Apr 23, 2019, Updated Sep 11, 2024
Flaky buttermilk scones studded with juicy bites of fresh mango and gooey white chocolate. Um, YES PLEASE. Serve them hot from the oven slathered with cream cheese or mascarpone for an ultimate breakfast or coffee-break treat. Arguably the best part of this recipe is the bits of white chocolate on top that meet the oven’s direct heat. The flavour of caramelized white chocolate is like caramel and toasted marshmallow and creamy white chocolate all in one, except better. It pairs so well with slightly tart fruit like mango or strawberries (if you love mango desserts, try my Mango Kulfi recipe!). This post is in partnership with Better Together BC for their annual Hands-on Cook-0ff Contest. Families are invited to participate in a video challenge that aims to inspire kids, teens, and adults to cook together and reap the valuable benefits of sharing meals.
Breakfast is a major rush hour for us. I’m usually hopping around with one pant leg on and a toothbrush jammed in my cheek while trying to stuff lunchboxes and cobble together a few bites of morning nourishment. (I’m fully expecting that one day they’ll find a tube of Colgate in their sandwich box and I’ll find a ham and cheese in my bathroom drawer.) I’m pretty good at dinner planning, but brekkie tends to broach on panic. It might be because my kids CRUSH all the breakfast foods like starving bears. Theo had a play date last week and his friend’s brother and the brother’s friend joined for a total of five kids including my little Ev. They ate a whole full-sized watermelon, an entire box of strawberries and a whole loaf of bread. For SNACK. Later that week, after scrambling through empty cupboards and coming up with frozen spinach wraps and peanut-free peanut butter to offer at 7am (I pushed plates toward them skeptically but they happily ate it), I decided to do some advance prep and save my sanity. I had my little guy Everett, who’s three, help me make mango scones one afternoon this week so we could have them for a special breakfast the next day.
Cooking and eating together is so good for families on so many levels. When kids have a hand in meals (at any point from shopping, or growing, to planning and actually cooking), they are far more likely to eat the food on their plates. It gives them a sense of control and involvement and pleasure to have been part of it. Also, most of getting kids to eat new foods is simply modelling behaviours. Passively witnessing their parents and siblings enjoy salads and exotic flavours is infinitely more effective at getting kids to eat vegetables, etc. than insisting, bargaining for dessert, or threatening. Even if kids are picky eaters. If you loosen up and let them make decisions while simply enjoying your own food, you’ll be surprised at how quickly they come around. Cooking and eating together are also linked to better grades, physical and emotional health and better social adaptability. (I am a registered dietitian by training, and while I no longer do counselling, this is the area of nutrition education where I still feel the most passionate. I can share more on getting kids to eat well if there’s interest!)
I obviously have room to improve on morning frenzy, but we do (by sheer determination) manage to sit down together for most weekday breakfasts and dinners. I know it’s not easy when kids are little. There are seasons with babies and young toddlers when it’s not possible and that’s ok. No guilt, mamas. But even when kids are throwing tantrums and refusing to eat and spilling milk, it’s still such a good habit to attempt with determination, and will create lifelong connection and (eventually positive!) memories. Everett loves cooking with mama. He’s had actual knife skills since he was two. (I taught him to do it properly because there was a 99% chance he’d come across a knife and lose a finger.) With baking, he tends to make an impressive mess, but equally enjoys vacuuming up after himself when he’s done. Double life skills? Don’t have buttermilk handy? Try one of these quick and easy buttermilk substitutes.
