Cookies and Camera Fail

I used a simple recipe for cranberry scones and made a few alterations. I wanted a lighter scone with less cranberries and no other fruit, so I compromised the volume of the fruit with more dough. I was dismayed to discover that all of the parchment paper had already been used and all I had was tinfoil, which does in fact make quite a bit of a difference. I also didn't have the ingredients for Devonshire cream, so I settled for a bit of butter.

When it comes to baking scones or anything with a "fluffy" texture created from butter, use cold butter and don't over mix it!!! The cold dough not only makes it easier to work with- it creates the air pockets in the scone which make it light and give it a wonderful texture. I have screwed this up many times >.>

If you over-mix something when baking, particularly something which depends upon air pockets for its' light texture, it will become thick and chewy or rubbery. No good!

Also use real non-salted butter and not margarine. This can vary depending upon what you're baking though- replacing some of the butter in a recipe with margarine can help prevent spreading and make what you're baking softer, but chilling can also prevent spreading and generally the flavor of butter is better, so I still just stick with butter. But if you are baking something like pie crust, scones, or croissants, it will make a huge difference.

The Thumbprint cookies came from another recipe I had from before. They are very easy to make, and are great for potlucks, and other events. You can avoid filling them and bring different types of preservative or filling so that people can choose what they want in theirs. Today the options were between raspberry and orange preserves and Nutella.

Served un-elegantly at work >,<

I came across this video series called "How to Throw a Tea Party : Planning an English-Style Tea Party" a few days ago while looking for some supplies for the April 9th Meet. I thought it was kind of cute, and especially useful for those who don't have any experience in preparing that sort of thing, like me.

And my attire for the day (horribly blurry picture, but anyways...):

BtSSB Blouse and High Waist Skirt, Secret Shop Socks

Plain hair because I had to go to work shortly afterwards.

Thanks for dropping by!~<3