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
Pioneer Woman's Sugar Biscuits. I think a person would just about have to be living under a rock not to know who the Pioneer Woman is. She is one very savvy woman who has managed to parlay her blog into a multi-media industry with television shows, cookery books, hotels, merchandise, hotels, etc.
She is an amazing business woman who lives in America. I think I have probably been blogging for longer than she has, and sharing recipes for longer than she has, but the main difference is I am not that savvy when it comes to marketing myself.
I remember a friend of mine showing me the Pioneer Woman's page back when I was working at the Manor and she made a mockery of it, about how many photos this woman took, etc. Well, the Pioneer Woman got the last laugh and she is laughing all the way to the bank! Kudos to her.
As women we need to building each other up and supporting each other, not mocking.
These biscuit are ones that I saw on a tumbler page Mrs Morning Dove back in April of 2015. I took note of them, thinking they looked like something I wanted to bake. Its hard to believe that it has taken me six years to get to them.
You can see the original recipe here on the PW page. I have adapted it here to include British/European measurements.
I have also switched out a few things according to my own knowledge and what I did that worked.
First off I have to say that these are more like a scone than a biscuit. When I looked at the list of ingredients, I felt this to be so. With flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and copious amounts of butter and cream. Those are basic scone ingredients.
So I put them together like I would a scone. Scones typically will have the cold butter rubbed into the flour, rather than cut. You don't want to have huge lumps of butter in this dough.
Scones are also stirred together with a round bladed knife, using a gentle hand. This I did, and then I gathered the dough into a ball in the bowl. You don't want it to be too sticky, or too dry. So add the cream gradually and if you need more or don't need it all, don't be afraid.
It should be like that picture in the upper right as you are mixing and once gathered, like the lower left.
Even floured I had to kind of ease the cut biscuits out of the cutter onto the baking sheet. I was a bit worried about that, but thankfully it didn't cause any problems in the baking. I think if you added too much flour you would mess with their integrity.
I thought you might enjoy seeing another one of my embroidered tea towels. I thought this one very apt to be shown with a biscuit I plan on enjoying with fresh berries in about 8 weeks time!!
Like I said, I expected them to rise a lot more. With 5 tsp of baking powder, which is more than a TBS. As you can see they didn't rise a lot. I rolled my dough 3/4 of an inch thick and when I do them again (and I will, they are that good!) I will roll the dough 1 inch thick.
Mine also took longer in the oven, but again that was probably because they were thicker than hers when I cut them out. I also got more than she says. She said 18, I got 24, but I used a 2 inch cutter. I don't know what size her cutter was.
These did rise a bit but I have to tell you they also spread in most cases with the bottoms being a bit wider than the tops. Don't be alarmed. If you look at the photos on her page you will see hers do as well.
And they haven't risen all that much. So this is normal.
Once baked they are dipped in a sugar/milk/vanilla glaze. I only dipped the tops. I couldn't tell if she meant to dip tops and bottoms, but I felt the tops was enough.
I also cut the icing ingredients in half pretty much. 5 cups of icing sugar seemed a bit excessive to me, and I can tell you, I had plenty of icing to dip in half a dozen more biscuits than she had. Just so you know.
Do make sure you let any excessive icing drip off and put the dipped biscuits onto a wire rack to set. Also make sure the wire rack is placed over top of a sheet of parchment or wax paper. The icing will continue to drip down the sides before it sets.
Not a problem. Don't these look good? I can tell you that they are all that and more!
We are in love with these, even two days later. We froze half of them and are now wishing we hadn't because the other half are being inhaled.
The first day, right after baking and glazing, they have a texture which is somewhere in between a biscuit, a scone and a pastry. Incredibly short textured, rich, and buttery.
I think 2 inches round is the perfect size. I think they might crumble if they were any larger.
That glaze is just sweet enough and accents the richness of the biscuit perfectly. The tops cracked just a bit, but trust me, you don't want the dough to be any stickier than it was. It was perfect just as is.
They were gorgeous actually and as you can see there was a perfect indication in the center of them so that you know just where to split them.
I, of course, had to try one right away for research purposes. I couldn't wait for the rest of the family to get home. It needed to be done right there and then.
They were so short I was worried that they might crumble, but as you can see my worry was for naught.
What a beautiful texture. Almost cake like, but again as I said, close to pastry or shortbreads, but not quite as dense.
