Snickerdoodles: A Dedication

On August 30, 2001, a chocolate lab named Daisy gave birth to a litter of black and white puppies.  Six weeks later, I was driving home with the runt of the litter - a little female with a white star on her chest, whose top point extended all the way up to her chin.  I named her Liz.  I'm notorious for giving nicknames to EVERYTHING and she was no different.  Her very first nickname was "Snickerdoodle".  I distinctly remember my dad telling me that if I kept calling her that, she wasn't going to learn what her real name was.  Even though I did start using her real name, I would end up calling her so many nicknames that I'm not even sure of them all (and she answered to every last one of them, thank you very much)!  But that very first one stuck and I've called her "Snickerdoodle" and "Doodle" her entire life.  Speaking of life...

On June 20, 2007, she barked ONE TIME when she met my boyfriend for the first time.  She never barks ONE TIME at anything!

My then-boyfriend hid this on her collar on November 25, 2009:

Then she did this on October 16, 2010:

(a candid shot of us)

When my husband and I purchased our first home, we said that we were really buying it for her.  We made sure it was carpeted (since she hated hardwood floors), had minimal steps to get in and out (because she had arthritis in her elbow and knee), and a BIG backyard for her roam around in (because she loves to be outside and smell everything).

She was a big foster sister to three rabbits, who she tolerated with no problems (even if one of the rabbits kept trying to jump onto the couch with her).  Then on November 1, 2014, we took her to the SPCA of Wake County to see how she would like having a little brother.  So then she became a big sister to a 5 year old Hound mix whom we named Chief Inspector Japp:

And then, on December 17, 2014, we lost her to nasosinal cancer.  There is this huge void in our lives where she should be.  We don't regret the decision to end her suffering because, in the end, that's what was happening - the cancer was affecting her ability to breath normally, terrible nosebleeds that were harder and harder to stop, losing weight, and affecting her sense of smell (which, for a dog who is half English Pointer, is tragic).  We were able to end her life on her terms - she walked into the vet's office with her head held high, gave everyone one last hug, and laid in my arms until the end.  Which is exactly how she would've wanted it.  And that's how we wanted it.

So to my dear, sweet, beautiful girl, my little Snickerdoodle, I love you.  I miss you.

Snickerdoodles
adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

1/2 c. Shortening
1/2 c. Butter, unsalted
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 3/4 c. All Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 Large Egg

Coating:
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 c. Sugar

Preheat oven to 400.
Lightly grease your cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Using a mixer, cream together the shortening and butter until smooth.
Add in your sugar and vanilla, mixing well.
Mix in your egg until well combined.
While that's working, whisk together your flour, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder in a large bowl.
To your creamed butter and shortening mixture, slowly add in your flour mixture, scraping the bowl every once in a while.
Now you need to mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Using a Tbsp. measuring spoon, take some dough and roll into balls.
Then roll your dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Place on prepared cookie sheets and, using the end of a drinking glass that's been dipped into your cinnamon-sugar, press lightly until each dough ball is flattened.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
Cool on rack and store in air-tight containers.

(all professional photos are copyright Diane Lewis Photography.)

Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Chips

Many of my regular readers will know how much my husband loves pumpkin.  I've spoken about this many times.  Well, last year, suddenly he tells me that he's "off" pumpkin.  I apparently had made too many pumpkin things the year before and so he wasn't really feeling it.  I actually felt his forehead - I thought he was sick!  We have been together for seven years now (gee, where did the time go?) and he has always been, "Oh I love pumpkin!", "Make me something pumpkin!"  So you'll see why I wondered if I needed to rush him to the emergency room.  Or knock some sense into him... I wasn't really sure which.  So my mother-in-law (Hi!) calls me around a week ago asking if her son is still "off" pumpkin - she was as concerned as I was over that little development last year - and I was happy to report that he was, in fact, back in love with pumpkin!  We could all breath a little easier now.

