Simple things and stranger things

This week has been awesome and then tremendously empty. Once you find Stranger Things,  get completely hooked and then realise that there are only 8 episodes. Well everything has slightly less shine now! Aw, I joke but honestly this show is fantastic!! It creates such a wonderful atmosphere of 80s nostalgia and childhood adventure with a hint of the mysterious paranormal!

Image property of Netflix

So I thought naturally that I would accompany this post with a simpler thing - Scones.

Scones are one of the first things I ever learnt to make, scones and brownies. When I was about the age of the Stranger Things kids, maybe a little younger. My Mum taught me how to make these two things from a Darina Allen book and I was absolutely enthralled!! I felt like I was being taught some kind of super-power;You can just make treats?! Mind-blown! Well as you can tell, I started there and didn't stop but today I wanted to revisit the ole favourite with a bit of a healthy twist. 

Obviously scones are sweet breads so they are inevitably carbs but I have made a few adjustments to make them as healthy as carbs can be, and honestly you wouldn't know he difference. They definitely passed the fiancé test. These two lasted about five minutes between us.

So what are the adjustments - the flour is a fine ground wholemeal flour. Fine ground is important here, it can be called pasta flour but it makes a very big difference.

The second big alteration, these contain no added sugar. They are sultana scones and thereis  natural sugars in the sultanas but otherwise there is no sugar, no sweetner and no way to tell that it's no added sugar, I promise!

The secret is to soak the sultanas in tea. The tea adds a depth of flavour anyway but as the sultanas are soaked the natural sugars seep into the tea and then the whole lot is added into the scones which adds just enough sweetness, not to mention beautiful plump juicy sultanas. So you would never know that I didn't add sugar, why not give it a try?!

Healthy Scones (Wholemeal, No Added Sugar) (Makes 12 large)

1-1.5 Cups Sultanas

Black tea - enough to cover the above

500g Wholemeal fine ground plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp all-spice

1 egg

2 tbsp milk of choice

2 tbsp oil of choice (I used almond)

Egg-wash to beautify

1 - Soak the sultanas for at least an hour up to overnight

2 - Preheat oven to 180'C. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and spices

3 - Pour in the sultanas and mix

4 - Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until a dough is formed

5 - Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes

6 - Form into even sized balls, try to hide the sultanas inside, and place on a lined baking tray

7 - Egg-wash to finish and bake for 15-20 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped.

8 - Allow to cool and enjoy with some sneaky butter ;)

Perfect for enjoying during an episode of Stranger things. I haven't spoken about it much but I feel that I don't wish to spoil anything. Suffice is to say that it is well, well worth watching! My favourite character was Eleven, shortly followed by Dustin, toothless kid, because he was just a hero and so cute whenever he speaks! If you don't have Netflix, get it, there is more and more amazing ontent there every week. I am not sponsored to say this, I just appreciate Netflix more and more every day and you will need it to see Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which I will review, episode by episode! Not to mention catching up, or rewatching Gilmore girls as I am doing right now to put together a full review for you shortly. So anyway for now, watch Stranger things, make these scones and thank me later =)

A Long Walk, Delicious Scones and the story of how we met Spot.

This past Saturday myself and my friend decided to redo a hike that we had done this time last year. It's a day long hike that covers c. 20km but that's 20km of constant hills!! The last time we did this hike it poured rain from the heavens, we got drowned and the whole experience was more akin to torture than our planned mini holiday. Therefore we set off to conquer this hike without carrying a paddling pool in our boots.




The walk was absolutely brilliant. It was quite tiring, some of those hills just go on forever, but it was a wonderful experience and the views were just amazing!

The view from the top of one mountain

A wonderful long hike like this deserves a delicious treat at the end though and this came in the form of my triple berry scones. Scones + Butter + hot cup of tea = best way to finish any day of outdoors activity.

 

Recuperation perfected!

Triple Berry Scones

250g    Bread Flour
150g    Plain Flour
25g      Dark Brown Sugar
75g      Granulated White Sugar
1 tsp     Baking Powder
1 tsp     Baking Soda
60g       Butter (Room Temperature)
2           Eggs (Medium)
100ml   Milk
1/2tsp   Lemon Extract
75g       Fresh Raspberries
75 g      Fresh Blueberries
50g       Chopped Fresh Strawberries

Preheat your oven to 205C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Sieve together the flours, baking powder and baking soda. Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.

Add the 1/2 tsp of lemon extract to the milk. Mix, let sit for a few minutes and then beat in the eggs.

Chop up your butter into pieces and then rub these into the flour. You will know it has been thoroughly incorporated when the mixture resembles very tiny bread crumbs with no big pieces.

Making a well in the center of the dry ingredients add the wet mixture and mix to incorporate. The mixture may seem a little dry at first but do not add any more liquid.  






At this point knead your mixture until it goes smooth. If using a stand-mixer, take care not to over knead, stop once the mixture is fully incorporated and coming away from the bowl up onto the bread hook.

 

Then flour your berries (plain flour) and, leaving a few raspberries to the side, pour the berries into the bowl and continue to mix just until they are evenly throughout the mixture. Stop mixing and add the rest of the raspberries in halfs, then mix gently with a spoon. The mixture will be VERY wet and messy but that's alright, just trust me on this one.

Gently divide the mixture into 9 even portions and roll these gently placing them on a lined baking sheet.

Let the unbaked scone sit for 10 minutes before smoothing with a damp pastry brush, egg wash at this point if you prefer. Then bake for 20 minutes or until they are browned and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Then Enjoy ;)

As close as I've ever come to the original avoca inspiration!

Could you say no?

So Spot! Well Spot(not her real name) was a little friend that we encountered at the end of the long day of hiking. As we entered the last hour, and the last big hill, myself and my friend were warmly greeted by the cutest little dog, jumping up on us and wagging her tail. We searched in vain for our little friends owner and even walked about 15mins backwards adding to our hike but unfortunately no-one could be found.  
We had a hard decision to make but we couldn't dream of leaving this little creature in the woods alone, so Spot joined us for the end of our hike.
She came home with us that night and spent one night away from home before we found the owner via a microchip registration. She was the sweetest most gentle little creature and only wanted love and attention. So although it added significantly to our hike and kept me from my scones for a while, this little face was the highlight of the whole walk.

This reminds me I must say a massive thank you to Lucy for giving me a Kreativ Blogger Award. I will be posting again tomorrow and will write further about her then. In the mean-time I hope you enjoy the scones and the story =)