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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Scones. Sort by date Show all posts
Maritime Biscuits. These delicious quick breads are not cookies. The British are very fond of calling their cookies biscuits. These delicious quick breads are not scones.
These delicious quick breads are biscuits in every sense of the North American definition of Biscuit. They are a quick bread, meant to be enjoyed as a savoury part/side dish of a meal.
But they are also quite different even when you are talking about North American Biscuits, because these biscuits contain yeast. Not just soda and or baking powder.
These particular biscuits are very particular to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Those beautiful provinces anchored on the East Coast of my beautiful homeland, consisting of four provinces.
Newfoundland, an Island where my parents got married, also loving know as "The Rock." Nova Scotia, where I say I am from. A peninsula anchored by the Isthmus of Chebucto to mainland Canada.
New Brunwswick, the part of Canada tha Nova Scotia is anchored to, and Prince Edward Island. Island of my birth and home to Lucy Maude Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.
That is the Maritimes in a nutshell and what I consider to be my home. No matter how far away from them I travel, or how long I am away, I consider myself a Maritimer at heart.
These Biscuits may be known by a variety of names. Angel Biscuits is one. French Biscuits is another.
My ex In-Laws lived on Prince Edward Island and we spent several weeks there in the summer months. The community they lived in, Saint Eleanors, at that time was largely populated with retired Military folk.
My FIL had been a cook in the airforce. Both he and my MIL had been born and bred on the Island so it was quite natural for them to want to return there upon retirement, to spend their golden years.
There was an old guy and his wife that lived directly across from them. The Kenny's, also an armforced retiree couple. They had Acadia ancestry, or at least Mrs. Kenny did.
Every summer when we arrived we could almost rely that within the first 24 hours Mrs Kenny would be sending over a bag of freshly baked French Biscuits as she called them, or Maritime Biscuits as is their proper name.
We
were always thrilled to get them and most grateful. I used to visit
Mrs Kenny a couple of times during our visit to the Island. She was a
very short and stout woman with silver hair, a great sense of humour
and a heart of gold.
Mr Kenny was also kind and quite a character! One summer my children had picked strawberries and my FIL had sent them up at a small table at the end of the driveway so they could earn a bit of spending money selling them to the neighbours.
Mr Kenny bought several boxes of them and them gave them back to the children so they could sell them all over again. That was just his way. Kind, kind . . .
Skunks used to be a huge problem on the Island. They probably still are. I remember one year Mr Kenny had made a skunk trap for his front yard, with every intention of putting waste to whatever skunk he captured.
It became somewhat of a joke amongst the male retirees, this skunk trap. Every morning Mr Kenny would inspect his trap and come up empty.
So one night the other retired fellows decided they would stick a stuffed teddy bear in the trap to get a rise out of him. Sure enough, next morning with all of the excitement he could muster, Mr Kenny put laid waste to . . . the teddy bear.
Filled that teddy bear full of buckshot he did. It was the talk of the neighborhood for years and years. Oh but they didn't all get half get bit of a rise out of that one! I don't think he was ever able to live it down. He was destined to be Claude, teddy bear killer for year and years. Good times!
One day I came across this recipe in a community cookbook for Maritime Biscuits. They sounded like to be exactly the same as the ones Mrs Kenny made.
I had to write the recipe down. It went into my Big Blue Binder, like all the good recipes do. And I have been enjoying them ever since.
They have a beautiful flaky texture, like any good biscuit, and a nice rise. But they rise a bit like a dinner roll would.
Not precisely up, and somewhat out. They are lovely and light as air. As light as an angel's wings some might say!
The dough can be somewhat sticky. Try hard not to knead too much flour back into them when you are patting them out ready to cut. Just be generous with the flour on the bottom and somewhat generous with the flour on top.
I dip my cutter into flour with every biscuit I cut so that it doesn't stick. I use a 3 inch round sharp cutter,straight edged.
Like any biscuit, do not twist them as you are cutting them. A strong, straight up and down cut will do the trick. You will need a spatula to lift them onto the baking sheet.
Do leave plenty of space between them for them to spread and rise. Unless you are not bothered by soft sided biscuits. We like our sides crisp, like our bacon.
If there is one downside to these biscuits it would have to be that they really are best eaten on the day. It is the same with any bread that contains yeast.
You can however, nicely refresh them the next day in a slow oven. You can also freeze them, properly wrapped for several months if need be.
These are wonderful served warm, not long out of the oven. Lovely with cold butter and preserves, or even peanut butter.
They are fantastic served with soups or salads. They are also fantastic served with thick stews that have plenty of gravy to be mopped up. These biscuits are perfect at mopping up.