Once my husband had made his happy announcement that he wanted pumpkin once more, off I went in search of recipes.  It had been a really long time since I'd made scones so I really wanted to make a pumpkin scone.  Apparently the recipe gods heard me because the very next day, my November issue of Bon Appetit magazine arrived in my mailbox and there it was:  Pumpkin Scones.  And as luck would have it, I actually had all the ingredients!  Oh happy day!  The original recipe included a cinnamon butter recipe and mixed cranberries into the scones.  Well, the husband doesn't like cranberries so I decided to meet-in-the-middle of this recipe and mixed in cinnamon chips (which are probably one of my favorite ingredients EVER).

I love making scones, almost as much as I love making cookies.  But scones can be deceiving.  When you add in your liquid ingredients, your dry ingredients look like they will never come together.  But PLEASE don't add in any more liquid.  Everything will come together, I promise.  I made the mistake of adding one tablespoon of extra liquid and it made my scones too sticky.  You want your dough to be on the dry side.


Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Chips
adapted slightly from Bon Appetit (Nov. 2014)

1/2 c. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
2 c. All Purpose Flour
3/4 c. Butter, unsalted (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 c. Cinnamon Chips
1 Egg
1/2 c. Pumpkin (Libby's canned pumpkin)
1/4 c. Buttermilk

In a large bowl, whisk together your sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda, and flour.
Using the large holes on a box grater, grate in your butter.  (Placing your butter in the freezer 30 minutes prior to grating and it'll go so much easier.)
Toss the butter in the dry ingredients to coat.
Mix in your cinnamon chips.
Now add your egg, pumpkin, and buttermilk, stirring to combine.  (Remember this may not look like enough liquid but keep going - it'll all come together.)
Transfer the dough to some parchment paper that's been lightly floured and pat into a 1 1/2" thick disk.
Cut into 8 wedges.
Freeze until firm, around 25 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin-y goodness.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins/Bread

Apple and cinnamon?  Yum.  "Yes, please" and, "Please, sir, may I have another?"

I'm sure you recall the Blueberry Muffin Bread recipe where I had too much batter and ended up having to use the remaining batter to make bread.  Well, I did the same thing here only I really don't know how it happened.  Unlike with the Blueberry Bread, I followed the directions, using white whole wheat flour and all-purpose instead of substituting white whole wheat for regular all-purpose.  This recipe is SUPPOSED to yield 12 happy muffins.... yeah, not for me.  I don't understand why or how it happened but I'm just glad it did!  To think that I now have the knowledge to turn muffins into bread.... OH THE POWER!!!!!  Oh, did I say that out loud?  Do forgive me.  I'm not that power-hungry... usually.

When baking with apples, you have to be careful about which type of apple you choose.  A Red Delicious, for instance, is great for eating but terrible for baking.  They disintegrate.   So much you won't even be able to tell there's apple in it.  My favorites?  Granny Smith and Braeburn, all of which are readily available in your local grocery store.  When I bake pies, I enjoy using a mixture of both those apples.  The Granny Smith is very tart and the Braeburn helps to cut through that tartness.  Honeycrisps are my favorite for eating around the holidays (because that's usually the only time you can find them) and are the apples most commonly used in apple cider.  See, you can learn new things on baking blogs!  For a quick overview of apples for baking, here's a quick link from allrecipes.com for you.  Due to the sweetness from the sugars and cinnamon chips, I chose to use a Granny Smith apple here to help even out the flavors but you can choose whatever variety you like.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins/Bread 
courtesy of the KAF Cinnamon Flav-R-Bits package

1 c. White Whole Wheat Flour
1 c. All-Purpose Flour (or 2 c. All-Purpose)
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 c. Butter, at room temperature (salted - if using unsalted, add 1/4 tsp. salt)
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 c. Buttermilk
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (I used Granny Smith)
1/2 c. Cinnamon Chips

Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Line a muffin tin with paper cups.
Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, if using.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
Add your egg and mix well.
Mix in the buttermilk to the egg and sugar-butter mixture.
Fold in your dry ingredients, apple, and cinnamon chips.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.  Should you find yourself with extra batter (which somehow, I did), spray 2 3x5 pans with cooking spray and divide the batter into the pans.
Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 400°F, and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
If you're baking breads, tent some foil over the pans and bake for an additional 10 minutes (30 minutes total).
Don't fret if your muffins come out dark - they're supposed to thanks to the brown sugar.
Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Scones

Allow me to explain something folks.  My husband loves pumpkin.  I believe I've mentioned that before on this blog... oh yeah, on the Pumpkin Dessert Squares post.  So yeah, he loves pumpkin.  I know that as soon as September rolls around, I'm going to start hearing Ryan ask, "So when are you making something pumpkin?"  He usually asks for pie but he's figured out that I enjoy baking lots of other things (no clue where he'd get that idea from!) so now it's just "something pumpkin."  I enjoy scones.  I love me a good cinnamon scone (that was my very first post, remember?).  So I figured, why not make a pumpkin scone?  Not to mention the fact that my best friend Erin had asked me, "When are you going to make pumpkin scones?"  (Geez, these people seem to think I like to bake!) 

A side note about your butter.  To make your life easier, cut your butter into small pieces so it'll be easier for you to incorporate into your flour.  I usually cut my butter into Tbsp size pieces and then cut them into two or four smaller pieces.  When you cut in your butter with knives, you'll need to cut the butter crosswise (like you're cutting up spaghetti).  You want your butter to be about the size of peas and smaller.  But you certainly don't want the butter to be completely gone - that's what makes scones so good.

Pumpkin Scones
courtesy of King Arthur Flour

2 3/4 c. All Purpose Flour

1/3 c. Sugar

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon

3/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 c. COLD Butter (I used salted, if using unsalted, please add 3/4 tsp salt)

1 cup Cinnamon Chips (or chocolate chips, they'd work too) - add more to taste, if you prefer

2/3 c. Pumpkin* 

2 Eggs

(Where's the preheat temp?  Down below - you don't want to preheat your oven just yet.)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and spices (and salt, if you're using it).

Using a pastry blender or two knives, work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly (it's OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated).

Stir in the cinnamon chips.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and eggs till smooth.

Add the pumpkin/egg to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together.

Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just spray your baking sheet with cooking spray (but parchment makes life easier).

Scrape the dough onto the parchment or pan, and .... here's where life can get interesting.  You can do one of two things - divide the dough in half, rounding each half into a 5"-6" circle.  (The circles should be about 3/4" thick.) ... OR ... You can leave the dough as one large round piece, giving you bigger scones.  Your circle should still be around 3/4" thick.

(If you want to make your scones look pretty, you can brush your scones with milk and sprinkle course sparkling sugar {aka Sugar in the Raw} over the top.)

Using a knife that you've run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges. (Why cold?  Makes it easier for the dough not to grip your knife so you come away with clean edges.)

Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about 1/2" space between them, at their outer edges.

Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered.  (This will help them rise!)

While the scones are in the freezer, preheat the oven to 425°F.

Bake the scones for 22 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, with no wet crumbs.

(See the lovely cinnamon chips which are full of cinnamon-y goodness?)

