Healthy Scones Two Ways

I remember exactly where I was when I had my first scone.  It was a Starbucks.  In Chicago.  I was picking up coffee for my boss and he asked for a cinnamon chip scone to go with it.  Huh.  This was way before I became a foodie and literally ate the same things over and over.  Hannah was probably about five and I used to brag to everyone that she ate everything I made.  Well what kid doesn’t want to eat pasta, tacos and pizza day after day!  Gah.  So as is customary with any boss I pick up food for, if I fly they buy.  So I asked for two cinnamon chip scones.

I should have known right from the start that this would be love at first bite.  Because when I picked up the scone there were stains of melted butter on the bottom of the bag.  Nice.  The crust had a nice bite to it, the inside was flakey and cinnamony and it had a coarse sugar topping.  One word:  perfection.

It was many years later that I started to get Bizzy in My Kitchen and my first attempt was back in 2009.  I made craisin scones and at the time I thought they were the cats ass.  Let’s just say my baking skillz as well as photography skillz have improved over the years!

Last week it was our named partners birthday and I asked what she wanted me to make for her.  She said “I love everything you make!”  Duh.  Just kidding!  I asked her if she would like blueberry lemon scones and she loved the idea.  I’ve been trying to use less and less butter in scones to still get the flavor of the butter without all the fat.  The blueberry scone recipe was adapted from this recipe.  My adaptions are below to bring the calories down. 

If I am not mistaken, I believe all of these were gone by 9:30 in the morning.

So yesterday it was a rainy, gloomy morning.  I had my drywall guy coming at 8:00 a.m. so I was up at 7:30.  He didn’t leave until 1:00 in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time in the kitchen, and I went through a whole bunch of paperwork that had piled up on my desk.  As Hannah, Jacob and I call it, we just #tcb’d it – taking care of business!

I had one lone apple in my fruit bowl and about 1/2 a cup of granola left, so I decided to make apple cinnamon granola scones.  This time I made two smaller circles so I got 16 scones instead of the 8 above.  I also reduced the butter to 4 tablespoons and I actually think I could get away with less next time.  And I reduced the glaze in this recipe too.

These are both delicious and calorie friendly.   Starbuck’s scones come in at 480 calories, 18 grams of fat and a whopping 70 grams of carbs.  It also has 50% of your saturated fat for the day as well as 34 grams of sugar.  Yikes, no wonder I loved them!

I am actually going to be making bone broth today – ever heard of it?  There is a place in NY where you can walk up to a window of a restaurant and they hand it out like cups of coffee.  Some people are calling it the new age of green monster smoothies.  Curious if any of my New York blog readers have been there.   Here are some of the health benefits – not sure if I believe in them, but the thought of sipping some well seasoned broth on a cool fall day really appeals to me.  I am sure my brother and sister would be all of this.  NOT! 

Today is Tony’s sisters birthday – Happy Birthday Jody!  We are taking her out to dinner tonight at our new favorite local place – Cary Ale House.  And since it’s my cheat day, I will be having one (or two) of their craft beers.

Enjoy your Sunday!