How Orange Scones Taught me to Persevere

​God whispers life’s lessons to me when I cook. 

I was making one of my now favorite recipes for scones. The first time I made the scones, I was a little nervous.  I’m a great cook, but I don’t do a lot of baking. I got to the part where you grate frozen butter in and mix it together with the flour mixture until it looks like “coarse meal”.  Ok, that was easy. I was feeling good about this recipe. I was enjoying the aroma of fresh oranges, and looking forward to re-experiencing its deliciousness, while I added the sour cream and egg to the flour mixture.  The recipe instructed me to use a fork to mix “until large dough clumps form”.  Uh oh. It didn’t seem to be working, so I got my hands in there and OH BOY, WHAT A MESS!  I had a bunch of little clumps sticking to my hands and I just couldn’t see how this was going to work out as planned.  Thankfully, the recipe stated the dough will be sticky, “but as you press, the dough will come together”. So I trusted the recipe and kept pressing the mess (I could not call it dough at that point) against the bowl. Low and behold, with perseverance, it magically came together to form a beautiful and fragrant ball of dough! I was relieved and elated!

Other little “support messages” I gleaned from this recipe was to:

•  Listen to experience. The recipe represents someone who has been through what we are going through; someone who has been in the mess, and knows it will work out. We can learn from others’ experience by reading books, listening to podcasts and other inspirational material. We also have access to a wealth of wisdom and guidance in the people we surround ourselves with - friends, teachers, family members. Listen to their stories. Ask your aging parents, or grandparents to tell you about some hard times they went through and how it all worked out.
• Trust and have faith in yourself and the recipe. I could have doubted the recipe and given up when I was in the worst mess. I trusted it would work out, even though I didn’t understand or know how it would.
• Expect the unexpected. This helps you to keep calm and enjoy the process.
• Envision the desired outcome. Seeing the beautifully baked scones completed really does help to make the process and the end product more delicious.

Have you had a similar experience with a recipe?  I’d love to hear about it. 

The link for the short recipe video  is below. Enjoy!

Watch Here