A Story of Shrinking Jeans

You may have noticed a distinct lack of baking here since New Year's Eve... but there is a reason. This seems to happen every January but yet again my jeans have shrunk. Okay, I'll be honest... I was doing a Pilates class on January 2nd and happened to glance in the mirror lining the wall of the exercise studio and had a rude awakening when I realised the lumpy woman looking back at me was actually me. Admittedly leggings and a vest are not a good look on a woman in her mid fifties (and I apologise for leaving you with that image) but I was still pretty shocked at what I saw. So there has been no baking in this house over the past couple of weeks in an attempt to regain svelt like proportions (Indulge me here... don't shatter my dreams).

But I've had withdrawal symptoms, so today I got out my pinny and the rolling pin and made some savoury cheese scones to go with our roasted butternut squash soup. I think I may have overdone the chilli in the soup but I'm sure I read somewhere that chilli raises the metabolism so that was okay.

Should you wish to indulge in some relatively guilt free baking (or preferably eating)  this is my recipe.

Spicy Cheese Scones

100g white SR flour

75g wholewheat bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon chilli powder

25g butter

50g strong cheddar or a similar strong cheese, finely grated

1 teaspoon English mustard

1 large egg

2-3 tablespoons milk

Approx 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese (or cheddar), grated

Heat the oven to 220 deg C. Mix together the flours, salt, baking powder and chilli in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients and then stir in the cheddar. In a jug, mix the mustard (you could just use mustard powder but I didn't have any) to a paste with a little of the milk and then beat in the egg and the rest of the milk. Stir into the dry ingredients until you have a soft dough. Roll out to about 2 cm thick and cut out circles with a 5 cm cookie cutter. Re-roll and cut until you have used all the dough. I managed to get eight scones. Place on a baking sheet, brush the tops with a little more milk and sprinkle with the parmesan. Bake for approx 12 minutes until well risen and brown.

Best eaten whilst still warm... and without any extra butter!

You may also noticed a lack of stitching on this so called "textile blog" but I have ideas and just need to get out of the kitchen and put them into action!