Two takes on whole wheat blueberry scones

Sometimes I forget how much I like things made with whole wheat flour. Ever since I started hosting a sourdough starter, I don’t make my mother’s stand-by whole-grain bread recipe anymore, the bread my husband refers to as Real Bread. But I still have a hankering for that taste from time to time, so when I ran across these recipes for blueberry scones, I thought this would fill the bill.

Blueberry and ginger scones

From Real Simple August 2015 (Sometimes there are advantages to being stuck in the doctor’s waiting room, flipping through magazines pages.)

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1½ sticks of butter

1¼ cup fresh blueberries

½ cup chopped crystallized ginger

¾ cup milk, plus more for brushing tops

Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Method

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with a pastry blender until small crumb stage. Gently fold in blueberries and ginger. Stir in the milk.

Knead briefly into a mass. Divide into two pieces and pat each out on a floured board into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges. If baking immediately, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Very blueberry scones

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Zest of 1 lemon, or ½ teaspoon cinnamon (I didn’t have lemons on hand the first time I made these, so I improvised and was happy with the cinnamon version too)

3 tablespoons raw or light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon coarse salt

5 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

1 cup fresh blueberries

2/3 cup milk or half and half

1 large egg, beaten

Coarse sugar for sanding

Method

Combine flours, zest, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add cold butter and cut in with a pastry blender until it’s mixed up and only small pieces of butter remain. Stir in blueberries, then milk. Knead mixture briefly to form a mass.

On a well-floured baking sheet, pat into a circle about 1 inch high. Cut into 8 to 10 wedges. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush tops with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 15 to 17 minutes.

Rating: The only clear winner between these two recipes was whoever got to eat them. Both have their relative merits; I really liked the crystallized ginger in the Real Simple recipe, but the Smitten Kitchen variety was possibly more traditionally scone-like in texture, since it contains less whole wheat flour. Both were perfectly fine ways to make the most of the all-too-short local blueberry season.

Follow up: I've since made the second recipe with the addition of 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger, which nicely splits the difference.

Make ahead tips: Both of these recipes can be made ahead to the point where they’re cut into wedges. Place in freezer container between sheets of waxed paper. Then thaw overnight before baking and proceed with brushing with the egg or milk and sprinkling with sugar and bake as directed. I tried both of these recipes that way, and there was no material difference between baking them immediately or baking them after thawing them, but there was a material difference in my quality of life to waking up to preformed scones ready to bake vs. making a mess of my kitchen first thing in the morning to mix them up. Plus, this way blueberry season lives on.

Cucumber, mustard and dill salad

Of course you know, this means war. So said Bugs Bunny after a line had been crossed, and that’s how I feel now that the squirrels, not content with just mauling all the green tomatoes, have savaged three lemon cucumbers. So I’m busily using them up as fast as I can. This used three that the little blighters didn’t get.

Cucumber, mustard and dill salad

From Gourmet, Oct. 2004

Ingredients

1 large seedless cucumber (I used three lemon cucumbers with seeds removed)

1½ tablespoons chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon mild olive oil

Method

Cut cucumbers into thin slices, toss with dill. Combine vinegar, mustard, salt and sugar in small bowl. Whisk while drizzling in oil. Toss together with cucumber and dill.

Rating: Flavors are so bright it almost tastes lemony. Super fast and refreshing summer salad. Leftovers worked well as a condiment on beef sandwiches.

Tomato, cucumber and avocado salad

If a quarter of those blossoms turn into cucumbers, there will be many days of cucumber salads ahead, once I hack my way through the vines. Tried another new recipe to try to not let them get away from me:

Tomato, cucumber and avocado salad

From Greenvalleykitchen.com

Ingredients

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 cucumber, seeded and chopped

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped

3 tablespoons feta or blue cheese crumbles

2 tablespoons minced red onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Method

Combine tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, cheese, red onion and parsley in a bowl. Combine oil and vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste and add dressing to ingredients in bowl, tossing to coat. Serve immediately, or if not, don’t peel and add avocado until the last minute to avoid discoloration.

Rating: Nice, colorful, good use of cucumber avalanche. Dave’s take: It would be a perfect salad to go along with steak.

Hot caprese dip and baked tortilla chips

Sometimes the recipe you think is going to be fantastic turns out to be an epic fail and the throw-away recipe turns out to be a keeper. That was the case with this quick dip, which seemed like a total no brainer: all the basic parts of a caprese salad heated up in dip form. What could be better? Well, almost anything as it turns out. I carefully made sure  not to have juice from the tomatoes, since the recipe said that made things soupy. But this quickly turned back into just rubbery cheese with tomatoes clumped around it. I should have stopped at the stage where the ingredients were all mixed up, drizzled some balsamic and oil on top and put that on the chips. Lesson learned.

But all was not lost. I’d looked around for something to serve this last-minute dip idea with, but was out of suitable bread. Since I had some corn tortillas in the fridge that got a little on the soggy side, I figured I’d finally try making tortilla chips. I cut them up into wedges, sprinkled them with coarse salt and garlic powder and baked them for 14 minutes at 350. Why have I not done this before? These are so awesome compared to those things in a bag and this way you get just the amount you need, plus you can flavor them however you want.

 

Hot Caprese Dip

From howsweeteats.com: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/12/hot-caprese-dip/

Combine 8 ounces cubed fresh mozzarella, 2 chopped roma tomatoes (drained of juice)and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil in a baking dish. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. 

Peach cucumber salsa with basil

It’s lemon cucumber season at our house, so expect a slew of recipes that make use of them. (Beyond the Garlicky Greek salad that has been one of my go-to ways to use the in-season tomatoes and cucumbers since the recipe first came out in the magazine in 1994.)

Peach and cucumber salsa

Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2008

Ingredients

2 cups chopped, peeled peaches

1 cup chopped, seeded cucumber

¾ cup chopped red pepper

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons sliced basil leaves

Juice of  ½ lime

2 tablespoons apricot preserves

1 teaspoon chopped canned chipotle chiles

Method

Combine all ingredients. Season to taste with salt.

Rating: Very fresh tasting. Nice balance of sweet and bite. Very fast fix. We had it the first night over fish and the leftovers with chips. Would also be good with grilled chicken or pork.