Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Scones

Food52 copycat recipe for Mary O's Irish Soda Bread Scones

Prep Time15

Cook Time22

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

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

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.