I suppose I should explain the title of this blog: Jopie and Juno. My family are the new proud parents of a nine week old golden retriever/yellow lab puppy. The search for a name has gone far: Hercules, Juno, Bosley, Harold, Wallace, Wallie... We tend to disagree, so it has taken awhile for us to settle on one name. Jopie (as in Joe + Pie) seems to be the choice. Named after the Jopie Weed commonly found in the midwest/eastern side of the county, my father had friends in college with a great big lab named Jopie. So his memory has been reborn in our little pup.
This year, summertime has been running around the school yard with Jopie in an uncoordinated gallop close at my heels, laying in the grass with my brother, fending off puppy nips at my ears. These early morning walks and world cup games means no sleeping in for me this summer. An early riser requires a strong cup of coffee and the time to make a delicious breakfast.
I love scones, and have been searching for a moist peach/apricot version with a buttermilk glaze dusted with sugar crystals. Feeling healthy after a morning walk with Jopie, I settled on an oat/currant scone. The large turbino sugar cubettes in the buttermilk glaze added great moisture and texture to this fruitless scone. I added chopped toasted pecans and the orange zest contributed a refreshing citrus taste that lightened the hearty wheat/oat base. Warm out of the oven, these scones were a homey comfort perfectly paired with a cup of hot coffee.
Orange Oat and Currant Scones.
from 101 cookbooks
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups rolled oats
zest of 1 orange
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup coarse turbinado or Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
2/3 cup dried currants
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 15-20 times or until it looks like sandy pearls. (If you are working by hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter.) Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir in the oats and zest. Stir in the buttermilk and currants until just moistened.
Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly, stir in more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing. After bringing the dough together, gently pat it into an 8-inch round. Cut into triangle shapes (see photo) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet with some room between each scone. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minute or until the bottoms are deeply golden.
Makes 8 extra-large scones, or 12 to 16 larger ones.
I think its a great name, and have come to sing this little song in a southern drawl... Cherry Pie, Pecan Pie, Chicken Pot Pie.... Jopie!
For an early June pup, a name with pie is just perfect. Summertime is pie! With the abundance of fresh blueberries, peaches, late summer nights, outdoor dinners on the back porch, the mood is set for delicious pie. Ideally, there would be fireflies, cool grass under bare feet and the symphony of chirping of cicadas that only childhood memories of Ohio summer nights can bring together.
Regardless, a summer Sunday in Seattle can also instill a craving for pie. A friend and I could no longer ignore this craving and committed our day to pie-making. She has been perfecting her pie crust from a smitten kitchen recipe. With two whole wheat pie crusts, we decided to diversify the pie love: savory and sweet. The Savory turned to more a gallette, with roasted potatoes, kale, caramelized onions and feta. The Sweet was entirely committed to the bounty of summertime fruit: blueberries and peaches, with a crumbley oat and brown sugar top.
For the Crust, we substituted part whole wheat flour out of necessity. The result is more tough and less flaky than the ideal Pie Dough.
Peach and Blueberry Streusel Pie inspired by Deep-Dish Peach Pie with Pecan Streusel Topping from Bon Appetit
Pie Crust adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Streusel Topping
1/2 cup plus two tablespoons flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
Pie Filling
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 pounds of peaches halved, pitted, cut into 1-inch wedges
1 bag of frozen blueberries
1. Roll out pie crust into a 9- 9 1/2 inch diameter pie dish, chill. Can be any pie crust.
Assemble streusel topping.
2. Stir flour, oats, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in moist clumps. Cover and chill.
4. In a large bowl stir sugar, quick-cooking tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg. (If time allows let the peaches stand for up to twenty minutes tossing occasionally). Add blueberries and stir in.
5. Set rack at the lowest position in the oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
6. Spoon filling into crust. Scatter topping over, breaking up large clumps.
7. Bake pie 30 minutes. Reduce over to 350 degrees fahrenheit; bake until juices bubble thickly and topping is golden, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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