A dear friend of mine is turning 45 this month. I was on etsy.com, one of her favorite websites, browsing around to see if anything caught my eye that was worthy of a 45th birthday present. As usual, I got sidetracked when I saw a picture of scones. I had no idea that etsy also published recipes! Next thing you know every website out there will have recipes on it. Yay!
I printed the recipe for the scones, entered it into NutriMirror to see what the nutritional stats were going to be like, and just about fell over. The sodium alone was enough for an entire day. So I got to work revising the recipe. This involved an email, text, and phone call to the Country Tart for advice. Is Greek yogurt a good substitute for heavy cream? Is wheat flour ok to use when it says to use all-purpose flour? Can I use sundried tomatoes instead of roasted tomatoes? Is she talking to me naked in the shower? After confirmation that I was fine with all the substitutions, I carried on with my day.
First I went into the post office and mailed off one of my media copies of Balanced Days, Balanced Lives to the local NPR lady who does a lunchtime show that many times involves health and nutrition issues. Then off to the health food store, where I dropped off another media copy, and purchased some no-sodium baking powder, scallions, and feta cheese.
This morning I made the scones. Look!
Since I changed the recipe so much I am hereby dismissing the etsy recipe and claiming this as my own.
Here's the recipe, with my adjustments:
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Sundried Tomato Feta Scones
Makes 8 scones
Ingredients:
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sodium-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 egg slightly beaten
4 oz feta cheese
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil
2 green onions, finely sliced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place the flour, baking powder, garlic salt and butter in a food processor. Pulsate everything in 3-second intervals until the mixture resembles coarse meal. If doing this by hand, use 2 knives, a pastry blender or your fingers.
Transfer everything to a large bowl. Stir in heavy cream and egg, mixing the dough by hand until it comes together.
Add feta cheese, roasted tomatoes, and green onions. Gently mix the ingredients by hand until the savory ingredients are evenly distributed.
On a floured surface, form a big dough ball. Flatten the dough into a 1 inch disk and cut it in 8 equal pieces.
Bake for 15 minutes on a baking stone or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Remove scones from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
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I did not bother with pictures of every step. My hands were all yucky from mixing the dough by the time I realized that a blog works better when you put pictures on it.
First I went into the pantry for my wheat flour. I had forgotten that I used most of it recently on another scone recipe, and only had 1/2 cup left. So much for lowering the sodium substantially. Next time I will make sure I have wheat flour on hand. Wish I'd checked before we went to the store.
The sodium-free baking powder did help considerably, though. Did you know that one measley teaspoon of regular baking powder contains 488 mg of sodium? Also 23% calcium, so it does have that to say for itself. Since they lowered the sodium limits for people 51 and over, to 1500 mg/day, 488 mgs of sodium in one tiny ingredient in one recipe, even when you divide it by 8 servings, just isn't very appealing. Even without the sodium-laden baking powder, this is kind of high per serving.
Anyway, these smelled incredible as they baked, and they look like they are going to rock me jailhouse rock. We will have them later with some Beach Baked Beans I made yesterday.
Between the Frosty Paws, Scottish Oatmeal Cake, and Scones, my kitchen looks like a tornado blew through. So I'm off to clean up now. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
ps: for the Frosty Paws, I use a big container of vanilla yogurt, 2 bananas, and about 1/2 a cup of water. Blend in the blender, then put in little tupperwares until frozen. Like most other things, it is a whole lot cheaper to make your own than to buy the fancy ones from the store. Also, no added chemicals. Sadie adores them.
pps: so much for waiting until later to try them. I couldn't stand it anymore so I ate one. Please make this recipe - you will not be sorry, I promise you. They are awesome. AWESOME!!!
