The essential mid-morning snack

A Mid Morning Snack is a substantial snack I pack to eat in the car shortly before arriving at a trailhead.  It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that a day of skiing, hiking or climbing was so much more fun if I wasn't hungry when I arrived, and I make better time if I can go for awhile without a lunch or snack stop.

Some favorite mid morning snacks are: scones, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, other yummy baked goods. Sandwiches work to, or anything you can eat easily in the car.

Whole grains and protein give me more energy during the entire day.  Although the occasional donut is very enjoyable.

When we lived in Seattle, Ryan and I would stop for scones and coffee on our way out of town.  Now we don't really have that option, so we make our own.  I usually substitute some or all of the flour in a recipe with whole wheat flour.  Adding nuts and seeds ups the protein, and in some things I use less sugar than the recipe calls for.

Here's our favorite recipe for scones modified from allrecipe.com Simple Scones.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tablespoons frozen butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg
Nuts, dried fruit, etc. if you like extras

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Grate butter into flour mixture.  Use your fingers to work in butter.  Mix in fruit/nuts.  Don't mix in too much, you want to keep the butter cold so your scones will be a nice texture.  The mixture will look like peas and coarse meal.

In a different bowl mix together sour cream and egg until smooth.

Use a fork to stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form.  Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball.  It will seem dry, but keep pressing and the dough should come together.  If it doesn't, a little extra sour cream can help.

Place dough ball on a lightly floured surface and shape into a circle about 3/4 inch thick.  My dough usually gets a little crumbly, and I just pat the extra stuff into the top of the circle.  You can sprinkle sugar on top.

Cut the dough circle into triangles, I end up with 8.

Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes.  I like to eat mine with butter and honey when they're warm, but also great plain when I'm in the car.