* - Your 2/3 c. of canned pumpkin... that's an odd measurement.  Most recipes call for the whole can!  Well, the lovely people are King Arthur Flour have a little note on their recipes that if you use a SCANT 2/3 c. of pumpkin, you'll be able to make THREE batches of theses scones!  Don't want to make another batch of scones?  Here are some ideas from the wonderful folks at KAF:
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Cake Bars
And remember, you can always make half a recipe of your favorite pumpkin item to use up that can.  This recipe will leave you more than half.  How do you save your opened pumpkin?  I froze 1 Tbsp of pumpkin in ice cube trays.  They'll defrost in my fridge overnight and be ready to use the following day :)

Apple Blondies

I loves apples.  It took me a very long time to actually be able to eat apples in anything though.  When I was little, I didn't eat apple pie or apple dumplings or apple anything.  Except apples.  I love raw apples!  As I've grown older, I've grown to love apple things.  I make a wonderful apple pie that I hope to make again and post the recipe for.  My father asked me to make him a deep dish Dutch apple pie once.  That recipe took me 3 different recipes from 3 different cookbooks just to be able to finish.  That was a hassle but it turned out good.  I may make that again one day now that I know what in the world I am doing!  This was much, much simpler.  And it uses my favorite cinnamon chips!  I'm telling you, when Christmas rolls around and Harris Teeter gets in their annual stock of cinnamon chips, I'm buying a case!  Haha!  The recipe actually calls this "Apple Brownies" but there is no cocoa in this recipe so technically it should be called a "blondie" which is what I'm calling them.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!  (Goes GREAT with vanilla ice cream!)


Apple Blondies
recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour Baking Sheet, Autumn 2011

1 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour (KAF)
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 c. Butter (I use salted - if you use unsalted, add an additional 1/2 tsp. salt)
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
2 1/2 c. Apples, Peeled and Diced (I used Braeburn apples for this recipe) - amounts to around 2 or 3 apples
1/2 c. Cinnamon Chips
1/2 c. Walnuts, Chopped

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray an 8x8 pan with butter flavored cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, and cinnamon.
Melt the butter in a saucepan or microwave.
Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar.
Cool the butter and sugar mixture to lukewarm and add the egg (use caution because you don't want scrambled eggs - make sure your butter/sugar mix is cool!).
Combine the butter/sugar mixture with the flour mixture.
Fold in the apples, cinnamon chips, and walnuts.  (NOTE:  This mixture will be THICK - it's gonna take some elbow grease to make sure everything is properly mixed together!)
Pour the batter into your 8x8 pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.

(see those lovely cinnamon chips?  Yummy!)


Calories:  206 (per 2" square)

Old Fashioned Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

When I was getting married, one of the things I wanted at my bridal shower was a Williams-Sonoma cookbook (and Paula Deen cookware - thank you Aunt Betty!!).  And my best friend, Erin, knowing me oh-so well, bought me the W-S Essentials of Baking cookbook and I love it (yeah, I love a baking cookbook - go figure)!  So of course, one of the first things I should make from this book should be for her.  She loves oatmeal raisin cookies but I don't (I'm not one for raisins) so I typically make cookies that both of us like.  She has had a bad week recently and what does a good Southern girl do for someone who's had a bad day?  We cook something for them.  (We seem to celebrate or acknowledge everything with food in the South... birthdays, funerals, job loss, job promotion, etc.  And people wonder why the South makes such good food - we have to cook it all the time!)  So here are Erin's oatmeal-raisin cookies (I have to admit, I do enjoy eating the batter for these cookies when I can get around the raisins... cinnamon... yummy!).

But before I get to the recipe, I would like to take a moment to tell you that you need to get a cookie scoop for these cookies.  What?  You don't have one?  In that case, stop right here.  Go purchase one immediately!  It will become your best friend when it comes to baking cookies (or scooping really small scoops of ice cream).  Some recipes (like this one) call for you to drop the cookies by the tablespoon.  Now, that makes one big cookie!  I prefer smaller cookies because rather than just eating one cookie, you can eat two or three!  Trick your mind into thinking you're eating more than you are.  This original recipe said it made 24 cookies.  Using my cookie scoop, I managed to get 40!  That brought the calories down from 141 calories per cookie to 84 calories per cookie.  So go and get a cookie scoop - you'll love it!

