Tag: scones
Oh Mary! Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Scones

Oh Mary! Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Scones

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Let’s get to it!  A rundown of another stint in New York City.  We took an early morning flight and arrived in NYC, just in time for dinner.  We headed to one of our favorite spots in the Lower East Side, Kisa.  A casual restaurant inspired by taxi driver stops in Korea, called Sik Dangs, think roadside diners. It’s Korean soul food, homey, filling, and delicious.  The perfect meal after flying 6 hours.

All you have to do is pick your entree: Bulgogi (beef), Spicy Pork, Squid or Bi Bim Bap.  I’m partial to the Bibimbap with Bulgogi.  Your array of Banchan (little dishes) accompanies every entree.  This includes kimchi, and a rotating variety of delicious pickled veggies, or marinated raw salmon, shrimp, mayak eggs or steamed eggs.  The Banchan is the highlight of the meal. So good.  Soup also comes with the meal, usually a beef and radish soup, the perfect start to a meal.  On your way out, grab a cup of black bean latte or hot chocolate from the complimentary vending machine by the door.  If this is a typical place in Korea, taxi drivers eat very well 😋

The next morning, we headed to Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Shop.  Mary O’s scones are so good that there is a line out the door every morning.  This is the only item on the menu: raisin scones.  Served warm, a vertical split down the middle is filled with a slab of Irish butter and a generous spoonful of homemade blackberry jam.  They’re buttery, crispy on the outside, and tender with a nice crumb on the inside.  It’s worth the wait on a weekday, which is when you want to go; the wait on weekends can be hella LONG.

Lucky For Me

I don’t have a Mary O’s at home, a real bummer, so I was thrilled to see a copycat recipe for said scones appear on Food52. Short of having Goldbelly deliver scones for an outrageous amount of money, this recipe could solve my Mary O’s Scone cravings, and I won’t have to wait in line.

Let’s Make Some Scones

Butter – I use Kerrygold butter.  As they say, when in Rome… Kerrygold has a higher fat content, which means a richer, buttery flavor.  Its higher fat and lower moisture content means a flakier, more tender scone.  Kerrygold is widely available at TJs, Costco, and most supermarkets. You can substitute it with a European-style butter like Plugra.

Flour – Mary imports Odlums Flour from Ireland, which you can buy at her shop.  I didn’t have the foresight to buy a bag in NYC (don’t laugh, I used to bring back White Lily Flour every time I went to Nashville), so I looked up the ingredient list for Odlums flour.  It has a similar protein content to Gold Medal AP flour (~10gms/cup) so my first batch was made using Gold Medal. For curiosity’s sake, I made a batch using King Arthur AP flour, which has a higher protein content (12gm/cup).

The scones made with GM flour were tender, fine crumbed, and crispy on the outside. The scones made with KA flour were also delicious, but they seemed a bit crumblier and drier than the Gold Medal batch.  Both are delicious.  If you like a more tender, cake-like scone, use Gold Medal.  For a more classic scone, use King Arthur flour.  Don’t skip the generous slab of butter and a big dollop of jam, especially if you use King Arthur flour.

The Key is in the Process

Get out your muffin tin.  Yep, you read that right.  Unlike regular scones, these are baked in a muffin tin.  There’s a reason for this. Unlike traditional scone recipes, the dough is not formed into a cohesive disc to be cut into wedges. You want the dough to be loose and chunky.  Start by coating your butter with the flour mixture, I like to press the butter cubes into flakes and use a pastry cutter to blend and cut the butter into smaller flakes.

Drizzle the buttermilk and cream into the mixture.  I use a dough whisk and my hands to stir the liquid into the flour mixture.   You will end up with a very loose mixture of clumps of dough and crumbs. Compressing the dough will toughen the scones.

Using a large ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup, then ever so lightly press the top just to get the crumbs to adhere.  There will be lots of stragglers or crumbs left.  Sprinkle these evenly over each scone.  You should have enough dough for 12 scones.  Egg wash each scone by dabbing the wash with a brush liberally on each one.  Bake at 425 for 20-22 minutes.  I took the scones out at 20 minutes, the tops were a nice deep golden brown. Yes, they come out looking like muffins. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To Serve:  Pull out your salted Kerrygold butter, split the scone in half vertically, careful not to cut all the way through. Slide a pat of butter in between and top with a generous dollop of jam.  My preference is a berry jam, with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. My freezer jam recipe is here, or use your favorite jam.  Make a cup of Irish or English Tea and enjoy.

