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Joan Friedman (MA, from NY)'s avatar

Sound yummy. For the dairy-challenged, please, what is a good substitute for the heavy cream?

As for walls: a friend of mine raises lizards, so now her house walls are inhabited by crickets.

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

I was going to say coconut cream too. But Marina's advice about whirring up cashews is good too.

As for the crickets in the walls, I think this story has scarred me. LOL.

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Marina's avatar

After a completely non-dairy year, I found that it was only cow-related dairy that bothered me. As I mentioned in my own comment, I made biscuits this morning using goat's milk yogurt, which were wonderful. If all dairy bothers you, try coconut cream as a cream substitute. It lives in cans in the Asian food aisle of the supermarket. My hubs is allergic to coconut, so I sometimes soak raw cashews in boiling water, and whir them in a high speed blender, with their soaking liquid, as a cream analog. This thickens when boiled, so it's tricky to use in sauces.

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Joan Friedman (MA, from NY)'s avatar

I made them just now with coconut cream, added some cardamon, substituted pecans and cashews for the white chocolate; used maple syrup with a dusting of cinnamon for a topping before baking. Delicious!

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

So glad to get the feedback. And that you liked them and all the changes worked.

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Eliza's avatar

We noticed we hadn’t seen our cats in a couple hours. We were having work done on the house and that day new dry wall was going up. Our cats hid from the men doing the work inside the walls. There was a small space above the basement doorjamb where we found 2 very sad cats looking at us. We built a Rube Goldberg contraption of step stools and boards to lure them out.

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

OH! Poor kittens. But at least they had clever owners who could build fun contraptions.

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Patricia Jaeger's avatar

I'm a tea drinker (no coffee) and I absolutely love scones. One night, at about 3 am, 3 baby squirrels fell down the chimney in my bedroom (home was in the woods) and began an exhausting run around my home. It took me more than an hour as I trapped them one at a time in a small bathroom, closed the door, got it into a trash can and put a plate on top. Two went out the front door but as I opened the front door to toss out number 3 my cats were on my porch and I swear they were licking their chops. I ran to the back door but the cats figured that out and were waiting. By this time I decided that the squirrel had rested in the trash can and could run for it, which it did. I did not discover any squirrel body parts so I assumed they all made it. The next day I hired someone to come and put a cap on that chimney.

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Marina's avatar

There was a giant aviary in my old house in Los Angeles, built for housing homing pigeons. We only used it for long-term storage, since we didn't keep pigeons. After we moved out, but before we sold the house, we had to call a beekeeper to remove the beehive that bees built in the walls.

This morning, I made biscuits, notable because I used ranch dressing I had made with goat's milk yogurt for the milk component. They were scrumptious.

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Teri Gelini's avatar

Love your recipes and stories

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

Thank you! That means so much to me!

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Cassandra Leigh's avatar

I love scones!! I like the plain ones the best (made with either cream or butter) with some jam.💗

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

Mmmm. You can easily leave all the bits and pieces out of this recipe and arrive at a lovely, plain scone worthy of your best jam.

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E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Your husband, Mark, must be worshipping you at this point, Marissa!

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Lily's avatar

A porcupine lived under our kitchen floor last winter.

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Miriam's avatar

I feel like a chipmunk is the absolute cutest thing you can find in your wall.

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Cindy Stain's avatar

I want to make a maple oat scone with pecans. Trying to figure it out.

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

I just bought more cream and am tempted by this challenge.

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Jan's avatar

I made the scones and they’re both wonderful and easy! I used frozen blueberries which made everything blue.

We had a squirrel in our chimney and our dog was the one to let us know-- it was removed with a have a heart trap and a chimney cap quickly followed.

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Jos1463's avatar

Oh yeah. If there’s a squirrel anywhere in our yard, our dog will not leave the tree until she’s put to bed for the night. The poor thing has to learn to make a break for it in darkness 😂

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Valerie Monroe's avatar

What a scone-persuasive recipe! I didn't think I much liked scones (too dry, as reader below notes), but this is like, I don't like loafers, but you showed me a pair of loafers that are so great I can't resist. xo

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Dianne Harper's avatar

Yay!! Scones! I lost my favorite recipe years ago, can't wait to make these. You are a gift!

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Jos1463's avatar

When you said you were using heavy cream in your scones I thought you might have been using the famous “lemonade scone” recipe from Australia. I’ll have to try this version! Say hi to the chipmunk 🐿

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

I do not know of this famous "lemonade scone." go on!

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Jos1463's avatar

Here you go. From the iconic Australian magazine, Woman’s Weekly. And by “lemonade” we mean Sprite or 7-up (actually we mean Schweppes Lemonade 😁). Or you can add a ginger zing and use Ginger Ale https://www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipes/lemonade-scones-20352

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

that's a genius recipe. I might try it when I go to the UK later this summer and can get my hands on some real Schweppes lemonade!

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Graham Margaret's avatar

My daughter cannot have eggs so this will be a great addition to our collection. On holiday this week but will probably make them without the chips white or otherwise when we get home

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Sharon's avatar

I keep trying to like scones, but they are always too dry for me. But I'll try! Once more unto the breech! 😊

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Lily's avatar

Scones! Did you ask Reniero why the long face? 😜

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Marissa Rothkopf's avatar

Couldn't. He is hoarse

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Jos1463's avatar

That’s terrible 😂😂😂

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Lily's avatar

Oh well done!

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