I had used my cream up in the dough so I didn't have any cream to serve on them, but I did enjoy this one with a nice dollop of sweet raspberry jam. I can see these being delicious served with whipped cream and berries during berry season. (Can't wait!)
I have two final word for you about them. BAKE THEM. Oh wait a third . . . TODAY! Don't delay. They are positively heavenly. They should be called Heavenly Biscuits.
Pioneer Woman's Sugar Biscuits
Yield: 24 (2-inch) biscuits
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
These are like a cross between a biscuit and a scone, almost pastry-like, with a sweet vanilla glaze topping. They are truly delicious.
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 3 cups (420g) of all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (120g) granulated sugar (in UK use castor sugar)
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) cold butter, cut into bits
- 1 1/4 cup (300ml) heavy cream (more if need be)
For the glaze:
- 2 1/2 cups (about 300g) sifted icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- whole milk to thin
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Line a large baking sheet with some baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar. Drop in the butter and cut it in using a pastry blender, two round bladed knives or your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add the cream and stir it in with a round bladed knife until the dough begins to come together. You may need a bit more cream. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a shaggy ball.
- Tip out onto a floured surface. Knead gently a few times to bring the dough totally together and then roll out to about 3/4 of an inch in thickness, using a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Using a sharp round 2-inch cutter stamp out rounds. (You will need to flour the cutter) Place the rounds spaced apart on the baking sheet, allowing at least 2 inches for spreading.
- Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. (her recipe said 16-18, but my oven took longer.) They should be a very light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and leave to sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- When you are ready to glaze them, whisk together the icing sugar, vanilla, salt and just enough milk to give you a drizzle glaze that you can dip the tops of the biscuits into.
- Dip the tops of each biscuit in the glaze, allowing any excess to drip off and place onto wire racks placed over wax paper to set completely.
- Store in an airtight container. They will keep several days. Try not to eat too many at once! Yes, they are that good!
These doggie tea towels are so cute. There is the beans one, a corn one, onions, cherries, strawberries, etc. I am having so much fun doing them!
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Victoria Scones. I wanted to share this lovely traditional scone recipe with you this morning. It is a be-ro scone recipe coming from a book that was sent to me from a friend.
It is a lovely scones recipe that was originally published in the 1928 Be-Ro recipe book, so, it is a very old recipe. In this newer version of the book it has been updated to use modern methods and ingredients.
Irish Apple Cake. Apple Cake has to be one of the most delicious cakes a person can bake. You cannot beat a cake that is filled with sweet tender slices of apple and warm baking spices. Unless you are talking about an "Irish" Apple Cake.
And then the combination becomes absolutely unbeatable. Tender apple slices baked in a cake batter and then topped with a wholesome oat streusel. Add flaked almonds to that streusel and you have one very delicious cake!
Every year I like to bake an Irish Apple Cake for Saint Patrick's Day. The first time I made it, I made a recipe adapted from a recipe I got from a Rachel Allen Cookery Book. If you are not familiar with who she is, she is the daughter in law of Darina Allen, the doyenne of Irish cookery.
They run the Ballymaloe House, Restaurant and Cookery School in Ireland. I had always wanted to go to this cookery school, but never got there.
I am not sure what makes this an Irish Cake. I would say more that it is a cake in the European tradition, in that it is somewhat denser than North American Cakes, and the manner of putting it together is also somewhat different.
It is kind of done in layers. You make a cake batter, which you spread in the pan and top with sliced apple, topping that finally with a streusel layer. This year I added some flaked almonds to the streusel to amp it up. Lovely-icious!
The cake itself is moist and delicious, lightly spiced with cinnamon. You put it together in a way that is very different than North American cakes. You rub the butter into the flour, almost like you would do if you were making scones.
North American cakes are a lot sweeter than European cakes. I have to say, not trying to be rude, but I prefer the lesser sweetness of European styled cakes.
We North Americans make and use far too much sugar I think. Living in the UK, I got used to their way of doing things. Even the bread in North America is too sweet for my taste. I had noticed that the last time I was home with mom.
Most of the sweetness in this cake comes from the apples and the streusel topping. You want to use a nice cooking apple for the filling. Cooking apples are a bit more tart than regular apples. You could use Granny Smith or a Cortland.
These are tossed with some sugar and cinnamon before laying them on top of the cake base in the pan. Sometimes I will add a bit of nutmeg. The warm flavour of nutmeg goes very well with apples and you don't need a lot of it. A little bit always goes a long way.