Testing with King Arthur Flour was an excuse to make yet another batch of these scones—lovely way to start the morning.

Check out my Instagram reel on making these scones!

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Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Scones

Food52 copycat recipe for Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Scones
Course Biscuits and scones, Breakfast, desserts
Cuisine Irish-American
Keyword Berry jam, butter, East Village, Irish Soda Bread Scones, Mary O's, New York, raisins
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes

Equipment

  • 1 std 12-cup muffin tin
  • 1 #40 ice cream scoop

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour 480 grams
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Fat

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes 170 grams (Kerrigold or Plugra)

Add In

  • 1 cup raisins

Liquids

  • 2/3 cup buttermilk or milk plus 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream plus more for egg wash
  • 1 egg yolk

Condiments Serve with

  • berry jam, your choice
  • softened butter (Kerrigold)
  • flakey sea salt

Instructions

  • Heat the oven to 425 degrees F with a rack placed in the center position. Generously grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
  • In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Stir together cream and buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup.
  • Add the cold, cubed butter to the flour mixture and pinch into the flour with your fingers, creating flakes of flour-coated butter. Work butter into it resembles coarse sand or use a pastry cutter, slice through the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand and no large butter clumps remain. Do this quickly, as you don't want the butter to have time to soften too much.
  • Stir in the raisins, then drizzle in the buttermilk and cream. Use your hands to scoop and fold the dough together until the flour is absorbed, trying to mix and press as little as possible. The dough will be very loose and chunky. Gently scoop the dough into the cupcake tin, evenly dividing between the 12 cups. Pile any loose crumbly bits distributed evenly on top of each tin.
  • In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Brush over each scone. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean, 22 to 25 minutes. (If using a kitchen thermometer, it should read at least 190 degrees F.)
  • Serve warm with jam, butter, and flakey sea salt. Mary makes a delicious blackberry jam. A raspberry jam works well.
Game of Scone: The Tea Wedding

Game of Scone: The Tea Wedding

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My go-to scone recipe is an adaptation of Dorie Greenspan’s Cream Scone.  I love these and have made countless of variations using dried fruit, fresh fruit, citrus peel.  It is my go-to scone recipe.  Her scones are buttery, sweet, and tender.  I often throw in dried wild blueberries and lemon zest or during the summer, bits of fresh ripe peaches.  Scrumptious.  There is enough sweetness and moisture that these scones can be eaten without accouterments. But feel free to slather a bit of butter and jam on them if you like.  They are little triangles of buttery perfection, but…

They’re just not English Tea Scones

I love High Tea, almost as much as I love having a hot dog with all the fixings at a Giant’s baseball game.  The boys and I went to Hong Kong before COVID and High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong (think Crazy Rich Asians) was on our bucket list.

I savored the entire experience-the surroundings, the impeccable service, fine china, my boys in jackets and slacks, an array of delicious bite-sized morsels, and of course dainty tea scones with clotted cream and jam.  It was scrumptious.

Lady and Her Pups’ meticulous recipe for Classic English Scones popped up on my feed, I knew I had to try them.  Her video and blog post for her scones are so detailed, you can’t go wrong.  The texture of her scones is spot-on, light, and crumbly the perfect foil for clotted cream and jam.  With that first bite, I found myself sitting at the Peninsula with the boys leisurely sipping on a cup of hot Darjeeling Tea, savoring my scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves.Ingredients for English Tea Scones

Game of Scones: The Rules

I encourage everyone to watch the video on how to make these scones but if you don’t…here are the highlights…

English scones are not as buttery and a little drier than American scones.  Why? Because you are going to slather copious amounts of clotted cream or butter, jam, or lemon curd on your English scones, Silly.

Brown sugar adds both flavor and color.  Substitute granulated sugar for the brown sugar for a lighter-colored scone.

Work in the butter, you should not have any pea-size bits of butter, mixture should resemble a coarse meal.

Squeeze the flour-butter mixture together, if it clumps you are ready to add the liquid.

A combination of heavy cream and yogurt is used as the liquid this provides moisture and fat.  More butter would weigh down the dough.  The dough will be shaggy after adding the liquid ingredients.  It’s ok, it will come together as you knead the dough.

Roll dough to 1.125 inches thickness, any less and the scones will be too flat.

Keep scones small and dainty, use a cookie cutter no more than 2 inches in diameter.  When cutting, press down without twisting as that would cause the scone to rise unevenly.