To be honest, I enjoy them with anything and everything. Yes, I am a carboholic. Through and through.
Don't be tempted to use butter in place of the shortening. I have never seen or tasted these made with anything else, except perhaps lard, which is what they would have used in the early pioneer days.
They would have also enjoyed them spread with butter and drizzled with sticky sweet molasses. Back home in the Maritimes the molasses jug holds pride of place on the dinner table.
Every meal, every day, every week of the year. Its just the way we're made.
Maritime Biscuits
Yield: 12 Large Biscuits (3-inch)
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 20 Mininactive time: 10 Mintotal time: 45 Min
These lovely light puffs of air are a cross between a dinner roll and a baking powder biscuit! Delicious!
Ingredients:
For the yeast sponge:
- 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1 TBS regular yeast
For the Biscuits:
- 2 1/2 cups flour (350g) plain all purpose flour
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (110g) vegetable shortening
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Mix the sugar, warm water and yeast together in a cup and leave to dissolve until foamy and double in size.
- Warm the buttermilk slightly to lukewarm.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the soda and baking powder. Stir in the salt and sugar. Drop in the shortening and cut it in using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, with some larger bits and more smaller bits.
- Add the yeast mixture to the warm buttermilk and then add this all at once to the flour mixture. Mix well and turn out onto a generously floured board. Knead lightly for a couple of turns. Pat out to a round about 1 inch in thickness.
- Using a sharp 3 inch cutter, stamp out rounds and place them well spaced apart on the baking sheets. Re pat and cut the scraps until you have used all the dough, again placing them well spaced on the baking sheets.
- Leave to rise for about 10 minutes.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minute to 20 minutes until golden brown on tops and bottoms and well risen. Lift off to cool on a wire cooling rack.
- Delicious served warm with cold butter and honey or jam.
Look at that lovely texture. A true cross between a biscuit and a bread. Beautiful.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
I am a lover of quick breads . . . scones, tea loaves, baking powder biscuits, muffins, corn bread, etc. I just love them. One of the reasons I love them is because they are quick to put together and they freeze really well. If you are making a pot of soup, it really isn't much extra work to put together a savoury muffin or quick bread to go along with it, and they realy turn a simple meal into something very special.
Lemon Curd Cookies. There lush and buttery shortbread cookies are flavoured through and through with lemon from the inside out. Crispy edged and dimpled with lemon curd centres, they are real lemon winners!
These delicious lemon cookies are the lemon lover's ultimate dream! If you love lemon as much as I do, you are sure to love these!
This is citrus season right now. The perfect time of year to be cooking with and baking with citrus fruits. Lemons, limes, oranges, etc. If I was in my own place right now I would be making marmalade.
Once you have tasted orange marmalade made from scratch you won't quite ever settle for anything else. Its quite labour intensive, but worth all of the effort.
This is also the time of year to be making your own from scratch Lemon Curd! I love lemon curd. You can find my easy recipe here. Homemade Lemon Curd is the best. I could eat it with a spoon.
Its fabulous on toast, or crumpets. Or crackers. Scones. In between vanilla cake layers and yes, it is perfect in these delicious shortbread cookies!
You can of course use any good store ready prepared lemon curd as well, obviously. They will still be very delicious. I was just thinking since this was citrus season there was no time like the present to make your own curd.
Shortbread cookies. Of all the cookies in the world, next to chocolate chip cookies, shortbread cookies are my absolute favourite kind of cookie.
A good shortbread cookie should be nice and buttery of course, but never greasy. They should be crisp edged and they should melt in the mouth. These are all that and so much more.
These are lemon flavoured shortbread cookies. There is lemon juice and finely grated lemon zest right in the dough itself, giving you a double blast of lemony tastiness.
Then of course there is that little dimple of lemon curd which gets baked right into the centre. You may be tempted to add more than 1/4 teaspoon of the curd, but don't.
1/2 teaspoon is the perfect amount of lemon curd. Any more than that and it will overflow the dimples and burn on the baking sheet. What a waste of deliciousness.
So now you have a "hat trick" of lemony tastiness, but the lemon favour doesn't end there. The finishing touch of lemony goodness is that drizzle icing on top.
And such a simple touch to add. Just lemon juice and icing sugar whisked together until you have a smooth drizzle icing.
Flicked over top it is the perfect finish for the perfect cookie. Just look at how pretty they are and how lemony delicious they look.
Sinking your teeth into one of these is sinking your teeth into lemony bliss. OH MY GOODNESS! Let me repeat. OH MY GOODNESS!
Sorry for shouting but these lemon curd cookies are so dang good you just want to shout it to the rafters and beyond. There is no way you want anyone you care about to miss out on one of these, or maybe . . .
