I found out recently that David Lebovitz has an iPhone app that has different/additional recipes that the ones on his blog. I told my mom about it, too, and she started making these chocolate chip scones from one of his recipes. I’ve recently been making these cranberry scones from Smitten Kitchen, and they are delicious (and for Thanksgiving breakfast I made her apple cheddar scones, which are great, too). But one morning recently I found myself both egg-less and scone-less. So I decided to try a batch of these chocolate chip scones, which don’t require any eggs. The original recipe calls for a bit of cinnamon and orange zest, but I had neither, so I added some ground ginger instead. Having eaten the original version when my mom made them, I can advocate for either flavoring combination. I also added some cocoa nibs since I had some on hand. They add a nice crunch, but are certainly optional.

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Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar since I had some on hand)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
8 Tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
2/3 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa nibs (optional)
1/2 cup buttermilk

For topping:
1/4 cup coarse sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 375 F. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour through ginger). Cut in butter until it’s the consistency of coarse meal. Stir in cherries, chocolate chips, and nibs, if using. Stir in buttermilk until sticky dough barely comes together; do not overwork.

Press into a circle about 1″ thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Combine coarse sugar and ground ginger. Press each wedge into the sugar topping before placing, sugar side up, on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden.

I like them best warm, but Matt thought they were better later in the day. So either way you serve them should be good, as long as you make these scones!

I purposely made more food than I thought we needed to feed the six of us last Thanksgiving, since I enjoy the leftovers and finding ways to use them. Matt and I had a couple nights of just reheating the leftovers pretty much as they were originally served, but the real fun part is figuring out ways to make the leftovers into something new. I especially had a lot of leftover sweet potatoes, and decided to try adding them to pancakes. I adapted the buttermilk pancakes I usually make from The Joy of Cooking, adding my sweet potato casserole (which was topped with coconut and hazelnuts) and some spices. Since these are a good bit sweeter than normal pancakes, they were especially great topped with tart leftover cranberry sauce!

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Pancakes with Sweet Potatoes

adapted from The Joy of Cooking

serves 4 (2-3 pancakes each)

1 1/4 c cake flour
1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/8 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t cinnamon

1 c buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
2 T butter, melted
1/2 c leftover mashed sweet potatoes (pumpkin puree would be good, too)

2-3 T butter, for cooking

Sift together dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon).

Combine the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and sweet potatoes. Stir into the dry ingredients until just mixed (do not overmix).

Melt butter over medium to medium high heat (hot enough that water dropped on it sizzles a bit, but doesn’t go crazy). Drop pancake batter by 1/4 to 1/3 cups. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom and the edges are dry, a few minutes, and then flip and cook until the other side is browned. (I think because the batter is a bit thicker from the potatoes, you don’t really get bubbles rising to the top like you do in normal pancakes, but they were done when I cooked them as described.)

Serve with cranberry sauce, maple syrup, or honey.

I found blueberries for $3/pound last week, so I actually felt like I could buy enough to do something more than sprinkle a few in my oatmeal.  Cherries were cheap too, so I modified my grandmother Meme’s blueberry muffin recipe to include some cherries too. I was hoping they’d look kind of belatedly patriotic, but actually the cherries turn darker and the blueberries turn purple when cooked, so you really can’t see the difference.

Isn’t it wonderful what happens to blueberries when they bake?  I love the way they sort of explode and seem even juicier than when you pop them in your mouth raw.  I didn’t have any lemons so I added some lemon extract, otherwise I would’ve just used lemon zest.  I like the almond flavor with the cherries and blueberries, but you could also just use vanilla.

Blueberry-Cherry Muffins

This makes a small batch of just a dozen muffins.

1/2 c butter, softened
2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t lemon extract
1/2 t almond extract
2 c flour
1 t salt
1 3/4 t baking powder
2/3 c milk
1 c blueberries
1/3 c cherries, cut into small pieces (about the same size as the blueberries)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and extracts.

Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking powder). Stir into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, for a total of 3 additions of flour and 2 additions of milk (ending with the flour). Stir in the blueberries and cherries.

Grease and flour one muffin pan. Fill the cups about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool for a few minutes on a rack before unmolding.