Orange Fiasco

My number one rule that I tend to break constantly is, "never go grocery shopping when I'm hungry".  The end result varies, but I usually always end up with things that are not on my list.  This time it was a 4 lb bag of oranges, among other things.  They were on sale!! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have 10+ oranges for just $3!
Then, there I was at home, contemplating what I would do with these gorgeous fruits.  Juicing them would just be a waste...but then I remembered having these amazing Cranberry Orange Scones from a local bakery, and I decided that that is what these oranges would become.  Pastries! =)  I found a few different recipes online and made some modifications to them based on what I had at home (no more grocery shopping for me..today).  I know scones are supposed to be on the drier side because you typically pair it with your cup of tea or coffee, but I honestly love a moist scone that speaks for itself.  So, what I did was fold in chunks of cream cheese and I also mixed orange segments into the batter to give the end product a burst of juiciness when you bite into it.
Oh, and it turned out fantastic!  Here, take a look.

Oops, I forgot to mention the icing, which makes it look gourmet =9.  So simple to make, just take 1 - 2 tablespoons of orange juice and mix it into a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar.  You may add more juice or sugar to get the right consistency.

I seriously want to eat one right now!

Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Scones

INGREDIENTS

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
7 tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Orange Zest
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter, cold and cubed
3 oz. Cream Cheese, cold and cubed
1 Cup Dried Cranberries
1/3 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Orange Sections
1/4 Cup Lowfat Buttermilk
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Milk

DIRECTIONS - preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. In a small bowl combine orange juice and cranberries. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, orange zest, salt, baking powder and soda. Cut butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add buttermilk and egg to cranberries, then pour all into the flour mixture. Mix until soft dough forms.

4. Knead dough 8 - 10 times on a floured surface.  Form a circle and cut into 12 - 14 wedges (you may cut them smaller since they grow in the oven).

5. Fold a few cubes of cream cheese into each wedge, and place on baking sheet lines with parchment paper.

6. Brush with milk and bake for 13 - 15 minutes of until light golden brown.

Transfer to a cooling rack, and once thoroughly cooled, drizzle on the icing.

Sooooo delicious! Enjoy :D

Vanilla Cream Cheese Triangle Recipe

Here's the recipe I had promised.  Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

3 oz  Cream Cheese

2 Tbls  Butter, cold

2 Cups  Original Bisquick Mix

1/3 Cup  Milk

1  Egg yolk

1 Package (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened

1/3 Cup  Sugar

1/2 tsp  Vanilla Extract

1 Egg white, slightly beaten

2 Tbls  Sliced Almonds

2 tsp  Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. In medium bowl, cut 3-oz package of cream cheese and the butter into Bisquick mix, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk and egg yolk.

3. Place dough on surface well dusted with Bisquick mix; gently roll in Bisquick mix to coat. Knead 10 times. Roll dough into 16x8-inch rectangle.  Cut dough into 8 rectangles.

4. In small bowl, mix 8-oz package of cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar and the vanilla extract until smooth.

5. Spread cream cheese filling onto each rectangle to within 1/4 inch of edge; carefully fold dough over filling, and lightly pinch edges to seal.

6. Brush each rectangle with egg whites. Sprinkle with almonds and 2 teaspoons sugar.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

7. Bake about 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or cold. Cover; refrigerate any remaining triangles.

**Main recipe courtesy of my handy Betty Crocker app**

Impress your friends and family with these delicious cream cheese delights.  They'll think you bought it from the local bakery :9

Vanilla Cream Cheese Triangles

This was from a few months ago, but still worth sharing.  Around the holiday season I stocked piled a bunch of ingredients, and of course had an abundance of leftovers.  So, I pulled out my handy Betty Crocker app to see what kinds of recipes I could whip together using my leftovers.  All you have to do is input what ingredients you have and it will pop up with all the recipes that contain those ingredients.  Convenient, huh?  I found this fairly simple recipe for Almond Cream Cheese Triangles.  I didn't want to go out and buy almond extract, so I substituted it for vanilla extract and it turned out great!

The recipe has you cutting through the butter, cream cheese and bisquick with a pastry mixer until the dough is crumbly.  But....I didn't have a pastry mixer at the time so I had to use two butter knives!  I was pulling them through the dough for about 45 minutes just to get it to the right consistency, haha.  After that it was pretty smooth sailings.  I folded the dough over the vanilla and cream cheese filling and cut them into triangles.  After that I brushed egg whites on the tops for a glistening finish, sprinkled some sugar and topped each triangle with almonds.  Into the oven they went and less than 15 minutes later, these beautiful cream cheese triangles were cooling down and waiting to be devoured.

I cut one triangle apart to get a good look at the inside before basking in its deliciousness, and it looked super good!  I took the first bite and was amazed at how great it turned out.  The filling was still creamy and the warm pastry made everything melt in my mouth.

This recipe can make about 8 - 9 regular sized triangles, and they didn't last more than 2 days before we ate them all!  Next batch, I will cut them smaller to make more bite sized delights.

**I'll post the recipe soon**