Geek Feast

There’s a common theme in many bestselling novels. There are libraries full of books that claim to have the answer to make readers buy your story. Romance, action, adventure. Kill off your characters, draw out the plot lines! But I’m not here to talk about any of those. No, no. From the studious hallways of Hogwarts to the wooden floors of Bag End; there is but one thing to make our stomachs rumble.

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Food!

Many of my favorite books at some point go on random rants about one type of food or another. Hogwarts has its Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s jelly beans. Narnia has Turkish Delights and the train to the Capitol was filled to the brim with rich foods that Katniss and Peeta had never seen before. The point is, our heroes have to eat.

I have been given a great opportunity to join with some of my Realm Makers alumni and be part of a blog hop. This blog series is called the Geek Feast, and we’ll all be talking about food in our favorite books and sharing various recipes. There are prizes to be won, people! I leapt at the opportunity because, let’s face it, I love food.

The series that began my love for culinary delights in fiction started with one of my all-time favorite book series: Redwall. A story covering hundreds of years and miles of land and sea, Redwall is a story of action and adventure told through the anthropomorphic field mice, moles, badgers and hares that populated her world.

The series focused on an abbey that was a safe haven for good creature-folk. A shelter from the rough world, where you could warm your paws and fill your belly. It was within the walls of Redwall Abbey that I discovered a world of rich foods that not only fed her protectees, but provided a place for community, family and entertainment.

It is out of that love for bringing people together that I give you a recipe for some Cellarkeeper approved:

Blueberry Scones

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Ingredients:

1 cup of blueberries

2 1/2 cups flour

5 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 stick of butter

2/3 cup milk

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I started off as my recipe explains by grabbing a snack (Double chocolate covered peanuts), and turned the oven to 425 degrees.

In a medium sized glass bowl, I mixed my dry ingredients:

 

 

 

 

Once I gave them a good tossing with a wire whisk, I chopped up my butter and used a fork to blend the butter until my mixture was sufficiently crumbly. I’m sure pastry chefs around the world were crying out in terror, but this was my first time making scones.

 

 

 

 

Once I was satisfied with the clingy texture, I added my blueberries and gently folded them into the dough.

I floured up my work space and by hand, pressed the dough from which I carved my triangular scones. I greased up a cookie sheet pan and evenly placed the flat white pastries. The recipe calls for another sprinkling of sugar on top of the scones at this point.

 

 

I placed my pan in the 425 degree oven for the allotted 11-15 minutes (or until golden brown) and you know what came out? Yummy looking blueberry scones! I’m surprised the Eulalia brigade didn’t come storming in!

 

 

 

I was unsure of my baking skills during this cooking challenge, however, the final product turned out to be quite the winner! I topped my scones with some official Downtown Abbey lemon curd that we had, which added a nice zing to their sweetness.

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Overall, this was a great experience! I had a fun time experimenting and stretching my culinary skills. In honor of the Geek Feast, I’m doing my first every giveaway!

I’m giving away the first book in the series, Redwall, by Brian Jacques. If you’re not familiar with this series, then you’re missing out!

{edit} I’ve been having problems with getting rafflecopter to work for me while on the road, so here’s how to enter:

1: Leave a comment below! You can just say, “Hi”, or tell me what your favorite snack is while reading or writing.

2: I’ll give you an extra entry if you subscribe to my newsletter. You can find the link on my side bar or just click here.

I’ll enter the names in a random generator, and will contact the winner by email or by replying to your comment here. Good luck, everyone! – Contest is over. Winner announced soon! – Congratulations to Ruth of Kirksville, Mo!

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Since this post is a blog hop, please, please go visit the other bloggers and check out their recipes and posts! These are some amazing people and I know their stuff is going to be amazing! They will also be running giveaways so check them all out to get your maximum item-winning-awesomeness on!

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Blog Participants:

Monday:

• J.L. Mbewe – Main Geek Feast Post
• Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Tuesday:

• H.A. Titus
• Aaron DeMott

Wednesday

• Christina Maloney
• Janeen Ippolito