Week 8: Cranberry Orange Scones

Cranberries were on sale a couple weeks ago and I thought they could serve double duty as ingredients for some more scones and perhaps a new smoothie recipe. For some reason, roommate AG forgot what scones were and I realised that I really don't have  better description for them other than: "You know, they're triangular, and flaky, and Starbucks sells them?". Which apparently was not descriptive enough.

I had taken the night off from campaigning in the school elections, which I'll regret if not enough people choose my name on the ballot a week from now. But from my experience of when I was elected as Grade 5 class president, campaigning breaks are okay; especially if they're taken for baking.

Last time I made scones I mentioned that I would like to try them with whole wheat flour if I had had any on hand, and now that I do, whole wheat scones it is!  This recipe is a little different from last time  as I think they ended up too moist. I've also replaced the lemon zest with orange since I didn't have any lemons on hand. Noticing that I didn't have this recipe stored anywhere else but the blog itself, I had to follow the recipe here and noticed that grey text is incredibly hard to read so I've changed it all to black to make all your lives just a bit easier, you're welcome.

Chocolate truffles-ish

What do pitted prunes, dried cranberries and almonds have in common other than being vaguely 'healthy' ? When you combine them you get something that tastes just like cookie dough.  Amazing? I know. I found this recipe after reading the food column in the National Post. The column's called 'Making love in the kitchen' and is written by nutritionist Meghan Telpner. Though I disagree with some of her strong views against additives like MSG, the recipes all seem pretty interesting and she had me at the word: Truffle. I halved and made a few changes to this recipe, both on purpose and by accident and I'm glad I did because these are little morsels of chocolate-y heaven. Next time I'm going to make them as directed.

Chocolate Truffles-ish
Yield: 31 truffles
1. 1 cup  almonds
2. 1/4 teaspoon  salt
3. 7 pitted dates
4. 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
5. 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
6. 1 tsp vanilla extract
7. 2 tablespoons honey
8. 1 tablespoon  water
9. 1/2 cup shredded coconut (separated)

1. Blend all ingredients except for 1/4 cup of the shredded coconut in a food processor (I used a magic bullet)
2. Scoop out teaspoons and roll in remaining coconut
3. Chill until firm
Per truffle:
47 calories | 2.2g sugar | 3.2g fat