TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

My dad and sister came to visit this past weekend. I was pretty darned excited, especially since I hadn't seen them since the wedding, Rach hadn't been to Chapel Hill yet, and OH! We had tickets to a UNC basketball game. Have I mentioned that I am beyond thrilled to again be in an area where people appreciate basketball as probably the best sport ever? Yeah. Wisconsin, you need to get on that if you ever want me to come back. We also got to introduce Dad, Rach, and her boyfriend to Annabelle, who (of course) won them over nearly immediately with the chirping, cuddling, and gallumphing through the apartment that she does. Which brings me to another habit that she has - she will flop down in the middle of the floor, roll onto her back, pull her front paws up by her face and splay her back legs out wide. It's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, and I have no photo proof because I'm too busy laughing every time she does it. Yeah, I know. I'm sure that I'm emotionally scarring this cat, but I'm going to counter that with the fact that she started it.

 
So what else did we do to prepare for the familial visit? Well, the obvious cleaning, which wasn't too bad given the mega cleaning that occurred pre-Super Bowl party (thank goodness, since one guest was mildly allergic to cats...). Aannnd... dinner prep. Yes, we are the family that eats together. While eating one meal, we're discussing at least the next one, if not the next few. We call each other for dinner ideas. My favorite part of Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving is the few days before, while we plan out our menu, and the day of, when we each have our individual tasks and merrily share the kitchen the whole day. So obviously I had to have things prepared. And while my lack of confidence in a croissant recipe (hello butter overflow each time I've made them before...) led to the purchase of a dozen unbaked croissants from the local bakery, I knew that I could do better than that. So we brainstormed and decided that Saturday's dinner needed to involve dumplings, buns, and various other filled and cooked things. Well, originally we were going to do steamed buns and that was that, but somehow that morphed into veggie potstickers, pork-scallion steamed buns, potato samosas, and red bean buns. Full batches of each. Because excess? We do not know the meaning of it!

And these scones were a perfect addition to the croissant breakfast the morning after that dinner of excess. They're very mildly sweet, which I like in a scone, although they definitely don't beat Dorie's cream scones - those are my go-to scones. What did we do after all this excessive food consumption? We went on a run together. Because none of us really want to die early.

Last Week: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops
Next Week: Chocolate Pots de Creme