More sweetness comes from the streusel topping. It is sweet and wholesome and adds a lovely crunch to the top of the cake. Oats make it really wholesome, but adding flaked almonds made it nice and crunchy.
Apple and almond is a very quintessentially moreish combination. But then again, so is apple and oats.
This not too sweet cake goes excellently with a nice hot drink. (Also a European tradition.) Hot cups of tea if you are so inclined or Coffee both go very well. That makes it the perfect cake for a mid morning or mid afternoon treat.
It also makes for a fabulous dessert however. Especially when paired with a custard sauce/creme anglaise in the European fashion. You can find my recipe for the custard sauce here.
Serving this warm with custard sauce is a very British thing to do. I can remember when I first moved to the UK, we were taken out for dinner by the people in our church to celebrate our wedding. At the end of the meal I was asked what I wanted for pudding.
I was thinking pudding . . . hmmm . . . butterscotch, vanilla or chocolate. I like all three, but the word Pudding has a totally different context over there in the UK.
In the UK the term "Pudding" is meant to mean a course, ie. dessert. So when they ask you if you want pudding, what they really mean is do you want dessert?
And then, once you get the dessert, do you want it with lashings of cream or custard, or . . . both! Believe it or not I know people who would choose both.
And the cream is never sweetened, or whipped, just poured. Even the custard is not overly sweet in comparison to our puddings/desserts. And lashings . . . means poured liberally over top.
In restaurants your dessert will often come with its own little jug of each. I do love either one. But the North American in me will always love Ice Cream most of all and with a cake like this is has to be vanilla ice cream.
You don't want to serve it with anything that is going to detract from the lush flavors of the apple and the cinnamon and the streusel. Vanilla works best with all those things.
But its your dessert, so you go ahead and have whatever you want. I am thinking Maple Walnut would be nice, but then I am nuts for Maple Walnut ice cream! But again, not very Irish.
In any case, if you are looking for a fabulous dessert to serve with your Saint Patrick's day dinner on the 17th of March, you can't go far wrong by serving this!
Irish Apple Cake
Yield: 6 - 8
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 50 Mininactive time: 10 MinTotal time: 1 H & 10 M
A delicious version of an apple cake, baked with tasty apple slices sandwiched in the center. Serve warm with or without custard, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups (280g) self raising flour (You may need extra, see note below to make your own)
- 1/2 cup (125g) butter
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar (use caster sugar in the UK)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) milk
For the filling:
- 2 cooking apples, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 4 1/2 TBS soft light brown sugar
For the Streusel Topping:
- 3/4 cup (105 g) plain flour
- 1/4 cup (20g) old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar (in the UK use caster sugar)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 6 TBS butter, cut into bits
- 4 TBS flaked almonds
To serve:
- Icing sugar to dust
- Custard sauce or vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a deep flan tin, with a loose bottom, roughly 9 inches in diameter. Set aside.
- Make the Streusel. Measure the flour and oats and sugar into a bowl. Stir in the cinnamon. Drop in the butter. Rub together with your fingers until it clumps together and you have a crumble mixture. Stir in the flaked almonds.
- Place the flour and butter into a large bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips to form a breadcrumb texture. Stir in the sugar. Add the beaten egg and milk and mix together with a round bladed knife.
- If the dough seems a bit too sticky add a bit more flour. You want a soft dough.
- Spoon the dough into the prepared pan, making it higher around the edges, about 1 inch into the center with a hollowed out space to put the apples.
- Spread the apple slices evenly over the center of the base. Press them down lightly. Sprinkle with the soft light brown sugar and the cinnamon.
- Sprinkle the streusel over top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until well risen and golden brown.
- Let stand in the tin for about 10 minutes before removing the sides.
- Place the tin on top of a jar and push the sides of the pan down and remove. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool to warm.
- Dust with icing sugar before cutting into wedges to serve, with or without ice cream or custard.
Notes:
Make Your Own Self Raising Flour:
You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour.
These wonderful peach scones are tender and delicious served warm from the oven. I can honestly say that I have never met a scone I didn't immediately fall in love with.
These beautiful scones are filled with lovely flavours and make the perfect bread to serve at breakfast, for a brunch, or for a ladies luncheon or tea party.
They use simple pantry ingredients. Things which we probably all have in our cupboards. They are super fast and very easy to make.
You can opt to use fresh peaches in them or tinned peaches, perfect for the winter months. Both work beautifully. Just make sure if you use the tinned option that you pat them dry really well.
