Pumpkin Chai Scones

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, so I decided I needed to come back with something really good to make up for the lack of posts.

For those of you who don't already know, I'm in the process of opening a delivery based bakery. I'll go into more details about that in another post when I'm closer to "opening" though. All of my days off from my day job have been spent doing legal work or perfecting new recipe ideas.

I decided to treat myself today as I finish up my business plan and cost confirmation layouts. It's a little gloomy outside-my favorite type of weather-so I'm spending all day in my pajamas in bed finishing some stuff up.

Since I'm going with a comfort theme today, I decided to combine two of the first foods that come to mind when I think of comfort: pumpkin and chai spice. Thus, my pumpkin chai scones were born!

(as always, click on the pictures to make them larger)

The recipe is super simple and you probably have most of your ingredients in your cupboard already. As for the chai spice seasoning, I got mine from a specialty spice store in town. If you can't find chai spice seasoning, you can substitute with cinnamon to still add a warm undertone to the scones.

Scones
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp chai spice seasoning
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/8 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter-diced

1 large egg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp half and half
1 tbsp honey
splash of vanilla extract


Glaze
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp+1 tsp pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp chai spice seasoning
splash of half and half

Preheat oven to 425F

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chai spice, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add in cold butter pieces and work in with your hands until the butter is completely incorporated and mixture resembles corn flour.

In a separate bowl combine egg, pumpkin, half and half, honey, and vanilla. Create a well in the middle of the dry mix and use a rubber spatula to get as much of the wet mix as you can into the larger bowl. Use the same spatula to combine the mixes by folding the dry mix into the wet mix while turning the bowl. After the mixes are completely combined, use your hands to knead a few times. You want to use the spatula at first to prevent yourself from getting pumpkin Hulk hands.

Put a decent amount of flour onto a clean, flat surface and place the dough on top. Pat a tiny bit of flour on the top of the dough and then press into an eight inch circle. Cut into eight pieces like a pizza and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 13-16 minutes until thoroughly cooked through. If you want the scones to be more crunchy than soft, just leave them in an extra minute or so.

While the scones cooling, combine all the glaze ingredients in a small pot with a whisk over low heat. Heat for about two minutes, but do not boil. Drizzle the glaze over the scones and enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I'll try to make time for some more posts soon. Until next time...

Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise

Mini Frittatas

I'm a big fan of anything that I can make ahead and freeze for busy days and these mini breakfast frittatas are perfect to pop in the microwave on a busy morning.

One of the things I love about making these is that you can essentially add anything you want to them, which makes them great for using up stuff that's nearing it's expiration date. I chose to keep this batch very basic, but by all means, substitute stuff to your liking and add in any extras that you'd normally have inside an omelette, because these are basically little omelette muffins.

INGREDIENTS
1 dozen large eggs
8 oz cheddar cheese
1 lb ground breakfast sausage
1/2-1 onion (depending on how much you like onion)
1 green pepper
1 bunch chives
milk
salt, pepper, and any other spices you like


Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and preparing your muffin tins. I used silicon baking cups, but if you don't have those you can spray some nonstick spray in the tins. I haven't done this with paper liners before, so I'm not sure how they'd hold up in the freezer to be honest.

Brown the sausage (or your choice of meat) in a skillet with salt, pepper, and any other spices you like. While the meat is cooking, dice up 1/2-1 onion, a green pepper, and any other veggies you want to add in. Once it's done, drain the majority of the fat and set the meat aside in a bowl to slightly cool because you don't want it to be screaming hot when you add it to the eggs. Toss the veggies into the skillet and caramelize.

While the onions are cooking, crack the eggs into a mixer (or a bowl if you don't have a mixer) and mix with some milk. I never measure, but if I had to guess I use about half a cup. Just add it until the eggs are a pale yellow without looking too milky.

Chop up your chives while the onions are caramelizing and the eggs and milk are mixing. Spice the egg and milk mixture and add in the cheese. Once the cheese is fully incorporated, add in the meat and all of the veggies.

When the mixture is ready, fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full with the mixture. Make sure to get egg in every tin, because it will try and sink to the bottom of the bowl. You will more than likely have to bake multiple rounds of the frittatas.

Bake each tin until the tops are golden brown and bubbly-about 20-25 minutes. If you are choosing to store them in the freezer, a freezer safe gallon bag with the date you made them written on it is the easiest way to go.

When you take them out of the freezer to reheat, place them on a plate with a paper towel on top to keep the moisture in. It should only take about 30 seconds for each frittata.

And that's it! The last time I made these, they didn't even make it to the freezer and were gone within 24 hours because the people I live with couldn't stop popping them into their mouth. I took that as a sign that they had to be shared with the world.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and until next time...
Stay Stellar,
Paige Elise