To go with the rest of the soup for Sunday dinner, I decided to try baking the recipe for Classic Scones that appeared in the May 2004 issue of Bon Appetit (p.90). These are a Scottish scone which only calls for 1 Tbs. of oil and no butter. I have written about it in the thread where I first asked about it: British vs. American Self-Rising Flour. These are delicious, and I will do more experimenting with the recipe.

Hi, Skeptic--it's good to see you posting again. I had two of the scones at lunch. I warmed each up, wrapped in waxed paper for 40 seconds, and they were almost as good as fresh. I did have some jam on one. If you are interested, I'll post the recipe as I've developed it so far. I hope to try a whole wheat pastry flour version. I like the sweet taste that the barley gives these scones. The recipe uses only 1 Tbs. sugar, and it made eight.

On Tuesday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I’ll bake it at the end of the week or early next week.

I'll post it later today, Skeptic. They remind me a bit of biscuits.

I use 1/3 cup canola (or sometimes olive oil) in place of butter. Of course that does not work for every recipe. (I've had to give up a lot of cookies and shortbread.) Butter is a big one, since a single tablespoon contains 7 g saturated fat, and most women should limit themselves to 11g per day. I try to make sure that the saturated fat that I do consume includes some healthy fats. Canola oil has 1 g saturated fat per Tablespoon, and olive oil has 2 g, but both contain other healthy fats. Ditto with eggs.

For cheese, I stick with small portions of 2% pre-grated cheese (I can't get it ungrated where I live) or low-fat mozzarella (no more than 3g per oz.). Some low-fat mozzarella cheese sticks are 1.5g saturated fat, and they do give a nice calcium boost, so I include those as snacks. I drink 1% milk. While I use about 3/4 cup whole milk when making yogurt, it gets combined with 1% milk and some milk powder, so the saturated fat remains low, and I do need the dietary calcium.

I still use some butter--in streusel toppings, but I usually halve the streusel and keep the butter to a minimum.

We do not eat much beef, and we stick with less fatty pork. We eat a lot of chicken, as well as tuna and salmon. I cook my chicken on a rack and pour off the fat and do not eat the skin. (I do however roast whole chickens on potatoes and carrots, so some fat is included there.) I try to incorporate more beans, but my husband and most beans do not get along, so I do most of those recipes for myself for lunch. We do a lot of lean ground turkey, which I try to pair with ingredients that will make it not so bland.

I eat steel-cut oats for breakfast almost every morning. My cholesterol was 25 points lower last year (and that was with having eaten breakfast). I'm curious as to what it will be at my next doctor's visit.

Chocomouse--I usually use just half whole wheat pastry flour when I substitute it into a recipe. The same is true for barley flour. They give a more tender result, but alone I do not think that they have the structure to hold the final scone together.

On Wednesday, I baked a version of the KAF recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bars—the one made in the food processor. I changed it by using 5.9 oz. zucchini, reducing the brown sugar from 1 to ¾ cup, reducing the oil from 1/3 to ¼ cup with buttermilk added to make it 1/3 cup. I used the white whole wheat flour option. I replaced the 2 cups of chocolate chips with about 1/3 cup (60g) cinnamon chips (I still have a substantial stash in the refrigerator.), and I added 1 tsp. cinnamon and deleted the vanilla. I baked them in a glass 13x9 inch dish on the third rack up in my oven for 28 minutes. I am avoiding acidic ingredients in my USA pans. They seem to do ok with items that are removed immediately but the finish seems to suffer when the baked item is stored in them.

Skeptic--I've now posted the recipe as "Scottish Style Scones (Barley)". At some point, I will likely try it with whole wheat pastry flour, and if successful, also post that version.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do your pumpkin biscotti recipe!