Friday, May 02, 2008

Scones

Some of you asked for the recipe I used to make scones the other day. I'm happy to oblige! It all started last fall when friends of ours brought us two pots of Cornish clotted cream from England and a couple of boxes of scone mix.

Home made scones from December 2007.

I made scones from the mix and they were good, but we still had cream left over so I decided to try my hand at scones from scratch. It's pretty easy, and the results were, as expected, much tastier than the boxed mix. But if it hadn't been for that mix, I never would have tried! So here we go:

Preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF).

In a large bowl, thoroughly blend:

280 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

10 g (2 tsp) baking powder

one pinch (1/8 tsp) salt


Cut into small pieces and cut into the flour mixture:

75 g (1/3 cup) cold unsalted butter

This can be done in the food processor by pulsing the chunks of cold butter in the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Don't over process!

In a small bowl, combine:

120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream or milk (or a blend)
1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract


Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and combine to form a rough dough. Do not over-mix it! If you like, you can also add:

currants or raisins or dried cranberries
at this point.

Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface so that it just comes together. Roll it into a circle relatively thick (about 2.5 cm or an inch). Cut the circle into 8 triangular sections and place them on a cookie sheet that's been lined with parchment paper or Silpat.

Glaze the tops of the scones with a mixture of:

1 egg, beaten
1 tblsp milk


Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove to a rack and allow to cool.

9 comments:

  1. I've never had scones before, so I'll try your recipe when I'm back in SC. But I'm sure they probably won't be as good as yours look to be.

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  2. "Nothing to it!", said she, bravely opening her food cupboard. "Flour...flour... Do I have flour?"

    Of course, I do. Miracle! I have everything, even some raisins. Tomorrow, Saturday, I'll do the scones. Will not, I repeat, will not compare the result with your picture.

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  3. Merci, Walt!

    My Irish grandmother made wonderful scones, can't wait to try your recipe.


    BettyAnn

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  4. chm, maybe we'll have some when you visit?

    claudia, bon courage!

    bettyann, I'll bet mine are not as good as the Irish grandmother version.

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  5. That's a deal!

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  6. Walt, I LOVE your posts... this scone one is great. I've been having fun wading through your archives, since I ran into Ken's blog, and found yours. Yumm!

    Judith

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  7. judith, thanks! Great to hear from you. Be sure to let us know the next time you'll be in France.

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  8. I just love scones. One of my favourite things when I go to the UK is cream tea: tea, scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. Yummy!

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  9. There is a newish place in Toulouse called something like Blah Blah blah Tea House, Lost in France- what is the place on Place St George?

    Anyway they have simple food that reminds me terribly of CA, in a good way. You get the menu and it is a tart with a salad, a scone with a salad, and soemthing else with a salad, I feel focus slipping away.

    Anyway if you choose the scone option you get 2 good sized scones but they are savory. Not just dusted with some cheese but sun dried tomato rosemary and camembert or some such thing. It was a very different scone experience.

    After living in Philadelphia the previous 5 years and eating the crappiest scones you can imagine, I had sworn them off. Your recipe and this resto have brought them back into my life. Tomorrow morning, scones are coming.

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