Congratulations to Me, Congratulations to Me (*to tune of Happy Birthday)

And although I might have been doubted, yesterday concluded my 2 straight weeks of everyday posts.  It wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be, and I hope you all were duly impressed!  :-)

I actually still have more things to post about!  Just to tide you over a bit though until I have some time for a real post with pictures, I'm going to post a recipe that I used yesterday morning.  Matt and I (and the boys) woke up to freeeeeezing cold weather, and a freezing house.  This morning the temperature was close to the 30's (which is really really cold for here)  I poked around online for a recipe that might spice up our oatmeal a bit and this is what I found:

Hope you enjoy!!

Maple-Oatmeal Scones (direct link is to recipe on foodnetwork.com)

1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All Rights Reserved

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

5 min

Cook Time:

40 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

14 large scones

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk or water, for egg wash

Directions

Glaze:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Blend the cold butter in at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup, and eggs and add quickly to the flour-and-butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough may be sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. I like to sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top, for garnish. The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be.

I took some this morning to our church mom's group and it seems like they were enjoyed.  In case you make them, you might want to read the comments (always a good idea with online recipes).  I ended up adding a little less flour (a few people said they were dry) and about a tablespoon of Maple Flavoring to the batter, and a teaspoon to the glaze, to bring out the maple flavor.  If you aren't nuts about oatmeal, I can promise that it's really not the dominating flavor, it's very subtle.  I also just patted them into rounds and cut them into wedges (more scone-like, I think) rather than kneading/rolling out the dough/cutting it.  

A good warm treat for a cold morning!