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
These easy Lemon Bars are a delightful recipe taken from the pages of my Big Blue Binder. For those of you who don't know this is a big blue vinyl binder filled with recipes, handwritten and clipped, that I have been saving since I was about 9 years old.
It has travelled around the world with me and is filled with all of my tried and trues. Many are family recipes, having been handed down through the generations.
Others are gifts from friends. Something I ate and enjoyed in their homes, and that they were kind enough to share the recipe with me. Shared recipes are the best recipes of all!
This is a pretty classic lemon bar recipe. They are the perfect combination of tart and sweet! Everything a good lemon bar should be.
There is something about lemon flavoured baked goodies that sings the song of my heart. I can't get enough of them. When push comes to shove and I had to choose between something lemon or something chocolate . . . well, lemon would win every time.
Actually I do have a recipe for Lemon and Chocolate Slices on here that is pretty darned good. With those you get the vanilla shortbread crust, topped with a layer of melted semi-sweet chocolate.
Onto this goes the lemon curd filling and the rest is history. Deliciously different. You can get that recipe here. Its pretty lush.
I also have a recipe for Raspberry Lemon Bars, which you can find here. Along with a lot of other delicious lemon recipes.
Recipes such as Homemade Lemon Curd, Little Lemon Ginger Cakes, Raspberry Lemon Bars, Blueberry Gingerbread. (You split that cake and put lemon curd in the middle.)
Then there is a luxurious Lemon Tart, sweet Lemon Cupcakes, Lemon and Poppyseed Bundt Cake, Lemon & Blueberry Drop Scones, and even a few more recipes for lemon delights.
All on that same page. If you like lemon, its the mother-lode of lemon tastiness.
Classic Lemon Bars however are hands down my absolute favorite bar. With their simple shortbread-like crust and tart sweet lemon filling, they always delight.
And they are such a simple bake. I don't know why people think they must be complicated. They aren't in the least. Nothing could be easier.
The crust contains only three ingredients. Plain or all purpose flour as it is also called. Salted Butter. Sifted icing sugar.
I always sift my icing sugar to get out any lumps. It doesn't take long and you get a much nicer finish in your baked goods rather than trying to use it without sifting it.
These three ingredients are rubbed together in a bowl until they are well combined. They make a rather crumbly mixture. Don't worry, its supposed to look that way.
This crumbly mixture gets put and pressed into either an 8 inch square baking dish or a 9 inch square baking dish. If you use the 8 inch square dish you get deeper layers. I like them better in the 8 inch square dish.
You just put the crumbly mixture in and then press it compact. I find using the flat bottom of a metal measuring cup does a really great job of this.
This crust gets baked for 20 minutes. It will be nicely set at the end of that time.
While the crust is baking you can get busy with the business of whisking the filling ingredients all together. There is nothing out of the ordinary there either.
The filling is simply lemon juice, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, baking powder and salt. Just whisk everything together on high until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Always, ALWAYS, use fresh lemon juice and add the zest. Fresh juice blows the one from concentrate out of the water and the zest really does add to the lemon flavor of the bars!
This mixture gets poured over the hot baked base and then the pan is popped back into the oven to bake the filling. It takes about half an hour.
At the end of that time the filling should be completely set. A finger pressed in the center should meet with some resistance and not make a dimple. At that point you know they are perfect.
The most difficult part of making these lush bars is waiting for them to cool enough so that you can cut them into bars to enjoy. Seriously. Nothing could be easier.
You do need to leave them set for about an hour prior to cutting them. I know, its hard . . . I always want to dig in right away, but believe me, it is well worth the wait.
Its a tough job but someone has to do it!!
I like to dust them with icing sugar prior to serving them. There is no point in doing that too early because the bars will absorb the sugar. I always do it just before serving.
Like a girl who is getting dressed up to go to a party, a dusting of icing sugar prettifies these up beautifully. Its not necessary, but it is nice.
If I am being really fancy, I will also pop a tiny bit of fresh lemon on top to further decorate them. But trust me when I say these are delicious even without the icing sugar topping and lemon bits.
These are just full on TASTY TASTY! A family favorite treat for sure!
Lush Lemon Bars
Yield: Makes one 8 or 9 inch square pan
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 48 Mininactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 58 M
Perfect in every way. Lemon bars with a sweet shortbread cookie crust and a lush sweet/tart lemon topping.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 cup (140g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter, softened
- 1/4 cup (35g) icing sugar, sifted
For the filling:
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (195g) granulated sugar (in the UK use caster sugar)
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Optional but nice:
- Sifted icing sugar to dust
- small bits of lemon to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Have ready an 8 or a 9 inch baking dish. Note that an 8-inch dish will give you a much thicker filling.
- Measure all the ingredients for the crust into a bowl and blend together until evenly blended. It will be crumbly. Press this mixture into the bottom of your baking dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- For the filling, beat the remaining ingredients using an electric whisk for 3 minutes on high speed, until light and fluffy. Pour this mixture over the hot crust.
- Bake for for 25 to 30 minutes, or until totally set and the top is firm when lightly touched in the center. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least an hour in the pan.
- To serve cut into squares and dust with icing sugar. Decorate with bits of fresh lemon if desired. Delicious!
I thought the plate went very well with the squares and also with my tea towel. I never know what colors I am going to use. I just sit down and start to embroider. This one is one of my favourites, but then again I say that about them all n'est ce pas!!
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.
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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.
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