Late Summer Sounds at Chesterwood with The Salisbury Four and Vegan Raspberry Spelt Scones!

What a pleasure it was to perform a concert at the end of August with my group, The Salisbury Four at Chesterwood, located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. For many years we have presented an annual Holiday concert for the Salisbury Association in Salisbury, Connecticut.

Chesterwood was the home, studio and gardens of America’s foremost public monument sculptor Daniel Chester French who lived from 1850-1931. French is most famous as the sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial. The concert was held in the artist’s spacious studio that had high vaulted ceilings It was thrilling to sit next to studies of Lincoln’s hands and of the Lincoln sculpture!

The studio opens up onto a lovely peaceful garden and the large wrap around porch overlooks Monument Mountain in Great Barrington, Massachusetts!

Our repertoire for lute, recorder, voices, historical harp and Baroque dance has expanded to include a new summer themed program; with our recent concert titled: “Fortune, Love and Time”. We are so fortunate that one of our singers, Zahra Brown, is also a gifted dancer and is a specialist in Baroque dance. Enjoy this short video of our warmup rehearsal!

The other Salisbury Four members are all food lovers and are talented cooks and bakers. When we rehearse at our singer and harpist Marcia Young’s apartment, she always has a wide assortment of unusual teas at the ready and often a freshly baked goody such as a lemon drizzle cake. Another person once brought a rich chocolate babka.

I often make spelt raspberry scones that are super easy to make with a nutty delicious flavor and they also happen be healthy! I planned to bring a plate to the concert and our lutenist Christopher Morrongiello mentioned that he was thinking about the scones a bit obsessively on his long ride up from Long Island!

I have been using this vegan recipe for spelt scones from Erin McKennas’s Baby Cakes cookbook for several years; the dough for the scones, without the sweeteners also make a great topping for either savory potpies or fruit cobblers. I substitute coconut sugar for the agave syrup used in the original recipe.

Spelt Raspberry Scones

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup whole grain spelt flour

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup hot water

To Make Scones:

In a large bowl, combine flours, salt, cinnamon baking powder. Mix well.

Add oil, vanilla and hot water, stir to combine and knead mixture gently a few times with your hands. Lightly stir in raspberries. You could also use blueberries or add chopped walnuts.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pat dough into 10-12 mounds.

Bake aprox. 12-15 minutes until light brown.

ENJOY!

AND: Here is the “Tree of the Week”!

HAPPY FALL!!