Thursday, April 29, 2010

Springtime After School Snack

At the risk of sounding bitter (honestly I'm not), when I was my son's age I came home every day to an empty house. My Dad and Step-Mom worked full time and I was left to my own devices to take care of myself after school. I think a lot of us realize how important it is to have a parent home for small kids but we don't think its as important as they are older. I felt quite alone on those afternoons way back when and I also developed some very bad eating habits. (Macaroni with ketchup was my go-to snack) :( So now that I am a parent I feel strongly about being here when my son returns from school. We are extremely fortunate to be able to work from home and I have a great deal of flexibility in my schedule which allows me the opportunity to do a little baking during the day. So fresh from the oven today are Strawberry Oatmeal Scones.








1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the egg and buttermilk and set aside. Combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Add the cold butter pieces and cut in with a pastry blender or your hands, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir with a stiff wooden spoon until just incorporated. Gently mix in the chopped strawberries. The mixture will be very sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly flour surface and gently knead 8-10 times and press the dough into a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Portion the dough into about 12 wedges or balls and transfer to the baking sheet. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool about 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe found here Adapted from Joy the Baker, originally from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

2 comments:

  1. Delicious! I didn't often have an afterschool snack waiting for me but from time to time Mom would bake a goodie, sometimes homemade donuts - they were a real treat.

    Unfortunately for my kids I was only able to home with them when they were pre-school. Money had to get made and I don't think they struggled much. I think my daughter got the worst of it as she was the youngest and after she started school I was working a lot more often. If you can be there, it's great.

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  2. Yes, I'm lucky - not everyone can work from home. Homemade donuts - that sounds fantastic!

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