Pandemic Baking

I've joined the pandemic baking club.  Last week it was oatmeal almond chocolate chunk cookies, most of which I gave to two friends who were celebrating birthdays.  The rest we polished off pretty fast.  And sorry, no photos taken, but if you want the recipe I'll share it another time.

Yesterday I made oatmeal scones with almond and cranberries.  Notice a pattern?  Yes, we prefer almond extract to vanilla and its combination with oatmeal is perfect.

We each had one warm from the oven slathered with butter, served on the balcony with a cup of Larkin's Special Blend tea.  

The rest went in the freezer to be thawed one at a time in the microwave so they will be warm when eaten.

Here's the recipe I found on Pinterest and modified. It came from Joy of Cooking originally, but my edition didn't include it maybe because its 40 years old or more.

Oatmeal Almond Cranberry Scones

preheat oven 450º

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Stir together in mixing bowl:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Add:

1 1/4 cups oats (not Quick oats)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (I didn't have raisins but cranberries were better anyway)

In separate bowl mix:

1 egg

10 tablespoons butter melted (mine was hot from microwave so egg started to cook!)

1/3 cup milk (I used skim)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (may have been a bit more!)

Add wet to dry mixture stirring just until moistened.  Transfer to floured surface to shape into a circle about 3/4 inch thick and 8 inches in diameter.  Cut into wedges and transfer to baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown.

Enjoy!

Larkin's Special Blend tea can be found here at the Larkin Tea Company.

These are my first ever scones from scratch.  The others I've made from mixes.  These were so easy and so fast to make and so delicious.  Why did I wait so long?