Christmas Week -- Blueberry Scones, Mushroom Soup, Christmas Dinner & More

Dried Blueberry Scones
I made these for our annual viewing party showing A Child's Christmas In Wales on Sunday, along with the mincemeat mini-tarts I test baked last week.

1 cup dried Blueberries
2-1/3 cup AP Flour
3-1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Butter
3 Eggs beaten
1/2 cup Dairy (cream, milk, half&half)

Place the blueberries in a bowl cover with boiling water, soak for 10 minutes.  Drain, pat dry, reserve.

Preheat oven to 425F

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.    Cut in the butter.  Stir in the blueberries, then add the eggs and dairy.

On a floured surface, gently knead the mass and pat it into a 3/4" thick round.  Cut into 8 wedges, and place them on a baking sheet.  Brush the tops with additional airy and dust with additional sugar.  Bake 15-20 minutes, until slightly brown.  Traditionally these are served with a dollop of Clotted Cream, sometimes called Devon Cream or Double Cream -- a cream as thick as Greek yogurt.

Mushroom Potato Faro Soup
Sally wanted Potato Soup, I wanted Mushroom Faro soup.  Thus are new dishes born...

3 Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 oz Crimini Mushrooms
1 Cup Faro
1 very large Carrot, cubed
24 oz Vegetable Broth
1 Leek, sliced
1/2 large sweet white Onion, diced

When does a soup become a stew?  The first night this dish was fairly liquid.  The next day it was thick as you see above.  The faro probably continued to soak up liquid overnight.  Either way this was really, really tasty.


Christmas Dinner 

Here are a few pix of the highlights of Sally & Holly's Christmas Dinner.

Here's the 4 lb Eye of Round beef roast that we feasted on.  Sally marinated in red wine after stabbing it and inserting garlic cloves.  Cooked in a roasting bag to an internal temperature of 150F.

These are Yorkshire Puddings.  They're made from a very thin batter of eggs, milk and flour.  These were baked in screamingly hot open topped molds.  Yorkies can also be served in a variety of other ways, with or without fillings.

Here you see the roasted roots that they made -- parsnips and potatoes.  They also made roasted green beans with sliced almonds and Brussels sprouts, but I didn't get a picture of them.

Christmas Pudding
This pudding is a dessert, and Christmas at Sally's would not be the same without it. Here's a video of us lighting the brandy to make it a flaming pudding.  Holly found this technique on a BBC cooking program and it works much better than any we've ever seen.

If you can't see the above video on the email copy of this blog, go directly to the site...

Last, but not least, I've got to show you my new Kilted Cook ensemble, a present this year!