Showing posts sorted by date for query Scones. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Scones. Sort by relevance Show all posts
I really adore scones. To me a scone is better than a piece of cake or a pie. It's like a cross between the two, and such a delight to enjoy with a nice hot cuppa.
Don't worry, I only drink herbal infusions which I drink black, so nothing to take away from the delightful flavour of a good scone!
Having said that even when I did drink ordinary tea, I always enjoyed it black and unsweetened.
I am always on the lookout for a new scone recipe. I spied this recipe for Vanilla Scones the other day on a blog called Stuck on Sweet, they pushed all my buttons.
I just knew that I was going to have to bake them!
I adapted the measurements to UK measurements so no worries on that score if you live in Europe or the UK. I did find the dough to be a bit wet, whereas she had said that the dough was a bit crumbly.
That could be a difference in the flour, or the fact that she did not specify a size of egg. I used a large. Our eggs could be even larger over here than they are in North America. I don't know for sure. (That's why baking by weight is so much more accurate folks!)
The sticky dough did not present a problem for me. I simply tipped it out onto a well floured board, patted it into a round and then flipped the round over before cutting it into wedges.
When I say well-floured, I mean well floured. I am sure I had about 1/2 cup of flour on that board, so nothing would stick. It worked beautifully.
I also decided to add some chopped sour cherries to the mix because, one I like them, a lot, and two . . . vanilla . . . it just begged to have some kind of dried fruit added.
I adore sour cherries. They go really well with vanilla.
I also chose to use a mix of pure vanilla extract and some grindings from a vanilla grinder. Oh boy but these smelled heavenly when they were baking.
I ground some of that vanilla into the glaze also!
These are light and sweet with a lovely buttery flavour and lots of vanilla oomph. The tartness of the sour cherries sets that all off beautifully.
Wise choice on my part if I don't say so myself. And yes, I know I just did!
Because my dough was quite damp, I did end up with some craggy bits, but to me that's all the better because it made for lovely little sweet crevices for that glaze to soak into.
All in all . . . these are really prize worthy, blue ribbon winning, delightfully tasty scones!
*Sour Cherry & Vanilla Scones*
Makes 8
170g cold butter, cubed (3/4 cup)
1 large free range egg
1 TBS pure vanilla extract
a few grindings of a vanilla pod (optional)
120ml whole milk (1/2 cup)
75g dried sour cherries, roughly chopped (1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F gas mark 7. Line a baking tray with baking paper set aside.
Sift
the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the
sugar. Drop in the butter and rub it in with your finger tips until
crumbly. Stir in the sour cherries. Beat together the egg, milk and
vanilla. Add to the dry mixture and stir to combine to make a soft
sticky dough. Tip onto a generously floured board and pat out to an 8
inch circle. Using a sharp knife, cut into 8 wedges. (Cut cross wise
into equal quarters and then cut each quarter in half) Carefully move
onto the prepared baking tray.
Bake for 10 to 14
minutes until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Let
cool on the tray for a few minutes before lifting onto a wire rack to
cool.
Whisk all of the glaze ingredients together
until smooth and spoonable. Spoon over the scoons and allow to set
completely before serving.
Its recipes like this that make me really grateful that I live in a fairly temperate climate where you only have a few days in the summer that make turning on the oven unbearable. And if you do live in a climate where its hotter than that, bake them anyways. They are well worth a few minutes of discomfort. Trust me on this. Bon Appetit!
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 love scones and am always looking for a delicious recipe to try. I spied a recipe the other day on a blog called Seasonly Creations for Irish Coffee Cake Scones.
Flaky sweet scones studded with plenty of dried currants and topped with a coffee cake streusal crumb topping.
For the scones:
340g of plain flour (2 1/2 cups)
50g soft dark brown sugar (1/4 cup)
45g white sugar (1/4 cup)
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
115g of dried currants (3/4 cup)
120g cold unsalted butter (1/2 cup) cut into cubes
2 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
120ml buttermilk (1/2 cup)
2 tsp almond extract
To glaze:
2 TBS milk
1 large free range egg, beaten
For the streusel:
73g of white vegetable shortening (1/3 cup)
40g chopped toasted pecans (1/3 cup)
50g of soft light brown sugar plus 2 TBS (1/4 cup, plus 2 TBS)
2 TBS white sugar
3 TBS plain flour
pinch salt
To
make the streusel, rub the flour and both sugars together with the salt
to combine and work out any lumps in the sugar. Drop in the shortening
and rub all together with a fork to completely incorporate. Stir in
the chopped nuts. Set aside.
For the Scones sift the flour
into the bowl Stir in both sugars, the baking powder, the nutmeg and
the salt. Rub all together to make sure any lumps from the sugar are
broken up. Drop in the butter, rub it in with your fingertips until you
have a mixture which resembles fine bread crumbs.
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. LIne a large baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.
