I'm back! Happy 2008!

I know that I've been MIA for the last few days, but 2008 started a bit slow and sad in our house. For the last few years, we have left all the hype of NYC New Year's Eve behind and headed up to New England for some snowboarding. This year, there was a ton of snow! 12 inches of fresh powder the first night we were there - felt like we were out west.

On the last day of our mini-trip, Tim and I acquired the nasty stomach bug going around and it was time to go home. We found out the following day that we lost a very close member of our family and have spent the last few days recovering.

But...I'm happy to be back now. I'm really excited for 2008 - I have a lot of new and exciting things going on with my photography business, I'm so happy to have my vacation days back so we can do some traveling (we used them all up last year for our wedding), and I'm proud to say that 2007 taught me that I really love blogging! I actually crave this blog when I'm out of the loop for a day or so - is that weird?

I'll end this post with a modified recipe which encompasses one of my new 'resolutions' (more like, 'things to try') - moderately healthy baked goods :) I've changed this scone recipe to reduce the fat, white flour and sugar. I love scones and these came out quite nice - I might work on the texture just a bit as I like my scones a bit harder or drier, but these got lots of compliments from the mom and mother-in-law.

Cranberry, walnut and lemon scones (adapted from Epicurious)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (1/4 cup + 1/8 cup) chilled unsalted butter, diced

1/4 cup + 1/8 cup apple butter (I used homemade, but applesauce would do just fine)

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1/2 cup (or more) chilled skim milk

Steps

1. Preheat to 375°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in bowl for glaze.

3. Whisk flours, baking powder, lemon zest, salt, and 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Mix in apple butter.

4. Mix in cranberries and walnuts.

5. Add 1/2 cup milk and1 tablespoon lemon juice. Mix with fork or hands until dough comes together in moist clumps, adding more milk if dough is dry (I didn't need any additional, likely due to the added moisture from the apple butter). Gather dough into ball; divide in half.

6. Press out each half on floured surface to 6-inch-diameter (1-inch-high) round. Cut each round into 6 wedges. Transfer to baking sheet; brush with glaze.

7. Bake scones until golden and tester comes out clean, about 18 minutes.