There is a risk that the inner glutton will take over and you won't want to share. Either way these cookies are worth shouting about!
These are pretty enough and delicious enough to serve at a ladies' Tea party. So dainty and pretty. With your best linens and tea cups. Not that many of us are having tea parties with our friends at the moment, but we can live in hope, surely!
I believe that one day we will be able to meet again and what a celebration that will be. We can raise our tea cups together in salutations to each other, pinkies uplifted like the mucky mucks do in them fancy places.
Seriously tasty. Will that be one lump or two in your tea? Sugar lumps that is. I have always wanted to make my own fancy sugar cubes, pressed into flower shaped molds. Perfect tea party additions.
Do you like lemon in your tea? I do. I don't drink black tea but I do love herbal infusions. I especially like the fruity ones, with lemon ginger being a real favourite of mine.
Surely dainty little morsels like these are deserving of your best linens and china. I am trying to remember if I packed my Katie Alice plates and cups in my boxes I was able to bring. I surely hope so, but I cannot be for certain.
I don't think I was exactly thinking straight. I only had three days to get myself out of Dodge. Not near enough time to really plan properly. When I finally get to the point I can open my boxes I may be really surprised at what I did choose to pack. I dread to think about it really.
I do so love pretty linens and pretty tea things. I am a girly kind of a girl. I just like pretty things and I love, LOVE these cookies! You will too!
I can almost guarantee it! Well, why not bake them for yourself and see what lemon deliciousness is all about! I double triple dog dare you!
Lemon Curd Cookies
Yield: makes 42 cookies
prep time: 1 H & 10 Mcook time: 15 Mininactive time: 5 Mintotal time: 1 H & 30 M
Crisp, short buttery shortbread cookies, infused with lemon zest, filled with lush lemon curd filling and a lemon drizzle glaze. Seriously moreish!
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup (240g) butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- the juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- pinch salt
- 2 cups + 2 TBS (280g +2 TBS) plain all purpose flour
- lemon curd to fill
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, lemon juice and zest together in a bowl until creamy with an electric whisk, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically. Add the flour in 3 parts until well combined. Cover and chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line several baking trays with baking paper.
- Shape the chilled dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Make an indention in the centre of each, using the end of a wooden spoon. Don't try to push it in too deeply, only about halfway down. I rotate it a tiny bit to make the hole about 1/3 inch in diameter. Fill each hole with heaped 1/4 tsp of lemon curd.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, until puffed and the edges are golden brown. Leave to rest on the trays for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Whisk the icing sugar and lemon juice for the drizzle icing together until you have a smooth and drizzleable mixture. Flick over the cooled cookies and allow to set. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I know you must be thinking, Biscuits again??? And by that I mean baking powder, or tea-biscuits, not British Cookies. Not scones either. Biscuits. Buttermilk Biscuits. Light as air. Flakey. Fluffy.
In my opinion, you can never have too many recipes for biscuits. And when you are living with an empty next small batch recipes for things like this come in all too handy!
I confess, I am a biscuit lover. I can never get enough of them, and I love to try new recipes. I also like to make the recipes I have more in fitting with a small household like ours.
I have always loved Buttermilk Biscuits most of all. I love the slight tang that buttermilk adds and I love the way they always rise high and beautiful in a hot oven.
Buttermilk always makes for a beautiful crumb. You really can't beat it when it comes to making perfect biscuits.
I know I could bake whole recipes of these, but I have to be honest here. I just don't personally think that baked goods which have been frozen have the same flavour as fresh baked goods. Especially things like biscuits.
The longer you have them in the freezer the more they deteriorate and the larger the chance of them picking up other flavours. If you do freeze these, or any biscuit for that matter, make sure they are really well wrapped, airtight.
And make sure that you plan on using them within at the very most 3 months. I would not keep them longer. One exception to frozen goodies is cookies. I am quite fond of frozen cookies.
I used to think if I froze the extra cookies I would be safe from eating them. I would be better able to ration myself.
Turns out frozen baked cookies, or even unbaked for that matter taste just as good as they do thawed or fresh out of the oven. Yes I am the Cookie Monster.
It is much, much better for me if I make smaller batches of things and then use them up pronto. That way I don't have a lot of temptation hanging around in my freezer.
I think you will find that these are gorgeous baking powder biscuits. Back home they also call them tea biscuits.
Look at that tender crumb. These are so so very flaky and delicious.
I did a search to see if I could find out why in Canada they sometimes call them Tea Biscuits. I couldn't find any answers. I can only surmise that they are meant to be enjoyed with tea??? If you know, enlighten me, please! I have an inquiring mind.
These are biscuits that practically melt in your mouth. See that high rise? That comes from a light touch and not twisting the biscuit cutter.