The dough will need to rest before baking so the flour has time to absorb the liquid.

Double egg wash, the secret to shiny tops.

These scones should have a crack around the circumference (classic).  This is the perfect spot to split your scone.  Then get ready to spread the clotted cream and jam on both halves!  Yum!

Now go bake some scones!

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English Tea Scones

Classic English Tea Scones from Lady and Her Pups
Course Biscuits and scones
Cuisine British
Keyword English Tea Scone, scone, Tea
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

WET INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tbsp plain yogurt 45 grams, not Greek-style, regular
  • 3 tbsp heavy cream 44 grams

DRY INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups AP flour 240 grams
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tbsp light brown sugar 40 grams. You can substitute granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter, diced 70 grams

Instructions

  • Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Transfer 1 tbsp of the beaten egg into another cup and set aside. This will be the egg wash (do not add water). Then whisk the plain yogurt and heavy cream with the remaining egg until even. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, light brown sugar and fine sea salt. Add the unsalted butter, use your fingers to rub the butter evenly into the flour until NO SMALL LUMPS OF BUTTER ARE LEFT, and the flour resembles yellow cornmeal.
  • Add all the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Use a spatula to fold and mix everything together until no loose flour are left in the bowl, then use your hands to knead the dough a few times until everything comes into a ball.
  • Transfer the dough onto the counter, no need to dust with flour. Continue to knead the dough a few more times until it is on just until the dough has a TINY BIT OF RESISTANCE WHEN YOU PUSH IT DOWN. If the dough sticks to the counter, use a pastry cutter to scrape it off, do not flour board. The dough should look even but not as smooth as a bread dough.
  • Now dust the dough with a little flour to prevent sticking, and roll it out into 1-1/8 inch thickness. Press the flat side of the dough scraper on top of the dough to make sure it's flat and level. Use a 2 inch round cutter to press down into the dough. DON'T twist, then gently push the dough out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet without making large dents or making the dough too lopsided. Dip the cutter into some flour and tap on the edge to get rid of excess flour, and cut again.
  • Squeeze the remaining dough back together into a ball without big cracks, roll and cut again. Repeat until you use all of the dough. You should have 7 to 9 scones.
  • Brush the reserved egg wash on the top surface of the biscuits, save the egg wash. Place sheet in the fridge for 30 to 40 minutes UNCOVERED. Meanwhile, preheat the oven on 420 F. Right before baking, brush a second layer of egg wash on the top of the scones. This double layer gives the scones a shiny finish.
  • Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes, then turn OFF the oven, and leave the biscuits inside for another 5 minutes to finish cooking. Transfer onto a cooling rack and serve warm with clotted cream and jam-required. In a pinch, you can serve with lemon curd in place of the cream and jam.
Just Peachy Cream Scones

Just Peachy Cream Scones

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Ripe for the Picking

Peaches and nectarines are showing up at the farmer’s market in full force now. Summer is in full swing and the delicious scent of summer fruits-peaches, melons, and berries permeate the air. Even with my COVID mask on I catch whiffs of the heady aroma of vine-ripened fruit.  

I came home with way too many peaches and nectarines of course. After eating more than a couple out of hand I decided it was time to change it up.  I saw a recipe in the NYT for a peach loaf bread but that would mean having the oven on for a very long time, way too hot for that.  How about scones?  I can make Dorie’s Cream Scones and throw in peaches in place of currants and fortunately, they bake in a jiffy. 

Dorie’s Cream Scones is my go-to recipe, I have made it with dried cranberries and orange zest, dried blueberries and lemon, or freeze-dried strawberries.  It lends itself well to variations. But fresh fruit?  A little trickier.  I diced the skinned peach and placed it in the freezer while I made the dough.  I used one cup of diced peaches which is conveniently about 1 peach. 

Partially freezing the peaches (don’t use commercially frozen peaches, those have too much liquid), prevents the peaches from getting smooshed when you fold them into the dough.  I tossed them in when I added the liquid to the dry ingredients but it would be better to add the liquid, blend it to a shaggy mess, then add the peaches as you bring the dough together.

