Blueberry Scones

Blueberry Scones Brunch 

Everything's coming up blueberries here at Fizzy Party.  I've been baking every week.  For the 4th of July week I made Red, White and Blueberry cupcakes,   the following week was our annual family reunion where I made Bacon, Blueberry Pancake cupcakes to bring and share.  I still had blueberries left over and thought, I'll make scones.  I could just eat the blueberries but I only like them IN things. Their flavor changes once you bake them and they taste better.

So I called a friend and asked if she was free Saturday morning to visit the new kitties we just adopted and to enjoy a brunch of blueberry scones and some bacon.  Friendship is super important and too often life gets busy and we say we'll get together some time and it never happens or months go by before we even talk to our friends. So I was happy my friend was available on short notice.

When my friend arrived at my house she said she woke up craving bacon and than she remembered I said I was serving bacon along with the scones and that made her happy.  :)  We enjoyed a tasty brunch, enjoyed each others company and had fun watching the kitties play. It was a great afternoon. One I highly encourage you to try.

The scone recipe I used is from Baked by Nature.   Her recipe is for strawberry scones with lemon glaze and I just replaced the strawberries with blueberries.  I like her recipe because it's simple and tasty.  Every time I make these scones for brunch's my friends love them and want to take any that are left over home with them.

  I keep  reading every where how friendships are dying and how lonely people are now compared to years past.  I highly encourage you to host a brunch and enjoy an afternoon with your girlfriends.  

Bacon Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

Bacon Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes 

Every July my dad's side of the family has a family reunion.  It's held at the same park every year.  The big covered area full of picnic tables with a grill near by is reserved.  There's a horse shoe pit right next to the covered area where my dad and his male cousins play a few games and  Eagle creek runs through the park where all the kids like to go down and cool off in it. 

There's always SO much food brought that I never know what to bring. I thought about bringing cupcakes.  If you've been following Fizzy Party for any length of time you know I love to bake cupcakes. Plus I had family who was going to the reunion tell  me I should bring cupcakes.  Only reason I hesitated was because it was going to be  hot that day and the park is an hours drive from our house. All the frosting would be melted down the sides of the cupcakes by the time we arrived.  

The morning of the reunion I still had no idea what I was going to bring.  Yes, you'd think being the party person I am I would have had that figured out the day I received the reminder email about the reunion.  I'm not kidding though when I say there is SO. Much. Food. So my mind goes blank on what to bring.  I hit the grocery store first thing in the morning and decided what the heck, I love making cupcakes, I'm known for my cupcakes, so I'm bringing cupcakes.  I took care of the frosting issue by putting it in a container and than inside the cooler on ice.  I would just frost the cupcakes once I arrived at the park.  Problem solved! 

I had a hard time picking which cupcakes I wanted to make but I finally decided on Georgetown Cupcakes   Bacon Blueberry Pancake cupcakes from their book The Cupcake Diaries.  They sounded delicious.  I mean, bacon is in the title of the recipe.  

Blueberries and bacon are mixed into the batter along with some maple syrup.  Sounds pancakey already doesn't it ;)  The cupcakes are than topped with maple cream cheese frosting.  Mmmmm

I added fresh blueberries on top.  As always I added more blueberries than the recipe called for.  People don't eat enough fruit so I'm just helping people out ;) hee hee

My mom said they are more of a savory cupcake and she's right.  Even though there is sweetness from the maple syrup and cream cheese, the bacon and blueberries cuts the sweetness.  I didn't get a chance to ask any of the other family members there what they thought but all 12 were gone. Woo Hoo!! 

If these cupcakes sound delicious to you and you want to make them click the affiliate links below and add Georgetown Cupcakes book to your cook book collection.  I make a small profit from the affiliate link and use that money to buy more cupcake ingredients :D 

Red White and Blueberry Cupcakes

Red White and Blueberry Cupcakes 

Baking cupcakes is something I enjoy doing.  I have no formal training, unless you count that Home Ec class I took in high-school, or was it Jr. High?   I can't walk into the kitchen and whip up cupcakes without a recipe.  As much as my man thinks I should be on Cupcake Wars , I couldn't do it.  I can and I do tweak cupcake recipes and when I find a cupcake that sounds delicious at a bakery I can't get to, I can combine recipes to recreate it. But I can't bake from scratch with no recipe. 

This is just what I did with The White Rabbit Bakery July seasonal flavor, Red, White and Blueberry. Their cupcake is a vanilla cake with blueberries baked into the batter. Topped with vanilla buttercream and strawberry compote. 

I tweaked their seasonal flavor a little.  I made vanilla cake mix and loaded it with blueberries.  I like A LOT of berries in my cake batter, I always add more than what the recipes call for.  I like people to get berries in every bite and it makes the cupcakes healthy right ;) 

While the cupcakes cooled I made the strawberry compote.  White Rabbit Bakery 's description sounds like the strawberry compote is mixed into the buttercream frosting. I used the compote as a filling.  So each bite of the cupcake you got blueberries and strawberries.  I then topped the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  

Besides enjoying baking and eating the cupcakes, I love the reaction I get from my friends when I tell them about the cupcakes I baked.  They always ask me to bring them into work.  The day I had made these red, white and blueberry cupcakes my friend came by the house for a visit.  I described the cupcakes and asked her if she wanted one and she immediately said, YES please! 

Every time I bring cupcakes to work that I baked my co-workers tell me I need to sell them.  I even had a friend ask me out of the blue one day, "Do you think you would enjoy baking every day?" When I asked her why she wouldn't elaborate but I could tell from the look on her face there was more to her question than she was letting on. 

I don't think I'd enjoy baking every thing, but I would enjoy baking cupcakes.  Maybe when I'm done with my day job I'll open Fizzy Party's Cupcakes.  I'd be a home baker. I wouldn't want a brick and mortar shop. I'd offer weekly or maybe monthly flavors.  Probably weekly because there's so many flavors I want to bake.  I'd only offer cupcakes, no cakes. 

Yep, I've kind of put some thought into it.  The idea is in the back of my brain, just in case I ever decide to pursue it. 

If these cupcakes sounded good to you, check out last month's seasonal flavor from White Rabbit Bakery that I recreated.  Raspberry Lemonade. 

Sunday Brunch

The Hydrangeas were a perfect backdrop to a Sunday brunch with friends. My friend Carole had us over for some delicious food and great conversation. How fun to be Going to a party instead of hosting. Now if I can just talk more of my friends into doing this, hint hint

Carole is a good cook so I was looking forward to this brunch. She made us baked french toast with pecans and this delicious crust less quiche. Spinach, eggs and dripping with extra cheese. I need to make me one of these.  No quiche pan? Do what Carole did and use a pie dish. 

With watermelon in season Carole served hers up with in season blueberries. Fresh fruit for brunch is a must!

I too brought watermelon but gourmet'd mine up. I added feta cheese and drizzled it with a balsamic reduction. I got all fancy. My friends loved it! They had never had watermelon this way. 

Thank you to my friend TheMistressT of Bubble Off Plumb for introducing me to this fancied up watermelon. 

Now go invite some friends to brunch before summer comes to an end and you can't dine outside anymore.