Tuesdays With Dorie: Buttermilk Scones March 4, 2014

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie is a recipe for Buttermilk Scones, which is located on pages 210-211 in Baking With Julia. The recipe is just a basic scone recipe with the addition of either lemon or orange zest. I asked Mike what he would prefer, so we went with lemon zest. Which of course I doubled the amount to 2 teaspoons.

These might be one of the best scones I have ever had and made. The rise on them was absolutely perfect and the lemon flavor went perfectly with the cup of tea that I had with them. I actually didn’t need to put any butter or jam on them because they were perfect just the way they are. Even the day after baking I still preferred them plain.

Emma even got in on the scones action. Initially when they were still warm she asked me to put it in the freezer to cool it down. Mike then proceeded to take her out to play in the snow. When they came back inside, I made them hot chocolate and everyone ate a scone. Emma stood on a chair at the counter and ate her small scone with her hot chocolate in an espresso cup (perfect size for an almost 3 year old).

Mike took two scones into work this morning, and I have already eaten two today and it isn’t even 1 pm yet. Emma also had most of a small scone; again while standing on a chair at the counter. She tried to claim all of them by trying to lick/bite the sugar off the top but I came in before the act was complete.

Now, here is a crappy picture of a scone since I haven’t had time to upload the pictures from the camera yet 🙂

Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Scones aka Biscuits January 28, 2012

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I’M BAAACCCKKKK!!!!

And everyone rejoices, YAY!

I guess in Australia and England these are called scones, but in North America we refer to them as biscuits. Scones, biscuits, I don’t care what you call them they are straight up yummy. This recipe was actually very easy to make and came together very quickly. I have learned over the years that when you make biscuits/scones there are two important things to remember, 1) work quick because you don’t want the butter/lard/fat to melt because they make your biscuits flakey, and 2) if you want some layer action, it is like making puff pastry, fold the dough over on itself a few times during the kneading process. Both of these things have helped me make scones/biscuits that are nice and fluffy.

These scones/biscuits turned out perfect. They had a nice fluffy texture, and rose to a perfect height. No crazy hard hockey puck biscuits here. I made up a batch and we had them with breakfast this morning. Without further ado, here is the recipe. I am being summoned by my little nugget, Emma, she isn’t happy that Mommy isn’t paying attention to her 🙂 Happy baking and eating.

Recipe Source: The challenge scone (biscuit) recipe has been especially formulated by Audax Artifex after a large amount of research and experimentation. It is designed to help you master the techniques involved in making scones (biscuits) exactly the way you like them.

Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits)
Servings: about eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones
Recipe can be doubled

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) fresh baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk
optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Maple Nut Scones and Far Breton November 1, 2011

During the month of November there is going to be two recipes for each week for Tuesdays with Dorie.  I have decided that I am going to bake each option because Mike needs to gain weight 🙂  This will probably hurt me since I am trying to lose weight.  I am almost back to my  pre-baby weight, and then I have chosen to try to lose a couple more pounds 🙂  I am looking forward to the day when I can put back on my jeans and feel comfortable 🙂

So the two recipes chosen for this week were Honey Nut Scones, which I changed to Maple Hazelnut Scones, chosen by Jeannette of Whimsical Cupcake; and Far Breton chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday.  Both of these recipes can be found in Baking: From My Home to Yours on pages 31 and 202, respectively.

You ask why did I change the scone recipe, 1) I was being lazy and didn’t want to get the honey out, and 2) I was being lazy and I already had hazelnuts that were toasted (peels removed) and chopped.  It just made life so much easier.  The scones came together quite nicely, and baked up in no time.  I need to learn to not pat the dough out so thin.  I decided to dress them up a bit with some decorating sugar, which helped in the sweetness department.  Most scones that you come across today at coffee shops are doctored up to the nines in sugar, so it takes a little getting use to when there isn’t that much sweetness to a scone.  But I guess that is what toppings are for 🙂

I sat down this morning with some Irish Breakfast Tea and a Maple Nut Scone, and I was perfectly content with my choice.  I couldn’t really taste the maple, but the hazelnut flavor was very nice and the tea balanced everything out.  I had just enough time to eat my scone and drink half of my tea before Emma woke up and wanted feed.  I have to say, that it was very good timing.

The Far Breton, made my life so simple.  Especially since I was trying to make it the night before.  After I made the batter and placed it in the fridge, I decided that soaking the prunes and having them ready for today would make life easier.  So I walked over to the pantry, checked my bag of dried fruit, only to discover that I was mistaken and didn’t have any prunes…I had dates, CRAP!

I guess I will just have to drink the Earl Grey tea that I just made and wait until tomorrow since I really couldn’t/didn’t want  to do anything about it on HALLOWEEN.

