I used to have a food blog but I let it fall to the wayside and I simply couldn't keep up with it. I do love to cook and when I have time to actually write down my recipes and take photographs I love to share them all. As this is a lifestyle blog, and as I write about fashion, food and decor, I thought I might as well incorporate food into the mix over here! It makes perfect sense, does it not?

My daughter wanted to make me breakfast the other morning. As we are still slowly replacing the contents of our fridge and freezer that had to be tossed into the garbage, the result of a week without power from Hurricane Sandy, my perishable cooking supplies are still quite limited. I've replaced the butter and the eggs, the milk of course, as well as the fruit and veggies, but I have yet to build up my arsenal of frozen goods which include, but are not limited to ice cream, frozen blueberries, strawberries, peaches, raspberries, and well, you get the idea. So a last minute decision to make mixed berry muffins was out of the question. Scones would be possible and we did have a full container of raisins in the pantry. I typically like to stock up on all sorts of dried fruit, but a certain little, well-loved 7 year old likes to snack on the said dried fruit and doesn't seem to remember to tell me when it's all been gobbled up. So raisin scones it would have to be. My go-to recipe requires plain yogurt, which I didn't have, so we needed to find another. I went immediately to The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook where we located a scrumptious looking recipe for strawberry scones. 

I do love Ina's scone recipes but I find them to be too rich for me. Always conscientious of my weight and my family's health, I seek ways to tailor our favorite recipes to fit our lifestyle. So with this recipe I simply replaced the heavy cream with 1% milk and used half the amount of butter. The scones came out perfectly!

4 cups plus 1 Tbs all-purpose flour

2 Tbs sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

1 stick of cold butter, diced

4 extra large eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup of cold milk, 1%

1 cup raisins (other dried fruit can be substituted)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and the salt. Blend in the butter at the lowest speed until the butter is pea-sized. Combine the eggs and milk and blend. Toss in the raisins - the dough may be quite sticky.

We formed little patties with the dough and placed them a couple of inches apart from each other on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Before placing them in the oven we brushed the tops with the egg wash and sprinkled them with sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. The outside will be crisp and a golden brown and the insides will be tender.

As these are not terribly sweet, we love to eat them with our favorite jam!

Add a nice homemade cappuccino and you're off to a perfect start to your day!

XOXO