Pearls of Sconedom

Fresh fruit is less focused in sweetness and flavor than dried fruit.  I liked the peaches but they would benefit from a couple of “flavor amplifiers”.  Next time I will add a teaspoon of vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the dough.  I was lazy so I did not put a wash on the scones.  My bad, do not skip this. Brush an egg-wash or heavy cream on the scones before baking and sprinkle them generously with turbinado or sparkling sugar.  This adds both crunch and sweetness.  Another variation to jazz these scones up, finely diced candied or crystallized ginger would be ah-mazing, use about 2 tablespoons.  

Make these scones an hour or two before you serve them. I like them at room temperature, the flavor, and texture set up nicely.  They are often served warm too, just not my preference.  Scones are drier than biscuits which means they are perfect with a spoon of jam and dollop of clotted cream-scone heaven.  If you don’t have clotted cream, you can use creme fraiche, mascarpone, or butter.

Whaddya waiting for, go make some scones!

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Dorie Greenspan's Cream Scones

Dorie's classic cream scones with fresh peaches
Course Biscuits and scones, Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American, British
Keyword Cream Scones, Dorie Greenspan, Scones
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter chilled & cut into small pieces

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1 large egg
  • 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract optional

Adds:

  • 3/4-1 cup fresh fruit-peaches, nectarines, strawberries, berries larger fruit-diced and left to drain on a paper towel while making dough.

Egg wash:

  • 2 tbsp heavy cream or egg wash
  • turbinado or sparkling sugar

Accompaniments

  • jam or preserves serving
  • clotted cream substitute creme fraiche or mascarpone

Instructions

  • Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment
  • In a small bowl, stir the egg, cream and vanilla (if using) together.
  • Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
  • Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.
  • Pour the egg, cream and currants over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, come together. Don't overdo it. Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.
  • You can also use a food processor. Place dry ingredients in bowl, pulse 1-2 twice to mix. Add butter and pulse 5-6 times until mixture looks like crumbs. Add egg/cream and pulse to dough just begins to clump. Do not overmix! Take mixture out of processor bowl, fold in peaches and shape dough into circles, proceed as below.
  • Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place it on the baking sheet.
  • Brush scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar
  • Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes (start checking at 15 min) or until their tops are golden and firm. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.
  • The scones can be frozen on the baking sheet as the cut wedges, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking- just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.
  • Serve with jam and clotted cream or butter

Notes

Great combinations include:
Sub dried blueberries and lemon, add 1 tsp lemon zest
Sub dried cranberries and orange add 1-2 tsp orange zest
Sub fresh fruit for currants:
blueberries, strawberries
cut fruit-partially freeze diced fruit before adding to dough

Lemon Icing

  • 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
“Bacon Up” Some Savory Scones

“Bacon Up” Some Savory Scones

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It is not surprising that I love scones.  Scones are the British version of biscuits and as you all know, I am obsessed with biscuits.  I will go in search of two things on my travels, BISCUITS and PIE. Yep, I have been known to detour far and wide for either.  I may not go out of my way for a scone (who am I kidding, yes I will), but if I happen on a bakery and they have scones, that’s what will be sitting next to my cup of joe.  At home, my favorite scone recipe is from Dorie Greenspan.  Tender, crumbly, buttery, a touch of sweetness-downright delicious.  Make it with currants for a classic cream scone, or change it up and add orange zest and dried cranberries or my personal favorite, lemon and wild blueberries.

But this post takes a walk on the savory side.  Recommended by my friend Mary, baker extraordinaire-Bacon, Cheddar, Chive Scones from King Arthur Flour are seriously addicting.  That first bite fills your mouth with buttery crumbs, chunks of golden cheese, flecks of green chives, and then…wait for it..sweet, salty, crispy, bits of BACON.  Hello?  Are you smacking your lips right now?  You should be.

bacon cheddar chive scone

These are quick and easy to make and you can freeze the unbaked scones, take them out in the morning, throw them in the oven and voila, 30 minutes later, you are enjoying freshly baked warm scones.

After cutting the butter into the flour mixture, add your flavor bombs.

Add cream and fold, smoosh the dough together and form a disc approximately 1 inch thick, cut into wedges.  Do not overmix, but the dough should come together when pinched.  Add cream in tablespoon increments if necessary.

Confession.  The first time I made these was on a whim.  I opened the door to my fridge, hmmm, no chives, scallions will have to do.  What? No heavy cream, you’re kidding… well, I do have half & half, why not?  The trifecta of substitutions, I had a medley of cheese, Monterey Jack, Cheddar, and Mozzarella no cheddar.

Last minute bakers cannot be choosy.

The scones turned out fine. Light, great bacon flavor, definitely a keeper and I saved all those calories using half-half. Not bad!