I guaranteed they will be delicious with either option. Actually these scones are a brilliant way to use up supermarket peaches that are hard and less than their best. There is something about cooking with fruit that can bring the best out of what many might see as throw away fruit.
Have you ever done that? Picked up a punnet of fruits at the shops because they were a good deal, only to get them home and realise that there was no way under heaven they were every going to soften up enough to eat them out of hand?
I have done this and been disappointed many times by substandard fruits. Fruits that actually turn mealy instead of ripening to perfection. Problem no more.
Just cook with them. It is guaranteed to bring out their best. Trust me on this.
Cold butter is key when it comes to making perfect scones. Use your butter straight from the refrigerator, cutting it into smaller bits and dropping it into your flour base.
Proper scones use a rubbing in technique for the fats, rather than cutting. That is a part of the reason really cold butter is essential as well as working quickly. You rub the fat in with your fingertips, using a snapping motion.
Keeping you hands cool and working quickly is also key. (Its not hard to keep your hands cold on a winter's day actually. Not for me anyways.)
The cold butter actually helps to create little air pockets in the dough while it bakes. This makes for a lighter and more tender scone, with big fluffy layers. You also get a scone that is beautifully crisp on the outside, but amazingly light inside..
I have used poppyseeds in these, to help give a bit of contrast and additional texture. You can leave them out if you wish. I love poppyseeds in anything.
However, if you are serving them for a luncheon you may absolutely want to leave them out. Ladies really don't like to get caught with seeds in their teeth and poppyseed is notorious for that.
A light hand is also a necessity when it comes to making scones. Over-handling the dough creates a tough finish, so handle them as little as possible.
Just knead the dough very lightly and then pat into shape on a lightly floured surface. You will also need a lovely SHARP cutter, and then cut them out using a quick tapping motion. DON'T twist the cutter as you cut them.
Twisting not only results in a lopsided scone, but also ensures that the scones won't rise as tall as they would otherwise. By twisting you seal the edges of the dough and it has to work harder to rise.
A sharp direct up and down cut is best. I also try to get as many cuts as I can out of the first patting out. You can of course gather the scraps together and cut more, but these re-pats will not be near as nice as the first cuts.
There is a tiny amount of vanilla in these. Vanilla goes really well with the flavour of peaches. Surprisingly so.
You could of course use a vanilla paste, which is thick and lush and filled with lots of seeds, if you are lucky enough to have it. But in any case always use a good vanilla. Articially flavoured vanilla is always substandard and tastes, well . . . artificial.
Another flavour that goes well with peaches is almond. Feel free to use almond extract in the place of the vanilla extract to give these delicious scones a completely different slant!
I always like to brush the tops of my scones and add a bit of crunch. A bit of cream and some turbinado/demerara raw sugar does the trick beautifully!
If you are going to glaze them however, you may want to leave this step out. But I have done both before and been very pleased with the results.
This is a buttery crisp scone, moreishly flaky . . . filled with tender sweet
pieces of peach . . . crunchy poppyseeds, and infused with a touch of vanilla.
Once baked all you have to do is to decide what you are going to enjoy them with!
If
you are lucky enough to have clotted cream do serve these with ice cold
clotted cream. Clotted Cream, how do I love thee. Let me count the
ways . . .
It forms a buttery crust as it cools which is lush and delicious. It is very hard to replicate outside of the UK. I would recommend using whipped heavy cream in its place.
The glutton in me also loves to enjoy these with a jam or preserve of some sort. I favour apricot or peach myself, but raspberry would also be delicious and working very well with the flavours of the peach.
The hardest part about these is deciding wether to put the jam on first or the cream. What school are you from? I am a cream first kind of a gal. These will be delicious no matter what way around you decide to do it.
Washed down with hot cups of tea, it just doesn't get much better than this!!
Peach & Vanilla Scones
Yield: 10 scones
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 20 Mintotal time: 35 Min
If you need to you can also use drained tinned peaches in the place of fresh ones. Just dry them really well with paper kitchen towelling before chopping. These are delicious!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups (500g) all purpose/plain flour (3 1/2 cups)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
- 1/2 cup (125g) butter, cubed
- 3 small fresh peaches, chopped coarsely
- 1 tsp poppyseeds
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 medium free range egg, beaten
- 7 TBS (100ml) whole milk (7 TBS)
- Cream to brush on the tops
- demerara sugar to sprinkle on the tops
Instructions
- 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, using a snapping motion, 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 or whipped cream and apricot jam. Fabulous!
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!
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