Hello, friends! This is my second year participating in Rhonda Parrish’s Giftmas Blog Tour, which helps raise money for our local food bank! Today, Cindy James is also blogging — go over and check her entry out too!
The official fundraiser link is here: Giftmas donations
Please donate and spread the word! Remember, because the food bank has Magical Bulk Buying Powers, every dollar you donate equals three meals! (Yes! They can buy more food than you for the same amount of money!) And for our American friends, of course, because of the exchange rate, you get even more bang for your buck!
I don’t tithe, personally, but this is a cause that is very close to my heart and I do end up donating about 10% of every short story payment or advance payment I’ve gotten so far to the Edmonton Food Bank.
There is also a wonderful raffle for readers and writers alike! You can win query and short story critiques, books, tuckerizations, all sorts of good stuff!
(I donated a prize or more than one, but I honestly can’t remember what I donated and it’s now buried in my email. Anyway, I hope I get to pay out, whatever it is. Unless it was a kidney or something.)
Rhonda also has a most excellent snowman drawing contest up at her Patreon! Definitely head over and check that out.
…Are you still here? Still feel like reading? Want a nice recipe for Christmas that both tastes amazing and results in a pretty white-and-red colour scheme? I’ve tried this one personally several times so I can vouch it works great. It’s from the Duchess cookbook I got a couple of years ago!
RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE SCONES
INGREDIENTS
340 g (2c + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
3 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
130 g (½c + 1 tbsp) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
135 g (½c + 1 tbsp) buttermilk (room temp)
75g (½c) fresh or frozen raspberries
100g (½c) white chocolate chips
raw sugar for finishing (if you want; I always have it on hand for my tea and I love it on these scones)
EQUIPMENT
A baking sheet
A pastry cutter (I always use mine but you could just use two butterknives) Parchment paper, nonstick foil, or a silicone sheet liner
Something to cut 3-inch rounds (I don’t have cookie cutters so I use a glass)
PROCEDURE
Preheat oven to 375.
Line baking sheet with your preferred liner. (Don’t skip this. I tried it on regular foil: ONCE. The raspberries and chocolate baked out and they all stuck like epoxy.)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients, using whatever will keep the butter cold. Lentil-sized pieces and smaller are OK.
Make a well in the center and pour in half the buttermilk. (I never buy buttermilk because 2% or whole milk with a splash of apple cider vinegar in it to curdle works too. Let it sit for five minutes and then stir it up.)
Use your hands to gently incorporate the buttermilk for a few minutes, then pour in the rest and mix.
When it’s all incorporated, very gently stir in the raspberries and chocolate chips (I switch to a spatula here, or else it’s all GORY RASPBERRY HANDS).
It will look freakily dry here but you should be able to push it into a disc that roughly coheres, pat it down to an inch thick, and cut scones out of it (I usually get 8).
Set up about 2 inches apart and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
Bake 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Because these don’t take long to make, they would be a great choice for Christmas morning while everybody’s bickering over stockings or whatever. I recommend eating them hot with a ton of salted butter or a sour jam like chokecherry or plum!
Happy Giftmas everybody, and I hope you can donate to the food bank! This makes a big difference to local families every Christmas!
