Category: Dessert

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Wolfberry Cream Tea Scones

with Wolfberry-Lime Glaze

Okay, so I know that these look weird. I promise you, they are tasty, and not even a little bit moldy, even though they’re kind of grey-blue, which normally might mean something you wouldn’t want to eat. Am I selling it to you yet?

See, I happened across wolfberries (aka black goji berries), and I really wanted to include them in my Autumn Woods treat boxes somehow, so I thought I’d try baking them into scones. They’re superfoods, supposedly, so these are even scones that are somewhat good for you, but yeah – I think I’m going to have to include a note in the treat boxes explaining all this, or my patrons are going to be afraid to eat them.

Not sure I’d make them again – maybe for Halloween? But they really do taste quite nice – the wolfberries lend a lightly fruity flavor to the cream scones. Trust me.

3 c. flour
1 T baking powder
1 t. salt
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 T wolfberry powder
1 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
For (optional) glaze:
1 c. powdered sugar
2-3 T lime juice

1/2 t. wolfberry powder

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray mini scone pan with Baker’s Joy (or butter and flour pan). (Alternately, you can plan to pat dough out in a circle on a greased baking sheet and cut into wedges.)

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and 2 T of wolfberry powder.

3. Combine 1 1/2 c. cream with vanilla. Drizzle liquid mixture over the dry ingredients, stirring gently just to combine.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times. Cut into 16 equal pieces and press into the cavities of the pan.

5. Bake 14-15 minutes, until starting to brown and cooked all the way through; turn out onto a rack to cool. You can serve them warm as is (nice with butter and preserves), but I like boosting the flavor with a lime-wolfberry glaze.

6. Optional: Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl, and drizzle with a fork over completely cooled scones.
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I’m wondering what Saku was thinking with her vatallappam.

8 eggs? My recipe uses 4, which I think is pretty standard. She’s generally a much more skilled cook than me, and makes some beautiful dishes, but I wonder what happened here. I think she said it was her mother’s recipe, and I don’t want to blame her Amma, but someone seems to have led Saku astray…

(Yes, there’s a Sri Lankan on GBBO this season, and yes, I’m of course looking at every dish she makes and pondering how I’d approach it….)

My recipe is here – it doesn’t have the caramelized jaggery because we usually do that for caramel pudding in my family, which is a different dish.

(Please avoid any dramatic spoilers for the latest episode in your comments – it just aired yesterday. Thanks!)
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New recipe development

Chai-spiced pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips. They are very delicious, and my kids have been devouring them, but I forgot the baking soda, oops! So they didn’t rise properly.

I’m going to make another batch soon, I think, so will post photos & recipe then – the next batch will go in the autumn treat boxes, which I’m hoping to ship out next week. Lots of sweets-making in the days to come. Watch this space. 🙂

(Autumn treat boxes are closed, sign up now for winter! A great holiday gift….)
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Desserts for the South Asia Institute launch party: Passionfruit buttercream on a Sri Lankan butter cake, layered with strawberries, mango, and lemon curd.

I’m still not a great cake decorator, but improving. Probably should’ve put more buttercream on the sides and added berries to the bottom of the cake, but I ran out of time, alas! (Note to self, allow at least 30 minutes for frosting cake in future. You are slow.)

Per usual, cashew milk toffee and passionfruit marshmallows. I would’ve made the dragonfruit-citrus white chocolate bonbons as well, and maybe the cayenne-chocolate roses, but ran out of time on those too! Oh well.

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Avocado Ice Cream with Chili, Salt, and Lime

I followed this recipe (https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/avocado-ice-cream-recipe/) — but added 2 t. lime juice, 1/2 t. flake salt, and 1/4 t. cayenne. I really like the result, but I suspect a lot of people may be suspicious of avocado ice cream in general, and perhaps even more so with my additions! So, y’know, try at your own risk. If you don’t like it, more for me. 🙂

Served below with some tropical tinned fruit, which worked well! The recipe says you can use coconut milk instead of cream, which would make it vegan, but I didn’t try that, so can’t vouch for the results.

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Polvorosas

We did some cooking for the Venezuelan refugees this weekend — Kevin actually did most of it, but I did make polvorosas. These are little Venezuelan shortbread cookies — the name means ‘powdery’ and the cookies have a powdery / sandy texture — crisp on the outside and powdery on the interior, delicious with a cup of coffee or tea.

I’m not sure I quite understand the science of baking here — they’re made with clarified butter (I made mine, but you could also just buy ghee instead), and I have to think that that’s what changes the texture. So you’re removing the milk solids — that’s reducing the amount of protein and maybe a little bit of water? Is that what gives them a more powdery texture than traditional shortbread (made with regular butter)? It must be, right?

These would be fun to make with kids — easy and tasty!

This is the recipe I used: https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/polvorosas-colombian…/