Chocolate Chip Scones with Toasted Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

The title is a mouth full and so are these delicious fall scones. Everyone loves a nice warm breakfast and if you are like me, you need it to be quick too! I saw this recipe on the Today show and knew I had to make it!!

This was the first time I have every made scones and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I also loved that I can use this recipe for substitutes such as blueberry or plain chocolate chip scones.

Check out my previous blog post to see how you make the toasted cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds.
http://whatserikaeating.blogspot.com/2012/11/toasted-cinnamon-sugar-pumpkin-seeds.html

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 cubes, plus extra for greasing

2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring pan

1/3 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup of toasted cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds

3/4  cup of chilled buttermilk plus extra for brushing scones

1 large egg yoke

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Step One:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and butter a 9x13 baking sheet.

Step Two:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and rub into flour mixture with your hands. The mixture should look like course meal when mixed thoroughly. 

Step Three:

Mix in chocolate chips and pumpkin seeds.

Step Four:

In a small mixing bowl, whisk/combine: buttermilk, egg yoke and vanilla. Add to dry mixture and stir until combined. (Mixture should be sticky)

Step Five:

Flour a clean counter surface. Also, flour your hands. Take dough and place on flour surface. Form a 7-8 inch round. Cut into 7/8 slices.

Step Six:

Transfer to a grease and floured baking sheet. Do not worry if slices are not cut perfectly. Brush scones with buttermilk and top with brown sugar. Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

Step Seven:

Serve warm with a glass of milk or OJ and ENJOY!!!

Toasted Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

Don't quote me on this, BUT, Fall may be the most amazing season for baking!! This morning I "gutted" my decorative pumpkin just so I could get my hands on some awesome pumpkin seeds!

I was watching the Today show and they were showing an awesome recipe for a sweet pumpkin seed! If you know me, then you would understand my excitement for a healthy treat with a little unhealthy kick! The seeds are absolutely amazing and they make the house smell wonderful!!

I washed/rinsed my seeds in the morning and let them dry all day, while I was at work. The actual baking part only took about 15 mins with prep! :)

ALSO,
Winston and Malcolm hope you had a fabulous Halloween!! :)

Ingredients:
1 1/3 ish cups of dried/clean pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Step One:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small/medium size mixing bowl, coat pumpkin seeds with olive oil. Add sugar and cinnamon. Stir.

Step Two:
Lay flat on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 or until golden brown. (Bottoms will darken faster than the tops of the seeds)

Step Three:
Let cool for about 5 mins and ENJOY!! (Or you can save them and make Chocolate Chip Scones with Toasted Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds)

DIY Halloween Broom Bags

First post on something I didn't have to bake or cook! This is a rarity so ENJOY it! :)

I needed something fun and easy to give my employees for Halloween. Instead of the traditional store bought bags, I found these ones on Martha Stewarts website! They are super cute and the finished product makes all the cutting worth it.

Start to finish: 5 mins per bag

Supplies:
Brown paper lunch bags
Sissors
Tape/Rubberbands
Gift Tags/Ribbon
Candy
Pretzel Rods/ Sticks

Step One:
Take two bags and line them up. Cut off about 1/2 of the bag. Discard the top 1/2.

Step Two:
Fill one bag with candy and set aside. Take the other bag and push out the bottom while folding in the left and right side. (see picture below, hard to explain!)

Step Three:
Cut long strips, vertically, until you hit the bottom fold.

Step Four:
Take the cut up bag and unfold it until it is flat. Place bag with candy on top of other bag.

Step Five:
Grab all shreds of paper bag and scrunch bag shut. Fasten with tape or rubber bands. Shove pretzel rod or stick into top of bag and add a gift tag or ribbon for a decorative touch/message.

Step Six:
Hand out and ENJOY everyone getting a kick out of your creativity! :)

Peanut Butter Witches Brooms

Halloween is coming and baking puts me in the holiday mood!! I found this cute recipe on Pinterest. I changed it a little bit but I feel it's for the better. The original recipe calls for some sort of sugar cookie (made from scratch). The only scratch you were getting from me, during this crazy time of year, is to scratch that off my list. I just went to the store and bought peanut butter cookie dough. MUCH BETTER!!

I made this recipe in steps. I baked the cookies the night before and let them harden over night. If you wanted to do this all in one day, it would probably take you about 45mins (minus the time it takes for the chocolate to harden). The part that took me the longest was trying to get the cookies to look like brooms.

Overall, it was a super fun and EASY recipe! Plus, it is sure to please everyone because if they don't like peanut butter they will think the cookies are adorable!

Ingredients:
1 roll of peanut butter cookie dough
1 bag of pretzel rods
2 cups of chocolate chips
2 tsp of canola oil

Step One:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into a small ball. Flatten on top of pretzel rod and form into a triangle. (This picture was taken before I started thinking about what a broom looked like!)

Step Two:
Bake for 6-8 mins. or until golden. Transfer to cooling rack and let the cookie completely cool.
***FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS***

Step Three:
In a small sauce pan, on low heat, add canola oil and chocolate chips. Still continuously until melted.

Step Four:
Drizzle chocolate over top of cookie where the cookie and the pretzel rod meet. Let sit for a couple of hours or until chocolate is completely hard.

Step Five:
ENJOY!!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars

Thank the lord and sing his praise!! I have FINALLY found a recipe that looks complicated and took me LESS THEN 20 MINUTES, start to finish!! I have been extremely sick for the past month and have just started feeling good. Of course, once I have a little bit of strength, everyone on my team has a birthday!!

I had little time, needed enough dessert to please everyone and wanted it to look like I cared (which I do!!). This recipe is sooooo easy and it tasted sooooo good!! :) I recommend this recipe for anyone on the go or for those crunch times when you forget about an event the next morning!! Have fun!!

Ingredients:

1 roll of chocolate chip cookie dough
3 cups of miniature marshmallows
2 cups of peanut butter filled pretzels
1/2 cup of peanut butter chips
1 tsp of shortening or 1 tsp of canola oil

Step One:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press cookie dough into the bottom of a pre-greased pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Step Two:
Sprinkle marshmallows on top of baked cookie dough. Bake for another 2-3 minutes.

Step Three:
Push pretzels into gooey marshmallows.

Step Four:
In a small sauce pan, add shortening/canola oil and peanut butter chips into pan. Stir continuously until melted.

Step Five:
Drizzle peanut butter on top of bars. Cool and ENJOY!!

Original Blog Post:
http://cookiesandcups.com/peanut-butter-pretzel-bars/