* updated 4/2/24
Morning walks have always been my favorite way to start the day. We had great weather last week, which motivated me to hike up the steepest hill in our neighborhood twice! It’s a tough hike, up, up, up, but the view from the top is totally worth it; on a clear day, you can see San Francisco. Here are some photos:
My walking average is up by a whole mile!
Our New Favorite Breakfast Recipe: Banana Scones
On my Instagram account there’s a photo taken back in 2020 with the caption: “Banana bread never gets old around here.” Well, I’m sorry to report, that this is no longer true. It turns out that after months of testing banana bread recipes from our cookbooks and the Internet — my favorites being Carla Lali’s Bon Appétit recipe and my forever go-to, Fanny Farmer Cookbook‘s version with extra walnuts — the day officially arrived when neither of us could think of eating another slice. Just like a hit song that is played on the radio ten times a day and starts to give you a headache, banana bread finally got old. So, what to do with leftover bananas?
Scones to the rescue! I had read an article by Melissa Clark where she gave a recipe for banana scones a while back. I love scones with berries, but I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of banana scones. Would they be too dry? Last weekend, there were a few bananas on the counter, and I remembered the recipe. Since I was craving something sweet, I decided to give it a try.
The instructions were super easy to follow. Her recipe is a take on someone else’s recipe and I ended up making some modifications myself, because I didn’t have the exact ingredients and because I always try to find ways to minimize the number of dishes I use. (And this my friends is how people “have” recipes. We all try someone else’s and tweak as needed.)
The scones were a hit. Here’s a summary of the changes I made: I used only all-purpose flour, I used Noosa vanilla yogurt and milk for the dairy portion and halved the vanilla. I also skipped messing up the counter and shaped the dough directly on the baking sheet. (Less dishes to wash ;-). These were amazingly flaky and perfect for Sunday breakfast.
Banana Scones
(Adapted from Melissa Clark, who adapted them from Dawn Perry, who probably adapted them from her grandma. You get the idea.😉)
Heat the oven to 400º F
Ingredients
- 255 grams of all-purpose flour (this is about 2 cups, but I like to weigh flour whenever possible)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 stick of unsalted butter, coarsely grated, very cold or frozen is best! (If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of sea salt to 1/4 tsp)
- 1 banana (or about 1 cup of fruit)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup combined vanilla yogurt+milk (I used one small cup (4 oz.) Noosa Vanilla yogurt and milk)
- 1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk for egg wash
Equipment: a baking sheet, a whisk, a grater, and a pastry brush.
- Whisk together in a medium bowl the flour, baking powder, sea salt, and sugars.
- Grate the stick of butter directly into the same bowl.
- Toss lightly with your hands to mix until clumps start to form. Don’t over mix.
- Add the diced banana and blend to distribute evenly.
- In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt and milk with the vanilla and add to the flour mixture. (This will be a very sticky dough. Do not worry!)
- Toss the mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Press the dough together into a circle about 9 inches across and about 1 inch thick. Cut the circle into 8 wedges. (The key to flaky scones is to not handle the dough more than necessary, just enough so that things hold together. It doesn’t have to be a smooth dough!)
- Whisk an egg with a little milk and brush this mixture over the scones so they turn a golden color.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top looks golden.
- Enjoy with a little pat on butter and freshly brewed coffee or cranberry juice.
Amazing Wool! Thoughts on the trending poncho from And Just Like That
The show “And Just Like That” is all everyone seems to be talking about these days and it’s all over social media. I am not the hugest fan, but one topic that got my attention was the now-famous “Lauren Wrap” that showed up on a few episodes.
The wrap, which some mistook for a throw, was designed by Gabriela Hearst who is the creative director at Chloe. If you really love this look, you can probably make yourself something pretty similar for about $300 (a deal, considering the price tag of the real one). This shawl is extra-long, so I imagine you would need at least 10-12 balls of yarn. The other day, I found an article in a blog (I am still looking for the link, sorry dear fellow blogger!) that gave some good recommendations for yarns that could work for making something similar.
These colorful super-bulky yarns are simply amazing.
Shown below is Manos del Uruguay Franca and We Are Knitters, The Wool in Flamingo, the colorway I would love if I were to attempt one of these. I also think that Berroco’s Coco could work, and this slightly different pattern would be cute, too. What do you think? Would you make one? Could this be as simple as knitting a huge triangle?
New Book on My Kindle: The Last Thing He Told Me
Yesterday I picked a new book to read. I’ve heard good things about it.
What are you reading these days?
I think I’ll try to pop in here a few more times per week. Hope you stop and visit.