Beat the egg and milk together for the glaze and set aside.
Whisk
together the buttermilk, eggs and almond extract for the scones. Make a
well in the middle of the scone mixture and dump in the wet
ingredients. Stir together with a fork until the mixture begins to come
together into a soft dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured board and
knead lightly for a few turns. Divide the dough in half and shape each
half gently into a circle which is 5 inches across and 1 inch tall. Cut
each into six wedges. Place onto the baking sheet, leaving plenty of
space in between for rising, spreading. Brush the tops with the glaze
and then spring a heaped TBS of the streusel on top of each.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes. Serve warm with your favourite hot drink!
They looked really good so I thought I would give them a go! What a tasty way to end the month of May!
A basic scone recipe is created and then topped with a brown sugar and nut streusel before baking. It does use a mix of dark brown and white sugars, and plenty of nutmeg which was a bit different.
I thought I would give you an action shot of them ready to go into the oven! Yes, I do end up having to use my table as a preparation surface most of the time as I have almost nil counter space in the kitchen.
There really is only an area about 3 feet in length and by the time you put a toaster, a kettle and a knife block on it, prep surface is minimal at best.
Now back to the scones.
The dough was really easy to put together, most scone doughs are. You can't go wrong so long as you use a light hand.
The original recipe said to cut the fat into the flour, but I have always found that rubbing it in with your finger tips works much better.
It uses buttermilk, which usually makes for great scones. I was a bit nervous about this recipe however, as it did not call for any baking soda, just baking powder.
I always understood that you needed to use some soda with an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk in order to get a good rise.
I crossed my fingers and went with the recipe however and hoped that they would turn out like they should.
Hers certainly looked alright!
As you can see however, my worry was for naught as I got a really nice rise! I used some currants that I had in the cupboard from Whitworths, seedless ones, and really tiny.
They worked beautifully and the end result in the finished scones was lovely.
I confess I probably added an addition handful because I like lots of fruit. The only thing I wasn't totally fond of was the use of white vegetable shortening in the crumble topping, and to be honest, it kind of melted a bit.
I had been thinking it would stand up like the crumble on a coffee cake, but it didn't. I am not sure how you could get around that.
And I am not sure butter instead of shortening would make any difference. I checked back at hers on the other blog and they looked the same.
I think if just a bit more flour was added it might make a difference, but I will try that the next time around. Maybe bake one and let you know. They were really very good however and I will be making them again!
*Irish Coffee Cake Scones*
Makes 12
Other than changing a few things about the way I put these together, I basically followed the recipe as per written and I found them to be quite, quite delicious. Even the day after. I do have to say that next time I would leave out the almond extract. I am not sure that it added anything at all to the flavour of the scones, and to be honest it wasn't a very "Irish" addition. Using the dark brown sugar however gave them a beautiful colour. Warm out of the oven, split and buttered, they were utterly devine! Bon Appetit!
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 just love scones and am always thinking of different ways I can make them. My husband doesn't mind as he gets to enjoy the fruits of my labors. Today it was Peach, Vanilla and Poppyseed scones and let me tell you they are every bit as delicious as the name implies!
Originally I created them to use fresh peaches, the ones which you get at the shops that are a bit too hard to each out of hand. They are perfect for things like this or for this Green Peach Salad. (which is beautiful, trust me on this!)
The nice thing about these is that you can also use tinned peaches if that is all you have. Just be sure to pat them really dry first with some paper kitchen toweling.
That is what I used today because that is all I had. They work beautifully. I add them in with the poppyseeds, tossing them in with a fork.
You get the buttery crisp scone, moreishly flaky . . . tender sweet pieces of peach . . . crunchy poppyseeds, infused with vanilla . . .
I like to brush them with some cream and sprinkle them with Demerara Sugar prior to baking for some added interest, texture and flavour.
Spread with some clotted cream and apricot jam, these always go down a real treat. Break out the tea-pots and cups! A nice hot herbal infusion goes very well. I like Earl Grey Rooibos. Together they are just lovely.
*Peach, Vanilla & Poppyseed Scones*
Makes 10
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.
Sift
the flour into a bowl along with the sugar and baking powder. Drop in
the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture
resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the chopped peaches and the poppyseeds.
Whisk together the vanilla, egg and milk. Add to the dry mixture to
make a soft dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead
gently. Pat out about 1 1/2 inch thick. Stamp out into rounds with a
very sharp 3 inch round cutter. Place onto the baking sheet. Push any
trimmings together and re-pat out to stamp out more rounds if necessary
and also place on the baking sheet. Brush tops lightly with cream and
sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve slightly warm with clotted cream and apricot jam. Fabulous!
