I broke one of my cardinal rules this weekend…I used an alarm clock to wake up.  While that might not seem like a big deal, I just find the entire concept of using an alarm clock, on the weekend, to be sacrilege.  It’s just not right.  Of course, it’s my own fault I had to perform this obscene act.  I had a meeting Saturday morning which required that I bring something to eat.  Had I not been perfecting the fine art of procrastination, I would not have had to get up at the ass crack of dawn to make my contribution.  Cranberry Walnut Scones!

Because I don’t fully function before noon (yes, I am up and working before noon…but my functionality is spotty at best) I was amazed that I got all of the ingredients into my scones and didn’t try to pull them out of the oven sans mitts (yep, I’ve done that before and it took about 6 months to get the feeling back in my fingers…but since I still had fingerprints I couldn’t change my career to high end jewel thief and now you get to read my blog).

I’ve had this healthy and really easy scone recipe for some time, but due to my lack of pre-planning I was missing a couple of the major ingredients.  I wasn’t about to run down to the grocery store in my pajamas to pick up flour and buttermilk.  Plus, I figured that I probably had enough ingredients on hand to do some ingredient swaps without drastically changing the scones.  My cupboards are bulging with various types of flours and there’s a perfectly good buttermilk hack that can be used with regular milk.  I’ll share this with you at the bottom of the recipe.

Changing ingredients when baking can be a bit dangerous.  Not that anyone is going to get hurt or die from the substitutions, but baking is literally a science.  There are specific ratios that need to be followed and certain ingredients that need to be present, if they are listed in the recipe.  Make the wrong changes and you could be looking at a cake that looks more like a pancake than something to frost, put candles on and induce people to break into off key singing.  But I like taking chances so I really changed this one up quite a bit.

Relationship Advice

A new feature I’m adding to my relationship advice is called: The Cardinal Rules of Relationships.  From time to time I will list one of the cardinal rules of relationships (think of them as the 10 Commandments only these have immediate ramifications if you break them) and then break it down.  Today’s Cardinal Rule: Women Can Not Change Men.

Most women have a tendency to try to fix things.  I’m not talking about that broken railing or DVR, that’s what they have handsome repairmen for…that and to give us some eye candy to look at when they show up the last 15 minutes of the 4 hour window of time they have made us wait for them.

I’m talking about that “broken” facet of a guy that keeps him from throwing his socks in the hamper, looking at attractive women that pass before his eyes when he’s out and about (even when he’s with you) or that he has a standing tee time with his buddies every Saturday at 6 a.m.  Is that something that’s really “broken” or is that something that you just don’t like?  Because these things are your problems, you should not try to turn them around to make them his problems.  He’s obviously fine with these things, that’s why he does them.

If you keep nagging him about these things and trying to tell him how to act and how not to act, he’s going to look at you like you are his mother.  For the record, that’s  not a good thing.  We’re not talking about an Oedipus complex (that’s a topic for another day) which, in this case would actually be a quasi-positive thing.  No, we’re talking about pure resentment.  The kind of thing that will make him start sneaking around to do the things he wants to do.  Which begets another problem, this one is a significant problem.

Good relationships are based on mutual trust, not on dysfunctional craziness where one person is, either real or perceived,  in charge of another (see “Real Houswives of….” insert any city here).  I’m not saying that guys don’t/never change…I’m saying that a guy is not going to change just because you try to verbally beat him into submission.  He will change if and when he wants to, but the decision to change has to come from inside of himself.

Makes 16 Scones

Ingredients

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 Cups Pastry Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
  
• 4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1 Cup Dried Cranberries (chopped)
• 1 Cup Walnuts (chopped to small pieces)
• Zest of 2 Lemons or 1 Orange
  
• 1 Tablespoon Ginger (chopped fine)
• 1/2 Cup Buttermilk*

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

Lightly oil 2 baking sheets.

Sift both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium size bowl.

Cut in the butter until coarse crumbs form.  (You can do this with your hands or with a mixer.)

Add in cranberries, walnuts and lemon or orange zest.

Add in enough buttermilk until a soft dough is formed.  Start by adding only 1/2 cup, mix, then add more buttermilk if needed.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead the dough until all ingredients are evenly distributed (this won’t be long).

Split the dough into 2 even balls.

Pat out the dough ball to 3/4″ thick.

Cut into 8 triangles and put each triangle onto a baking sheet.  Leave at least 1″ between each scone.

Do the same with the remaining dough.

Optional: lightly sprinkle each scone with sugar.

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes.  They’re done when they have a golden brown color.

*Buttermilk Hack – Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk.  Let sit for 5 minutes then use as needed.

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