The next time I was prepared-heavy cream, pastry flour, chives, sharp cheddar cheese…you betcha’.  This scone was a bit denser and moister, I could taste the sharp cheddar and overall the scone seemed richer.

Both scones were delicious.  So I leave it to you.  For a richer scone use heavy cream, for a lighter scone use half & half but definitely use sharp cheddar cheese for flavor.  I might even add some chopped jalapeno next time to spice it up a bit.  Woohoo!

**Alert** If you are a purist do not read the next paragraph.  The recipe calls for approximately a cup of chopped bacon.  That’s a lot of bacon.  You COULD oven-bake or pan-fry (all that splatter, ugh) the half pound of bacon and crumble it into bits, OR you could go to Costco and buy ready to use REAL bacon bits.  We are not talking imitation Bacobits but real bacon.  Snap, So EASY.

 

 

 

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Bacon-Cheddar-Chive Scones

Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American, British
Keyword scone
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Pastry Flour Blend either works fine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter
  • 1 cup very coarsely grated or diced cheddar cheese grated works well
  • 1/3 cup snipped fresh chives or finely diced scallion tops the green part
  • 1/2 pound bacon cooked, cooled, and crumbled (about 1 cup)* see text above
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whipping cream or enough to make the dough cohesive

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the middle to upper third. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment.
  • Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Work the butter into the flour until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, with some of the butter remaining in larger pieces.
  • Mix in the cheese, chives, and bacon until evenly distributed.
  • Add 3/4 cup of the cream, stirring to combine. Try squeezing the dough together; if it's crumbly and won't hang together, or if there are crumbs remaining in the bottom of the bowl, add cream until the dough comes together. Transfer the shaggy dough to a well-floured work surface.
  • Pat the dough into a smooth 7" disk about 3/4" thick. Transfer the disk to the prepared baking sheet. Use a knife or bench knife to cut the disk into 8 wedges, spreading the wedges apart a bit on the pan.
  • Brush the scones with a bit of cream; this will help their crust brown.
  • Bake the scones in the middle or upper third of the oven for 22 to 24 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan.If they brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil.   Serve warm, or at room temperature.
  • Refrigerate any leftover scones, well wrapped, for several days; reheat before serving. Freeze for longer storage.

Notes

Want to make scones now, freeze and bake later?
Make scones up to the point they're on the baking sheet, cut and ready to bake; don't brush them with cream. Freeze, then remove from the sheet, and wrap airtight in a plastic bag. When you're ready to bake, remove however many you want to bake from the freezer, place on a baking sheet, brush with cream, and bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Make mini-scones: Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a 5" round. Cut each round into 8 wedges. Bake in a preheated 425°F oven till golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes; or for about 25 minutes if frozen.
Karma’s a Batch…of Meyer Lemon Scones

Karma’s a Batch…of Meyer Lemon Scones

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I got up this morning with scones on the brain.  A while ago I had come across a recipe on the blog Dessert for Two for Small Batch Meyer Lemon Scones. They looked delicious.  I filed it away under the “I should try these cause they look yummy” recesses of my mind.  This past weekend my goal was to clean and reorganize the fridge (inspired by Sam Kass’s new book). As luck would have it, squirreled away in the back of the crisper drawer I found a forgotten bag of Meyer Lemons from my baking buddy, Kathy.

Karma, I was Meant to Make These Scones.

The recipe makes four more-than-generous scones so my first change was to make six instead.  A nice size to accompany a breakfast plate or on its own as an afternoon tea treat. You can whip up a batch in no time flat and that’s without using a mixer. The keys are to keep everything as cold as possible and to not overwork the dough.  The mantra for any scone, biscuit, or pie dough.

I used a pastry cutter to mix the butter in the flour.  The butter should be in small pieces no bigger than petite peas.  Add the wet ingredients and blend together.  The mixture will not hold together but will be shaggy.  Pour onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Fold and compress the dough to form a disc.  The heat of your hands will help the dough clump together.  Cut the disc into four to six pieces.

Separate the scones and paint the tops with heavy cream.  Bake until golden.  I made the icing but it didn’t stand out on the scones. It did add a nice sweet-tart finish though.

Meyer Lemon Scones

These scones are tender, buttery, and lemony sweet.  The perfect beginning or ending to a day.  It’s a good thing this is a small batch recipe…I’d be tempted to eat them all.