Old Fashioned Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
(from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking)

1 1/2 c. All Purpose Flour (KAF)
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 c. Butter (1 stick), melted
1 c. firmly packed Brown Sugar (I used light brown sugar but you can use dark brown if you have it on hand.)
1/2 c. Granulated Sugar
1/2 c. Egg Beaters (or 2 eggs)
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract (Nielson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)
1 1/2 c. Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats (typically sold as just "old fashioned oats")
2 c. Raisins

Preheat oven to 350.
Line at least 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (I love parchment paper - no nonstick spray to use and you can reuse it!).
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars and stir with a wooden spoon (not entirely sure why the recipe said a wooden spoon but anyway) until smooth.
Add eggs and vanilla and stir until well blended.
Add flour, cinnamon, and baking powder and stir until well incorporated.
Now you need to add the oats and stir until combined.
Lastly, add the raisins and combine (this batter is very, very thick so make sure your raisins are well stirred into your batter).
Using your cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto your baking sheets.
Bake one sheet at a time for 15-20 minutes (15 minutes was perfect for me) or until the top of the cookies are firm when lightly touched.
Let the cookie sheet cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
Then transfer the cookies to another wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temp.

Calories - 84 per cookie (makes 40)

Baklava Cookies

I've never had baklava.  And I've certainly never tried to make it (too many layers... one day, I may attempt it).  But that doesn't mean I've never wanted to try it.  But I've always been leery of new things but I've become more outgoing when it comes to food here lately so when I came across this baklava cookie recipe in Spike Mendelsohn's cookbook The Good Stuff Cookbook, I was certainly intrigued (for those of you who watch Top Chef on Bravo, Spike should be no stranger to you - he's one of my favorite chefs to ever be on the show and when I found out that he had put out a cookbook that was all about burgers, shakes, and sweets, I was alllll over it!).  So today, I finally summed up the courage to make this cookie and boy am I glad I did!  I adore this cookie!  The more I eat them, the higher up on my list of favorite cookies it goes.  Everyone loves chocolate chip (or, my other post, oatmeal-raisin) but every once in a while, you want something different.  If you want a different cookie, this is the recipe you should try.  It's buttery and rich and with the honey glaze, decadent but without being too overpowering to make you not want to eat more than one.  I highly recommend that you try this cookie recipe ASAP!

Side note:  Please use parchment paper under your cookies for this recipe.  When you drizzle the glaze over the cookies, it will make cleanup extremely easy for you.

Baklava Cookies
(from The Good Stuff Cookbook by Spike Mendelsohn)

Cookies:
2 3/4 c. All Purpose Flour (KAF)
1 - 1 1/2 c. Chopped Walnuts (I prefer less walnuts so I opted for 1 c. but you can use up to 1 1/2 c.)
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/4 c. Butter (that's 2 1/2 sticks!  I told you it was buttery.)
2 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Egg Beaters (or 1 egg)
1 tsp. Vanilla (Nielson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)

Glaze:
1/3 c. Honey
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla (Vanilla Bean Paste)
1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine flour, walnuts, cinnamon, baking soda and powder .
In another bowl, mix melted butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar mix.
Slowly add the egg mixture to flour and nut mix and mix well.
Using your hands, form small round dough balls and place them on a baking sheet that's covered with parchment paper (I told you before - I love parchment paper!).
Press down on the dough balls gently to flatten them slightly.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
While the cookies are baking, make the glaze by combining all ingredients into a small saucepan over low heat until the mix is syrupy.
Set the glaze aside until ready to use.
Let the cookies cool on their baking sheet and drizzle the glaze over the cookies after they've cooled.

Calories:  171 per cookie (makes 35)

Overnight Coffee Cake for Two

I came across this coffee cake recipe in a magazine a few months ago.  I'm always looking for way to make my life simple in the mornings because, let's face it, who wants to get up in the morning and stand around and mix up anything more complicated than Aunt Jemima's pancake mix?  Not me.  I like recipes that I can do the night before (I'm currently trying to find time to make King Arthur Flour's cinnamon rolls that you freeze and can bake straight from frozen!).  So this coffee cake was right up my street!  The best part about this?  You can even freeze this coffee cake for up to 1 month and can bake straight out of the freezer!  How about that for simple?  This coffee cake is quick and simple to make and will taste like you woke up at 6 a.m. to bake (of course, you can do that too if you want).

