Breakfast with the babies' mothers

Two of my friends from work are pregnant and we were trying to find a date to get together one last time before one of them has her baby. We found a date surprisingly easily (often it seems to take about 13 emails before we can decide on a time and date). It's so much fun to catch up with the happenings in friends' lives, especially during big life changes like having babies!  Even though scheduling can be a nightmare, I think it is always worth it to make people a priority. A Saturday morning seemed to work well, and the nice thing about hosting pregnant women is that they are generally so hungry that they eat about anything!

The menu: fresh fruit, ham and cheese quiche, pumpkin scones and cranberry orange scones. I really didn't need two kinds of scones, but they both sounded so good, I decided to just do both. My oven didn't seem to be working quite right (possibly due to my disassembly and reassembly of it the other night) and the quiche didn't cook how I expected it to, but at least I didn't lock it inside as I did with my dinner and dessert a few nights ago.  I had some whipped cream (my version of clotted cream) to have with the scones, although I confused my guests with the cream. They weren't familiar with eating a scone with cream. (So now they're educated!)  I hadn't made these scones before, but my favorite was the cranberry orange.  I expected to like the pumpkin one more, considering my Fall pumpkin obsession. Scones are good even without the cream, and are a nice part of a  breakfast menu,  good for a treat with tea or coffee, and the leftovers (if there are any) are great to enjoy on your way out the door in the morning. The cranberry orange scones are a nice treat for the Christmas holidays because cranberry is just so holidayish. Scones don't have to be warm to be enjoyed ( although I do prefer them that way). I may take this recipe along to my mom's at Christmas and whip these up for the fam one day during the holidays.

It's been a great weekend of fun and food with friends. Although hospitality can take some planning and effort, it is always worth it! And the next time I see my one pregnant friend, I will most likely be visiting her at the hospital after she's had the baby. And yes, of course, I will have treats in hand.

Christmas Cranberry Orange Scone ( pictured on dessert-sized plate)

Christmas Cranberry Orange Scones
makes 8

2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 T flour, divided
1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 t orange zest
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries (Craisins)

1 egg yolk, beaten
2 T milk
1 T sugar

Preheat oven to 400.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest with electric mixer. Add the cold butter and mix at low speed until the butter is the size of peas. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and cream and then slowly add to flour mixture. Mix only until blended. (Dough will be lumpy) Toss dried cranberries with 2 T flour and add to dough, mixing only until blended.

On a floured surface, with floured hands, form the dough into two equal balls. Flatten out the balls until they are about 1 inch thick and resemble disks. Cut each disk  into 4 wedges (you could do 6 wedges if you want them smaller). Mix together the egg yolk and milk to make an egg wash, and brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 15-20 min. Scones will be firm to the touch. Enjoy!