Yogurt Scones

I never understood what was so appealing about scones. All the ones I had ever tried tasted like a hard, dry, biscuit (Starbucks anyone?). For a while, I actually wondered if you were supposed to dunk them in coffee like biscotti. Though after seeing several recipes on food blogs, cooking sites, Pinterest, I decided I needed to give them a chance, because obviously something had to be good about them.

I literally Google searched "what should a scone taste like?" Apparently I'm not the only one out there wondering because there were tons of hits regarding this question. After doing a bit of reading, I found that a scone is essentially a glorified biscuit. It should be light, moist, and oftentimes slightly sweet (at least in a America). A comment in one of the threads posted a link to these yogurt scones from Chocolate and Zucchini. I wasn't new to this blog, as it's quite well known in the food blog community, and thought these would be perfect for my first scone attempt.

I was blown away. I love biscuits, but these were SO much better. I didn't even add butter or jam. I ate them warm, straight from the oven. In fact, we all did! I also loved this recipe because it was really easy to make the scones your own. I used lemon zest and dried strawberries, but you could use any other citrus zest, vanilla, whatever fruit you want, or no fruit at all! I also chose to do an egg wash on top. Totally optional of course!

Just to warn you, I think a new obsession may ensue. To all the scones out there: I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to judge you so quickly, simply because I had a few dry duds. I'll make it up to you, I promise!

Yogurt Scones

Adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini

Ingredients

Scones:

1 2/3 cups flour

2 rounded tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

A good pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter, chilled

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons milk

Flavoring: Anywhere from 2-3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup dried fruit, chopped, or 1 teaspoon citrus zest, or 1 teaspoon vanilla, etc. All of which could be optional.

Egg wash (optional):

Whisk together 1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk or water. You will have some left over. You could give them a quick scramble to serve with your scones!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Dice the butter and blend it into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry cutter, or using your hands (which is what I prefer!), until no visible lumps of butter remains. Add the yogurt, milk, and whatever flavoring you've chosen to use, and blend them in until the dough forms a ball. Handle the dough as lightly as you can. Avoid overmixing, or the scones won't be as tender!

Pat the dough into a flattish round shape, a little over an inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges (you could also use round cookie cutters!). Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet, giving them a little space to expand. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top of the scones are set and golden brown. Mine were finished at about 13 minutes, but that could because my "oven" is teeny.

Serve warm, with an assortment of spreads, or just the way they are!

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Low Fat Yogurt Pancakes

In a couple of days we're heading out of town to play a few concerts. We're off to Chang Chun which is north of Beijing (there are cities north of Beijing? You lie.) Needless to say, it's going to be freakin cold...ugh. Since we'll be gone about five days, there are some things in the fridge that need to get used before we leave. One such thing is a tub of plain yogurt. I often use yogurt in baked goods in place of oil, so I almost always have some on hand. Having a hankering for pancakes, I Google searched 'yogurt pancakes' and this recipe was one of the first I found. After reading through over 60 comments, where many of which referred to these as "pancracks" (because they're so addicting), I decided I had to try them.

I was not at all disappointed, as these pancakes were seriously SERIOUSLY delicious. The only change I made to the original recipe was the amount of salt. There were several comments stating that the original teaspoon of salt made them incredibly salty. I reduced the amount to 1/4 teaspoon. They were light and delicate, and not anywhere near as heavy as your typical pancake. It took me all of 60 seconds (okay...maaaybe 90) to devour my plate of three. I felt perfectly satisfied with my breakfast, and not at all weighed down. 

I must say though, cooking these pancakes wasn't as enjoyable. The pancakes didn't stick to the pan at all, but they did however, stick to the spatula, making it difficult to flip them. Reading through the comments from the original post, no one else seemed to have had this problem, so it may just be me. If you experience this, I found that lightly greasing the spatula helped. Weird problem to have right? This minor setback will not keep me from making them again. They were just too scrumptious! 

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Low Fat Yogurt Pancakes 

Adapted from One Green Generation

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (slightly more if you like thicker pancakes)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 large eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2-1 cup fresh or frozen fruit (I used frozen blueberries, but the fruit is optional)

Butter or cooking spray for the pan

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Make a hole in the middle. Add wet ingredients into the hole, and whisk until just barely combined, leaving it lumpy.

Allow mixture to sit for at least 5 minutes, more it you can. It will almost double in size, and bubbles will form from the baking soda reacting with the yogurt. 

Heat skillet or electric griddle to medium low. Coat the pan with a thin layer of butter or cooking spray. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter. Dot the top of the pancakes with fruit (I used about 6 blueberries per pancake). Pancakes are ready to be flipped when little bubbles form on top. The other side will take less then half the cooking time as the first. Serve with warm syrup, jam, fruit compote..whatever you want! Devour.

FYI: The original recipe said this yields 8 pancakes using 1/3 cup measuring cup. I used 1/4 cup measuring cup and ended up with 7.