Cut to this evening when my wonderful husband shows up with prunes for my recipe.  I promptly fix the tea, soak the prunes, and wait for them to come to room temperature.  The Far Breton just came out of the oven and smells FANTASTIC.  Now, it is time for the waiting game.  It must be the worst game ever when it comes to baked goods that have to cool before you can eat them.  The anticipation is excruciating, so I am trying to distract myself by writing this entry 🙂

Tuesdays With Dorie: Cream Scones July 12, 2011

The Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for July 12th was picked by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu.  She picked Dorie’s Cream Scones which are located on page 27 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I actually made these the week after the challenge and then never posted, opps.  That is currently the story of my life because of Emma (my zombie baby…one of the many nicknames she has acquired).  She is currently sleep contently in my arms while I type this 🙂

For the Cream Scones, I decided to mix it up a bit and add a little flavor to them.  I stuck with the base of the recipe, but then I made the following additions/deletions:

1) Instead of currants I used chopped pecans

2) Added 3 tbsp of pumpkin puree and 1/4 tsp of pecan extract to the wet ingredients – I had some pumpkin leftover in the fridge 🙂

3) To add that traditional pumpkin pie flavor, I used 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground ginger to the dry ingredients.

I knew this dough was going to be sticky so instead of added extra flour, I decided to use Dorie’s trick for shortbread.  I put the scone dough in a 1-gallon plastic bag, then I rolled it  inside the bag so that it was a even thickness.  I placed the bag in the freezer for about 15 minutes so that it would firm up and be easier to cut into 12 pieces.  Once the dough was firm, I sliced the bag open on the seams, cut it in half and cut each half into thirds (fat rectangles).  Then I cut eat rectangle on the diagonal, to form triangles.

After the scones were done in the oven, I drizzled them with two icing: vanilla and cinnamon.  The vanilla icing was just 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, splash of vanilla extract, and 1-3 tbsp cream.  You mix them together until you get the desired consistency.  For the cinnamon icing, I just added about 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to the left over vanilla icing.

The scones turned out fantastic.  I was going for the flavor of Starbucks’s Pumpkin Scones and I think I might have hit it on the nose with this one.  I think next time, to make the scones thicker that I won’t roll them out as thin 🙂

Tuesdays With Dorie: Maple Cornmeal Biscuits and Blueberry Oatmeal Scones May 24, 2011

I actually baked both of these ahead of time.  But with the whole pregnancy thing, trying to get the house in order and work, I just never got around to posting.

So here we go, last weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Lindsay from A Little Something… Sweet.  She picked Dorie’s Maple Cornmeal Biscuits which are located on page 24 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  At first I wasn’t going to make these because I had just used up the rest of my maple syrup for last months Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Maple Mousse.  Then I came across Jessica of My Baking Hearts entry, and she used Golden Syrup instead of maple syrup.  I thought that was a great idea and I just happened to have some Golden Syrup in my pantry.  Thank you Jessica for the idea 🙂

For the recipe I made the following changes:

1) Substituted Golden Syrup for Maple Syrup

2) Substituted the all-purpose flour for White Whole Wheat Flour

3) Used buttermilk instead of whole milk

This biscuits actually turned out really well, and they reminded me of a milder version of cornbread 🙂

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Patricia from Life With a Whisk.  She picked Dorie’s Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones which is located on page 30 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  I have actually made this recipe before as a  Peach Oatmeal Scone, and again I wanted to mix it up so I made a Blueberry Oatmeal Scone.

I made the following changes to the recipe:

1) Substituted White Whole Wheat Flour for the All-purpose Flour (I guess you can say I am trying to be healthier)

2) Substituted Non-fat Milk for the buttermilk (I ended up running out)

3) Omitted the nutmeg and baking soda

4) Added 1/4 cup dried blueberries and 1/4 cup frozen blueberries

5) Added sugar on top of the scones to make them look pretty

The scones turned out great.  You really couldn’t tell that I used white whole wheat flour, and the dried and frozen blueberries gave the scones a great blueberry flavor without making it taste artificial.  The recipe was very easy to put together.  Especially since I decided to use a scoop to shape the scones instead of forming them into triangles.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Toasted Almond Scones February 22, 2011

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Mike of Living Out West.  He picked Dorie’s Toasted Almond Scones which are located on pages 28-29 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Who doesn’t love a scone?  Especially straight out of the oven, the flaky biscuity texture is to die for.  I baked these up this morning before I went to work and had a healthy breakfast of 2 scones, a bowl of fruit, and some yogurt.  The scones were perfect.

At first I thought that the recipe didn’t have enough sugar in it (2 Tbsp), but then if you think about what a traditional scone is you usually don’t see too much sugar and it is more about the topping than anything else.  This morning I just had my scones straight up with no toppings.  Which I think was good since I was already getting natural sugars from the fruit (pineapple, strawberries, and bananas) I was eating.  If I ever get a craving for Almond Scones, I will be making this again 🙂

Peach Oat Scones August 8, 2008

While flipping through my Dorie Greenspan cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours, I found a scone recipe that caught my eye because it had old fashion oats in it. Back when I was in college I used to go to a family owned coffee shop that made all of their baked goods. I use to always get a peach oat scone and peppermint tea. I could sit in that coffee shop for hours and just people watch. I have not been back to my old stomping grounds for over a year now, and I really miss those scones.

As soon as I saw this recipe I had some hope, that maybe just maybe I could have them again.