Twisting the cutter when you are cutting out biscuits seals the edges. Your biscuits will not rise and high and they will be lopsided. True dat!
Cold butter is best. You don't want your butter softening before it goes into the oven. You want it to start melting as soon as the heat of the oven hits it, so that lots of little airy pockets are created.
You also want to use cold buttermilk for the same reason. It also creates a beautiful tender crumb. And who doesn't love that! Also the closer your biscuits are to each other on the pan (without actually touching) forces the biscuits to rise higher. Another Biscuit fact.
These biscuits are beautiful served warm with honey and butter, or jam and butter, with peanut butter or with pumpkin butter (watch this space.)
They are also great for Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches or to ladle sausage gravy over top. Lets face it . . . they are just full stop great. No word of a lie.
Quick & Easy Buttermilk Biscuits for Two
Yield: Makes 4 biscuits
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min
Six ingredients, one bowl, half an hour. That is all you need to create four perfect, soft and flakey tea biscuits from scratch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) all purpose (plain) flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder (not soda)
- 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar (granulated sugar)
- pinch salt
- 4 TBS cold butter
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 225*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line a very small baking tray with some baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. Stir in the salt and sugar. Drop in the butter. Cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk slowly wih a fork, until you have a moist dough which clings together.
- Tip out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently a few times. Pat out to a 1 inch thick square, six by six.
- Using a 3 inch cutter and a sharp up and down motion (do NOT twist) stamp out four biscuits. If you have much in the way of scraps, and there shouldn't be much, you can repat and stamp. (Re-pat biscuits will not be picture perfect.)
- Place onto the baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve warm, split and spread with your favourite toppings.
It is such a miserable wet and rainy day today.Oh how I am longing for a cool, crisp autumn day with lots of pretty leaf colour and acorns beneath my feet. I think today we are expecting a lot of rain. That means sloshing not crunching.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
What is that they say about best laid plans and all that??? Our kitchen, which was supposed to be finished today is only half done and because tomorrow is Good Friday the workman won't be back until Saturday, so here I sit with a completely unworkable kitchen . . . no cooking. It better be done by Saturday afternoon . . . I've got people coming for Easter Dinner!
Anyways, in the meantime I thought I would share some of my favourite Easter Treats with you all, and with any lucky by Saturday afternoon, I'll be cooking up a few of my own!
These cupcakes are really cute. I have used those coconut Ferrero Raffaello Chocolates, cut in half. Don't they look cute? The ears are large marshmallows cut into quarters, and then the cut edges rolled in coloured sugars. Pink dragees are the eyes, and those are pink candy balls for the noses. I also had some candied flowers for an additional touch. Enjoy!
*Easter Bunny Cupcakes*
Makes 18
Printable Recipe
Vanilla cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
(Crisco, Trex, White Flora)
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 large eggs
A quantity of Vanilla Butter cream icing (see below)
various decorations (marshmallows, coloured candies, etc.)
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl to combine. Add the shortening, milk, vanilla and eggs. Beat with an electric whisk until all the ingredients are just blended. Spoon equal amounts into the paper liners in the muffin cups, filling each one no more than 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until they test done. (A toothpick inserted in one should come out clean and they should bounce back when lightly touched with a fingertip.) Remove from the pans immediately to wire racks to cool completely before continuing.
Once they are completely cooled, frost and decorate as you wish.
*Vanilla Buttercream*
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups sifted icing sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Place the softened butter into a large bowl. Beat in 2 cups of the icing sugar. Then beat in the milk and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining 2 cups of icing sugar until the icing is thick enough to be of the right spreading consistency. You may not need all of the sugar.
Hot Cross Scones
Your favourite Easter bun, except in a tasty spiced and fruited scone, topped with icing crosses.
Easter Chocolate Crispie Nests
Everyone loves these!! Easy and quick to make. They're a complete doddle!
Hot Cross Buns
M&S are pretty good, but why not try making your own? They're not that hard, really. IF I can make them anyone can!!
Simnel Tart
A flakey tart base of puffed pastry, topped with fruit and marzipan. DEEEE-licious! (and easy too!)
Hot Cross Muffins
Tasty fruited muffins, again with icing crosses.
Bun and Butter Pudding
Use your excess Hot Cross Buns to make this delicious version of bread and butter pudding. (Ok, so if you are like me there's never any excess hot cross buns, but never mind, it's worth buying some just to make this delectable dessert!!)
Hot Cross Buns with a delicious Spiced Fruited Butter
And finally . . . a delicious spiced and fruited butter to serve with your toasted hot cross buns for breakfast on Easter morning, a la Nigel Slater!
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