Gingerbread Scones

Good Morning Y’all! Happy Monday!

It’s always crazy to me how quickly December comes every year. I basically beg for the year to hurry up so that December 1st will be here so I can start my chocolate advent calendar (yes, I’m a child), display all of our Nutcrackers, watch FAR too many YouTuber’s Vlogmas (not-so-secret obsession), and basically just radiate Christmas for 25 days. And now it’s already December 4th.

WHAT?!

Yeah, it’s a shock to me, too. That means there’s 3 weeks until Christmas…4 weeks until the New Year…insert every panic sound, face, reaction that you can.

Enough of the fear, and let’s get back to this wonderful holiday season that’s upon us!!

With that, I decided to change-up my little gingerbread obsession! Fun fact: every year growing up, my brothers and I would build gingerbread houses. My mom would make everything from scratch, build them all herself—sometimes I would help—and, while the houses would sometimes have a crooked roof or a falling-in wall, they were always amazing, delicious, the perfect vehicle for gummy bears. My brothers and I, and in later years our nieces and nephews joined in, would cover our houses with chocolates, cereal, candy canes, every sugary candy, sprinkles, you name it! Yeah, I’d eat about ½ of the decorations, but totally worth it!

Now, with those great memories coming up again, I am just craving everything gingerbread and spiced. And, because I’m not my mom with her patience and skill, I’ve decided to throw my need for molasses into an amazing breakfast pastry—scones!

More recently, I’ve realized that scones are probably one of my favorite pastries. At the bakery I work at, we make some of the most delicious—ginger apricot, everything, bacon cheddar—ugh I love them all. They’re slightly sweet, has some dryness, very dense and filling, oh man just give it all to me!! These Gingerbread Scones are no different! It’s basically a gingerbread cookie, minus the adorable man-shape and icing all over, with a bit more moisture and it’s acceptable to eat for breakfast! These scones are filled with lots of spices, some warm brown sugar, and a nice turbinado sugar crunch on top!

I’ve been enjoying them daily with a cup of coffee, and you can’t get any better than that! I mean, maybe put on your holiday tunes, light up that tree, wear your warm cozy onesie and you’ve got yourself a wild start to your day or night! 

ingredients

Butter—4 oz, or ½ C

AP Flour—14 oz, or 2 ½ C

Brown Sugar—2.25 oz, or ¼ C

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Ground Ginger—1 tsp

Ground Clovers—½ tsp

Baking Powder—1 TBL

Salt—1 tsp

Eggs—2

Molasses—5.5 oz, or 1/3 C + 2 TBL

Milk—2.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Turbinado/Coarse Sugar—to sprinkle

process

Cut the butter into small cubes and put into freezer to keep cold.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, spices and baking powder.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, molasses and milk.

Work the cold butter into the dry with either your hands or a pastry cutter. Rub the butter into the dry until the butter is about pea-sized, and this entire mixture is homogenous.

Add in the wet, mix until just combined.

Now, you can either shape the scone dough into a large circle and cut into pie-like slices, or, like shown, use a small scoop for your scones.

*Note: These scones do grow in size a bit, so when putting them onto the sheet pan, make sure to give enough space between them!*

After you cut/shape your scones, put them all on your sheet pan, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and put into the freezer to firm up before you bake them! You can do this while you preheat the oven!

Preheat your oven to 425˚ F.

Bake your scones for ~15 minutes, until the bottoms have browned slightly.

Allow to cool (if you can resist!) before enjoying!

Bon Appétit!

Crispy Chocolate Molasses Cookie Crust

HAPPY BEST MONDAY OF THE NEXT 2 MONTHS!!

Why, you ask?—you’re probably thinking that I’m crazy..