One quick this you need to know about this recipe - it does require a 6 inch cake pan.  You can probably find this somewhere like Michael's and I know you can find it online somewhere.

Overnight Coffee Cake for Two
(from The Best of America's Test Kitchen - 2011 {magazine})

Streusel:
1 Tbsp. Light Brown Sugar (Market Pantry)
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour (KAF)
1 Tbsp. Butter
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds (optional - the nutrition does not include any nuts!)

Cake:
2/3 c. All Purpose Flour (KAF)
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/8 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 c. Sour Cream (Daisy Light Sour Cream)
1 Egg
3 Tbsp. Light Brown Sugar (Market Pantry)
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted
1 Tbsp. Sugar

1-Using your fingers, combine all ingredients for the streusel in a bowl until the mixture resembles coarse meal and set aside.
2-Grease 6-inch round cake pan.
3-Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
4-Whisk the sour cream, egg, brown sugar, melted butter, and sugar together in another bowl until smooth.
5-Gently fold the sour cream mixture into the flour mix with a spatula until well combined.
6-Pour batter into your prepared 6-inch cake pan.
7-Sprinkle streusel over the top of the cake.
8-Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or freeze for up to 1 month.
9-When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.  (Note:  If you want to get up at 6 a.m. and bake this the same day, skip step 8 and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.)
10-Unwrap the cake and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick/cake tester is inserted and comes out cleans.  (Baking from frozen?  Don't thaw and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.)
11-Enjoy!!

Calories - 261 per serving (4 servings)

Cinnamon Chip Scones

For my opening recipe, we'll start off with Cinnamon Chip Scones....

I've had an obsession with cinnamon lately.  Ever since I had the cinnamon chip bread at Great Harvest Bread in Raleigh, I've been all about cinnamon!  However, I was always unable to find cinnamon chips!  King Arthur Flour has them but I wasn't willing to pay shipping unless I was certain I could find them locally.  Last Christmas, Harris Teeter granted my wish!  I bought three bags of cinnamon chips and I wish I had purchased more!  I'm already over halfway through the three bags!  Cinnamon chips have become one of my most favorite things to use so next year, when HT has them again, I may just buy a big box of them!  So next Christmas, when you see Hershey's Cinnamon Chips, buy a bag - you'll fall in love with them!

Cinnamon Chip Scones
(from America's Bed and Breakfast Cookbook)

2 cups All Purpose Flour (King Arthur AP Flour)
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
1 stick of Butter (I Can't Believe It's Not Butter) - you can use butter right out of the fridge for this!
1 c. Cinnamon Chips (Hershey's)
1 Egg, separated
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (Neilson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)
3/4 c. Buttermilk
1 packet of Sugar in the Raw (yes, it's an odd "measurement" but work with me)

Preheat over to 375.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.
Cut in butter until the mixture resembles course meal.  (If you don't have a pastry blender, you can easily use two knives, which is what I use, to cut in the butter.)
In another bowl, combine the egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk. 
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a 10-in. circle (don't use a rolling pin - use your hands.  Try not to handle the dough too much because you don't want to melt the butter!).
Cut into wedges (I made 8 wedges but the recipes calls for 12).
Place scones onto an ungreased baking sheet or parchment paper (as I've done).
Lightly beat the egg white and brush the tops of the scones.
Lightly dust the tops of the scones with the packet of Sugar in the Raw (one packet is the perfect amount for these scones!).
Bake 18 to 22 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Calories - 269 per scone for 12 scones or 404 if you do 8 scones, as I've done.