 - 1 egg
 - 1 tsp vanilla bean paste {found here} or pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until everything is combined.  It will be a sandy consistency.  Slowly pour half the milk in the mixture and beat until incorporated.

In separate bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together.  Add to flour mixture until combined.  You may need to scrap the sides of the bowl to get everything incorporated.  Mix until batter is smooth.  Be careful not to overmix.

The batter will make exactly 12 standard-sized cupcakes.  Spoon batter equally into cupcake pan lined with papers (approximately 1/2 full).  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake bounces back when touched.

Let cupcakes cool in pan for a few minutes.  I like to turn them sideways so that the air can circulate.

Move to wire rack to finish cooling.  Once cupcakes are cool, spread with Vanilla Frosting.  If you frost them too soon the warm cupcake will melt the frosting.


Vanilla Frosting {modified from Hummingbird Bakery}

 - 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
 - 5 tbls unsalted butter, at room temperature
 - 2 tbls whole milk
 - a couple drops of vanilla bean paste {found here} or pure vanilla extract
 - 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Beat sugar and butter together until well mixed.  Combine milk, vanilla and lemon juice in separate bowl.  Add to butter mixture slowly until combine.  Turn mixer/beater on high and beat until frosting is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Enjoy!

LMF

London

Today marks the anniversary of two years home since moving back from London.  A lot has happened in those two years - a lot of really great things, and a few not so great, but definitely more than I imagined.

No matter where I live at any point, California will always be my home, but there are some things I dearly miss about London:

- taking a break from Regent Street shopping for afternoon tea at The Parlour at sketch

-shopping at The White Company, Zara Home, Sweaty Betty

- taking the tube (pronounced "chube") - although I do not miss the morning-breath on the way to work each day

- riding my bike around Clapham (caution - cycling in London can be dangerous!)

- snow in winter

- pub nights

- champagne receptions and exhibit openings at the Saatchi gallery

- borough market

- my sweet little London flat - that was all mine :)

- tulip yoga in Clapham

- planes, trains and the ease of traveling

- books - I had so much more time to read there

- lounging in the sun in Clapham Common or Hyde Park

- double decker buses (my favourite way to get around!)

- the city at Christmas time - especially the Fortnum & Mason windows

- Hummingbird bakery in South Ken

- and many many others!  This list could go on.

Mostly though, I miss the amazing friends I made there.  I initially wanted to move to London because I missed Paris from my college days.  Before moving to London I had only been there once for a few days before heading off with a friend on another trip so I really had no idea what to expect.  Living in Paris made me believe that I loved the European lifestyle.  I was wrong.  I loved the Parisian lifestyle and London was definitely different.  And it was exciting stumbling into a new culture and city I knew very little about - exciting and scary.  And it may have taken a bit of time, but the people I met made my time there so much fun and absolutely amazing.

Sometimes it feels like it was all a dream.  

LMF