Decadent Breakfast

Project: Cranberry Scones with a Skosh of Cloves (Café Nervosa: The Connoisseur’s Cookbook)

Breakfast is always a challenge for me. I’m not good at waking up on time. As a result, breakfast must be no more than a two-step process. And I get sick of cereal & milk pretty quickly. This cookbook is filled with coffee shop-appropriate treats. As a result, breakfast this week was neither filling, nor healthy.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tsp ground cloves 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1 cup whipping cream 3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped whipped cream (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; cu in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.

Believe it or not, I ground those cloves myself. Time consuming. Calorie-burning?

Reserve 1 tbsp whipping cream’ add remaining whipping cream and cranberries to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 5 or 6 times. Shape into an 8-inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Prick wedges with a fork 3 or 4 times, and brush with reserved 1 tbsp whipping cream.

Bake at 425F for 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm with shipped cream, if desired. Yield: 8 scones.

If I’m truthful, I did DESIRE whipped cream on top. But since this was breakfast, I begrudgingly abstained. Curses.

Night-Time Bread

Buttermilk Rolls (Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book)

Never, ever, ever make bread when you've had a long day. Trust me. I was looking for a side dish to a soup I was making and this baby was next in line. I love buttermilk baking, so I was excited about this one. Until, that is, THIS was the first ingredient.



Weird, no?

1 medium potato
1/2 cup shortening
1 cake compressed yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, well beaten
3 1/2 - 4 cups sifted all purpose flour

Peel the potato; cook until tender. Press through the ricer; there should be 1/2 cup.

I failed to do most of this. I didn't peel the potato...screw that...too much work and too much wasted fibre. I also don't own a ricer (hint, hint, Christmas-gift buyers). And there was WAY more than half a cup.

While the potato is still warm, add the shortening; stir till it is melted.


Dissolve the yeast cake in the lukewarm water; beat into the potato mixture. Add the sugar and salt to the buttermilk; heat to lukewarm; add to the potato mixture. Add the well-beaten egg; add the flour cup by cup, stirring and beating until the mixture cannot be stirred any longer. Turn on a floured board; knead gently till smooth. Place the sponge in an oiled bowl.


Apparently, the sponge is your pre-baked, pre-risen dough. Check out my oiled bowl. Screw that extra work too.

Cover and let rise in a warm place till light (about 1 1/2 hours).

I didn't do this part either. Because I fell asleep. And let my dough rise overnight. I wish I'd been awake enough in the morning to take a picture of the result. Interestingly, the tea towel I'd used to cover the bowl acted as barrier enough and rather than spill hilariously all over my kitchen, the dough rose just to the tea towel and stopped there. Phew?

Knead down lightly; shape into rolls. Place them on an oiled cookie sheet; again let rise till light, about 1 hour.

I skipped the rising bit, feeling as though my dough had had ample rising time. Plus if I did, I would TOTALLY have been late for work. So there.

Bake in a hot oven (400F for 20 minutes); while still warm, brush with melted butter. Yield: 24 rolls.


In the end, they had a bit of a beery taste, and I'm not still not entirely sure what purpose the potato served in the whole affair. But they were a decent breakfast, and three with butter or jam were pretty filling.