Excellent AND praiseworthy!!!!

"whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me— put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

So late last week I went to hang out with a couple of my friends. Can I just say, girl friends are so much fun!!!
We just "get" each other.
One of the biggest blessings I have been surprised by since becoming a Christian is the gift of friends. Seriously-it has been so huge for me to shake the terrible lie that other women can never be trusted....that says more about me than anyone else...sad, but true.
Thankfully, God hadn't written me off ... He chose to fill my life with wonderful women I can share my burdens with,confide in, giggle with and....COOK with!!!!

So, my sweet friend Leslie had our friend Karen and me along with my munchkins over for a "baking day"(....the song from Backyardigans haunts me in that title...."Baking Day! It's baking Day!Baking Day! It's baking Day!It's not Sausage-tasting Day....today's the day we BAKE!!!!"  - whew! I think theirs is "Racing Day" so I don't know why, but I'm glad I got that out!!!!).
So- Leslie makes the most wondrous splendiferous scones I have ever tasted....and...and... AND she shared the recipe with me- so I'm sharing with all of you!!!!!Sorry there are so few pictures of the process....we were chatting!!!!
So, here are Leslie's scones- they are noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable...see for yourself!!!!
 Leslie's Cranberry scones:

Preheat your oven to 400°

First, soak 1 c. dried cranberries
in a combo of:
1/4 c. O.J.
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1 farm fresh egg

The point of soaking the dried fruit in the wet ingredients to plump them up a bit....let's just say they may not be ALL that plumps up if you make this a recurring recipe in your morning routine!!!!These are sooo worth the splurge though! Enter - the dry ingredients:

2 c. flour
10 t. sugar (or 1/8 cup)
1 heaping T. orange zest
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t.baking soda
1/2 t. salt
for my 2 cents (Stephanie- how do you make a cents sign???Does anybody out there have a clue?)
I'm going  to add 1 c. of white "chocolate" chips (everyone knows they're not really chocolate, right?)

whisk together dry ingredients (including the chips if you're using them) then cut in:
1/3 c. cold butter cut in chunks
cut in till the size of small peas...then add wet ingredients - allow to sit a moment and then stir just to combine. Knead dough 7 X (Leslie says 6-8 times, but seven is the # of "completion" in the Bible, so that seems like a good, godly number!!!!)

Pat the dough into an 8" circle and cut into wedges.

separate on a cookie sheet....these babies won't spread, so you can easily fit a double batch on your pan if you're good with geometry....probably even if you're NOT (like ME!!!!)
Brush with cream or a beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes- watch carefully- you don't want them to be dry, just barely golden!!!!

Glaze:
(this part is Fat-free, so don't feel any guilt whatsoever about the glaze!!!!)
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 T. O.J. (see!!!- i would even call this "HEALTHY"!)

serve these warm out of the oven with mmmmMarmalade Butter (NOT a fat-free food! .....that pretty much goes for everything I make so count this as my all-in-all disclaimer...in other words be sure to always read the fine print....wow- that was a looong parenthetical statement now wasn't it?!?!?!)

sorry- we were ALL fingers ans forks when the scones came out and I got this after we'd eaten most of it!!!

Marmalade Butter:
1 stick of soft butter mixed with 3 T. marmalade...or whatever kind of jam you have on hand, or even  honey...
However, if you do substitute, throw some citrus peel into the mix- it really tastes fresh and delish!!!!!

can you just see the "it" factor in these????

  of you make these, you will be as happy as Jill's cat in this video!!!!!

Now that I have seen, I will put into practice what  I've learned....all silliness aside, though, Leslie has exemplified the idea that a true friend "loveth at all times". Her friendship is of greater worth than gold or rubies....or, in this case, more than cranberries!!!!!