Guest post: Erika's Banana Pecan Scones

Ingredients:

1-3/4C. AP flour

1/4C. whole wheat flour

3T. brown sugar or Demerara* or Turbinado*

1T. baking soda

1/2t. kosher salt

9T. cold unsalted butter cut into pats (easier to blend in the food processor)

1t. ground cinnamon

1/4t. ground nutmeg

2/3C. chopped pecans

3/4C. mashed ripe/overripe banana

1/4C. greek yogurt (I like Fage 0%)

Demerara* or Turbinado* sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 F.

• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

• In a food processor, pulse flours, sugar, baking power, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and butter till the mixture looks like rough sand. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

• With a fork, blend flour mixutre with pecans till evenly distributed. Add yogurt and banana puree, blend well with a fork until most of the flour is combined. Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently til smooth or 3 turns. DO NOT-over knead, the scones will be tough and the warmth of your hands will melt the butter!!

• Form into a 9" circle that is about 3/4" high. With a bench scraper or knife cut the circle into 8 wedges and place on the parchment paper 2" apart. Sprinkle Demerara sugar on tops. Bake in middle of oven for 20-25 minutes til slightly brown. Let cool on rack for 10 minutes. Eat warm or at room temp with a cold glass of moo juice! Good for breakfast or a snack.

*Natural brown sugar is brown sugar made by partially refining sugar cane extract, whereas most brown sugar is made by addingmolasses to fully refined sugar.

Golden coloured natural brown sugar is produced by extracting the juice from sugar cane, heating it to evaporate water and crystallise the sugar, then spinning in a centrifuge to remove some impurities and further dry the sugar. It is commonly used in baking and to sweeten beverages such as coffee and tea.

In the US, a similar sugar is commonly called turbinado sugar, after the centrifuges or turbines in which it is spun. In the United States, most turbinado sugar is produced in Hawaii and is often sold as an organic product. The popular Hawaiian product sold in the U.S. is produced on Maui and marketed under the name brand "Sugar in the Raw". There are slight differences in taste between turbinado and demerara sugar.

These types of natural brown sugar are typically paler and drier than what is normally sold as brown sugar, and have larger crystals. In general, they can be freely exchanged with brown sugar in recipes, although it may affect the flavor of a recipe calling for a lot of brown sugar, such as a blondie, and the moisture content will be slightly lower.

**Thanks, Erika! Scones are well-known in our house - our local health food store, The Merc, is Abby and Elise's favorite shopping spot. They recently each received $2.00 from their Great Grammy for their 2nd birthday and, when asked "What do you want to go buy?", Elise eagerly replied "the Merc... SCONE!", so I'd better be a good Momma and get baking! We always have turbinado and cane sugar in our kitchen - I prefer the taste and I think cane sugar is sweeter so I can often use a bit less when baking. -Erin**