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Karma’s a Batch…of Meyer Lemon Scones

A lovely buttery, light, lemony scone from Dessert for Two that is easy to make, a perfect weekend morning pick me up.
Course Biscuits and scones, Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword Cream Scones, meyer lemon scones, Meyer lemons
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cold
  • 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream plus extra for brushing
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • zest of 2 Meyer lemons* I'm thinking grapefruit or reg lemons would work well too.

For the optional glaze: Try not to skip it, it is a nice finish.

  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
  • In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
  • Dice the butter and add it to the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour mixture until it's evenly distributed and smaller than peas. Use two knives, a pastry cutter, or your fingertips (quickly squeeze the butter pieces between your fingers pressing them into little flakes.
  • Whisk heavy cream, egg yolk and lemon zest in a small bowl. Pour ontothe flour mixture and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Don't overmix, but incorporate things well.
  • Scoop the dough out, place it on the baking sheet, and use the warmth of your hands to fold and press dough together until it sticks together into a round disc form.
  • Cut the dough circle into 4-6 even pieces. Brush each piece with extra heavy cream. (Cut by pressing knife in one downward motion, don't use a sawing motion which will cause uneven rising)
  • Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and they lightly brown on the edges.
  • While the scones bake, whisk together the glaze ingredients.
  • Glaze the scones when cool.
Cream Scones (Dorie is a Goddess)

Cream Scones (Dorie is a Goddess)

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I absolutely love Dorie Greenspan, her recipes work, her writing is wonderful and most of all she comes across as a really nice person.  I left a comment regarding a recipe I found on her blog, it wasn’t even her recipe but from Sarabeth’s in New York.  Well the next thing you know, she contacts Sarabeth who in turn calls me to troubleshoot the recipe!  WOW.  That’s what I’m saying..NICE.

Scones are Made for Sharing

A favorite Dorie recipe (aside from World Peace Cookies) is Cream Scones from her Baking From My Home to Yours.  They’re so easy to make, you can whip them up in a jiff.  Today I brought them to our mom’s Monday morning coffee.  I ran 30 minutes late due to my last minute decision to make them but no one complained. After all, I came bearing gifts, warm scones just out of the oven.

DSC02673

You can put just about anything you want in these scones.  I threw in lemon zest and dried wild blueberries in today’s batch.  Infinite possibilities exist, orange zest and cranberries, raisins, even dried corn and cherries would be a wonderful addition.

Game of Scones: The Rules

To make these I used my biscuit bowl (love it).  Of course, you can use any bowl but I need to justify having a biscuit bowl.  Have all your ingredients well chilled to start.  You could use a food processor but the dough does come together quickly using a pastry blender or your fingers to incorporate the butter into the flour.  Do not over-mix, you will see little lumps of butter in your dough and still have flour showing.

Pour the mass on the counter and knead a couple of times to bring the dough together.  Shape the dough into 2 5-inch circles and cut each into 6 wedges, (the baking time was closer to 15 minutes). Brush the scones with cream before popping them into the oven.

dough

While they’re baking I make my coffee and 20 minutes later I’m kicking my feet up, enjoying a cup of coffee and warm scones.  How great is that?

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Dorie Greenspan's Cream Scones

Dorie's classic cream scones
Course Biscuits and scones
Cuisine American, British
Keyword Cream Scones
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 12 scones

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 Tsp salt
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter chilled & cut into small pieces

The Add Ins:

  • 3/4 cup currants
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or sub 1/2 teaspoon almond exrtract optional
  • clotted cream substitute creme fraiche or mascarpone
  • peach jam or preserves
  • Egg wash
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream or egg wash
  • turbinado or sparkling sugar

Instructions

  • Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment
  • Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.

By Hand

  • Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.
  • Pour the egg, cream and currants over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, come together. Don't overdo it. Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.

Food Processor:

  • You can also use a food processor. Place dry ingredients in bowl, pulse 1-2 twice to mix. Add butter and pulse 5-6 times until mixture looks like crumbs. Add egg/cream and pulse to dough just begins to clump. Do not overmix! Take mixture out of processor bowl, fold in peaches and shape dough into circles, proceed as below.

Directions for both by hand or food processor

  • Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place it on the baking sheet.
  • Brush scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar
  • Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes (start checking at 15 min) or until their tops are golden and firm. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.
  • The scones can be frozen on the baking sheet as the cut wedges, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking- just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.
  • Serve with jam and clotted cream or butter