In my previous marriage, we used to spend a lot of time on Prince Edward Island in the summer. Although I was born on the Island, it was only an accident of birth, because that was where my father was posted with the Canadian Airforce at the time. My ex-husband's family, however, had a long history there, going back to some of the first Scottish settlers on the Island, back in the days when the Island was nothing but trees and native North Americans. The Ramsays ended up on the Island when their ship, The Annabella, was ship-wrecked in Malpeque Bay. The Annabella had been heading for the Virginia Colonies when a storm blew it off course and the rest is history. It is said that the survivors would have starved or frozen to death that first winter, were it not for the Natives who so generously helped them out.
My late father in law came from a very large farming family, consisting mainly of girls. I think there were only two or three sons. He was the baby of the family. Most of his sisters, with the exception of one, had moved down to the Boston, New England area before and after WW2. The same thing happened in my own family. There was a lot of prosperity in America as compared to the Maritimes, which was than and still is a somewhat economically depressed area.
The old gals (as we called the sisters) used to come up to their cottage on the Malpeque Bay every summer, where they would spend a couple of months taking in the sea air and re-connecting with their roots. The air rang with the sound of hearty card games and raucous laughter. I think the game was 45's but I can't say for sure, because I have never been a great card player. I'm too slow.
I loved to watch however, and many an afternoon was spent watching the cards being dealt and listening to all the war stories and family tales. The Sister that had stayed back on the Island used to do all the cooking. She would bake these Bannocks frequently. Her name was Rita. She was like a little bird. I loved her to pieces. She was a really kind and caring woman.
Ever the foodie, I would watch her making these. All of the ingredients used to get measured right out onto the counter-top, her quick hands deftly managing them into a dough that was then cut and baked into these beautiful light and oaty bannocks.
I can still remember the first time I saw her making them, I thought it was cheese she was mixing in, but it was cold butter which she had grated. I tend to cut the butter into bits and rub it in with my fingertips. Both ways work well.
Don't be tempted to use old fashioned oats in these, unless you blitz them in a food processor for a few seconds to break them down. This is one time you want to be using the quick oats. Old fashioned oats are too coarse.
Aunt Rita cut hers into squares, whereas I cut them into rectangles. Not a scrap of the dough is wasted. With a light touch, and no re-working of scraps you are rewarded with a dozen light as air golden brown slightly nubbly/nutty textured scones. Because that is really all a Bannock is . . . a Scottish Scone. But shhh . . . don't tell anyone I said that. I wouldn't want to start a War over it or anything.
What a wonderful time those years were, spending those summer afternoons out on the bay. The air was cool,because we were right on the water. The children and I used to walk up and down the sand and grasses, picking wild rhubarb that I would then make into pies and jam. Good times!
I don't know how the rhubarb ended up growing there but it worked kind of the same as wild strawberries do . . . it was thinner, smaller, and filled with a lot more flavour than the regular stuff.
In any case, I hope you will bake these lovely Bannocks, and when you do, please raise a nice hot cuppa to Aunt Rita and the old gals . . . and hot summer afternoons spent playing cards and picking wild rhubarb on sands of Malpeque Bay . . .
*Malpeque Oat Bannocks*
Makes 12
60g cold butter (1/4 cup), cut into bits
180ml whole milk (3/4 cup)
One of my favourite things that I love about Easter are Hot Cross Buns. It has been ever so, since I was a child. What a treat they have always been . . . sweetly spiced and studded with fruit and citrus, with those little icing crosses piped along the tops!
They are a bit fussy to make and involved a lot of time, and so sometimes I just like to make hot cros scones instead. Nobody really complains. Actually I have both to hand. I like to make a hot cross bun and butter pudding after Easter, and only a hot cross bun will do for that . . . but we also like to enjoy these over the holidays, with a nice hot drink.
They are quick and easy to make and incredibly tasty . . .
With just the right amount of fruit and spice . . .
With the lovely short buttery texture that we love in scones . . .
Just look at how nice and high they rise! Seriously flaky!
With just the right amount of icing piped across the tops for that sweet touch we love. These truly are beautiful. To enjoy on Easter morning, or in the afternoon with a hot drink. You can't lose!
*Hot Cross Scones*
Makes 8
few TBS cream for brushing
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F. gas mark 6. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder, allspice and cinnamon Stir in the orange peel, salt and sugar. Drop in the butter. Rub it in with your finger tips using a snapping motion until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the fruit. Whisk together the egg and cream. Stir this mixture into the with a fork until it starts to form a soft dough. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a few times until you have a smooth mixture. Pat the dough out to 1 inch thickness. Stamp into rounds using a 3 inch round cutter. Try not to twist the cutter or your scones will be lopsided. Sharp up and down tap will do the job nicely. Place evenly spaced apart on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with some cream and then bake the scones in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the icing for the crosses, whisk the icing ingredients together until smooth and thick. Spoon a cross onto each scone. Let stand to set the icing before serving. Delicious!
Todd enjoys his spread with a bit of butter. He can afford the calories. I cannot, but that's not a problem because they are tasty enough for me even without any butter! Bon Appetit!
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