Hmm, maybe because Thanksgiving is this week?! And that means for the next 5 weeks it’s basically a holiday celebration every. single. day. Y’all know how much I love the holidays, my husband groans when September/October comes around because I’m just going crazy with my urge to start decorating! No, no, I don’t put a tree up that early (although I do beg!), and I don’t put any Christmas lights up until November 1st, no holiday music until the middle of November…I’m not that bad!

What do I do that’s over-the-top? I light every single wintery smelling candle, I put far too many warm spices into our coffee, I break out all of the cozy sweaters and blankets, and I START BAKING ALL THINGS HOLIDAY THEMED!! How much is too much molasses to eat every single day?

So here you go, a little bit of my September-December obsession for you!

It all started when Roberto and I agreed to host Thanksgiving this year in Atlanta. The savory side of the meal doesn’t really stress me out—I can manage some sides, rolls, salad, while I throw all of the other stuff on my husband (…like the 17# turkey…). It’s the desserts that I was obviously pumped about but also got a little bit of the sweats when planning it all out. The Big 3 had to be in there: Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan. But then I’m like HAH I’m not making your typical pies, that’s ridiculous! Sooooo, yes, I have been over planning on pies this year. Ginger and bourbon apple pie—check. Caramel pumpkin pie—absolutely. And, finally, a chocolate ganache pecan pie with a chocolate molasses cookie crust.

I always love to change-up the crusts that I do for my pies, whether it’s your typical pie dough, a sweet dough crust or, like this below, a chocolate gingerbread cookie ground up into crumbs, mixed with melted butter, then pressed into the tart pan! To me, a pecan pie is just a little bit on the sweet side, so I cut the syrupy filling and swapped it with my chocolate ganache tart filling (added toasted pecans, of course!). With this change, naturally, I had to do something a bit more fun for the crust. A gingerbread crust would have been amazing, but then I was like uhhh a gingerbread cocoa crust?  YES PLEASE!

This crust is spiced like a gingerbread cookie would be, not super, super sweet like a you’d think a cookie crust would be, and then it’s got some yummy dark chocolate cocoa powder mixed in—a win in every category if you’re asking holiday-obsessed Katie!

Here you have it, a little game changer in your Thanksgiving (or holiday!) menu! It’ll definitely be something that will wow your guests, especially if you accidentally cook a dry turkey, under salt your mashed potatoes or only set the table for 9 instead of 10! So, as Thanksgiving can be a little hectic, very loud, maybe some people had more than their share of wine, and others just fall asleep before dinner is even served—this pie will always be a win!

Best enjoyed the morning of, the day after, the next 5 weeks of holiday fun, with great company, a nice deep red, and most likely your stretchiest of pants!

ingredients

Butter—10 oz, or 1¼C

Sugar—7.25 oz, or 1C

Eggs—1

Molasses—2.5 oz, or ¼C

Honey—2 tsp

Flour—9.5 oz, or 2C

Cocoa Powder—1.5 oz, or ½C

Baking Soda—1 tsp

Cinnamon—2 tsp

Cloves—½ tsp

Ginger—1½ tsp

Nutmeg—1 tsp

Turmeric—½ tsp

Salt—1 tsp

Butter, melted—2 oz, or 4 TBL

Cookies, ground—6 oz, or 1.5C

Pecans, toasted—4 oz, or 1C

process

Sift together all of your dry ingredients—flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, turmeric and salt.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Once creamed, add in your egg, molasses and vanilla.

When all incorporated, slowly add in your dry ingredients until just combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge before baking.

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Roll the cookie dough into balls about 2TBL’s in size—if you’re using them for the crust, this won’t be as important because you’ll be grinding them up!

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until no longer ‘wet’-looking.

Allow to cool completely before grinding.

Toast your pecans in a 350˚F oven for about 8 minutes, until toasted. Cool.

When you’re ready to make your crust and tart, combine ground cookies with the melted butter.

Press crust into your tart pan, making sure that it’s about ¼” thick and even on the bottom as well as up the sides.

Bake in a 350˚F oven for about 12-15 minutes, until the crust has baked and is set.

Put all of your toasted pecans in the bottom of your cookie crust.

Make your chocolate ganache filling (found here!).

Pour into your crust and place into the refrigerator to set up for at least 6 hours.

Bon Appétit! 

Brown Sugar Sprinkle Cookies

Today’s Date: December 21st.

What I thought the date was: November (basically).

There’s some kind of sorcery going on here because the fact that Christmas is in 4 days completely blows my mind. I swear last week was Thanksgiving, 2 days ago was Roberto’s birthday, tomorrow can’t be Thursday…

I can keep going!

Between lots and lots of work, some afternoon naps, and my marathon training—just to keep in shape while I eat so many croissants at work—I have lost track of time completely. It’s wonderful that my work schedule is so crazy compared to almost anyone else’s (4am start time, random weekdays off, etc.) because it keeps me relatively busy and I absolutely love Trader Joe’s runs at 10am on a Monday, no one is there! Then there’s the flip side, I’m rather tired about 90% of the time I’m not at work, so this whole baking outside of work thing gets tough.

The month of December for KBB has consisted of about 10 failed attempts at a cake that I insisted I make work—the recipe seemed flawless! But alas, I decided that a new cookie recipe was needed, one that almost screams “Katie,” and of course it turned out to be magically delicious (cookies are definitely my strong suit!).

So below you have another game changing, swap-out-the-gingerbread-men-for, sprinkle loaded cookie.

All brown sugar? Check!

Oats for “health?” Check!

Sprinkles galore? Check!

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate? Check check check!

You’re probably thinking Girl, those oats aren’t doing a damn thing! WELL, listen up, this cookie is so soft, like your teeth just sink right in, it’s an incredible thing, so I wanted to add oats because not only do I love the taste of a toasty oat, but a fun texture piece is brought, too.

And then there’s sprinkles, and chocolate…and if you decided to dip the cookies in chocolate and throw on more sprinkles, it’s just a glittery, wonderful winterland of a cookie you have created!

I did all of the above, and I must say it was the best decision this month. As posted on my Instagram, we had a little work outing where we went to Beautiful Briny Sea and make sprinkle blends! My boss, of course, was doing it for the shop for our peppercorn meringues, but the rest of us spent the hour or two making bags and bags of colorful, crazy little blends to bring home!

My Holiday Sprinkle Mix is featured on these cookies—and yes, this activity was even more fun than you can imagine! I’m thinking this is what I want my adult job to be…

ANYWHO! Back on track…got sprinkle distracted…

After a crazy month of work, being a new(ish) dog mom, still adjusting to life in Atlanta and then, surprise!, it’s Christmas, this recipe is exactly what we all need in our lives.

It’s quite simple, yet will bring ease to anyone’s day, especially if you’re as unprepared for this upcoming weekend as I am!

ingredients

Butter, room temperature—12 oz, or 3 sticks

Brown Sugar—16 oz, or 2 ¼ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Eggs—3

Baking Soda—1 tsp

Salt—1 tsp

Flour—26.25 oz, or 5 ¼ C

Oats—3.75 oz, or ¾ C

Chocolate Chips—14 oz, or 2 C

Sprinkles of choice—3-4 TBL

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add in the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time.

Once all combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add in the oats.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to your creamed mixture.

Add in your chips and sprinkles.

Either transfer your dough to another bowl or use the mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When you are ready to bake your cookies, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Scoop out tablespoon sized cookies, or I do 1.5 oz, and place on a baking sheet lined with either parchment, a Silpat, or spray with nonstick spray.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the outside edges are just slightly browned and the centers are still very light—makes for a nice soft cookie!

Allow to cool and enjoy!

*Note: If you want to dip them in chocolate—over a double boiler, melt about 1 cup of white chocolate until smooth, dip half in the chocolate and cover in sprinkles before the chocolate firms up!*

Bon Appétit!