A Perfect Time for Scones

I love scones year 'round, but spring is really a perfect time to have some baked and ready to serve with berries. For Mother's Day we had some for dinner dessert as a shortcake, with local strawberries and Strauss Dairy (also local) whipped cream...heavenly! We ate it up quickly - no photos.

To go with tea in the afternoon, it doesn't get much better than a warm scone with some home made lemon curd (recipe HERE) and some more of those delicious, juicy strawberries as shown in the photos.

Scones are easy to make as long as you remember that the less handling the better, especially once the butter in blended into the flour mix. I tend to make a well, add the liquid, then stir gently with a fork. Once you turn it all out onto a lightly floured board or work surface, you'll be able to see if you need a bit more buttermilk once you've gently pushed the dough together. I just pour a few dribbles of buttermilk over the places that seem to have a lot of undampened flour bits. Gently knead there just to dampen those bits and push them into the dough mass. Knead, again gently, only two or three turns and you should have a cohesive dough to divide and shape into two rough circles.

The only other tip is to watch them carefully and to remove them from the oven once they are just golden brown. That way you will have moist and tender scones, full of buttery flavor and ready to pair with any spring fruit you desire...or just some fruit curd or jam.

Simple Scones

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets.

½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (no substitutions)
1 cup buttermilk


Glaze: 2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar (I used white sanding sugar)

In a small bowl use your fingers to rub together the sugar and lemon peel until fragrant.
Combine flour, lemon-sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour buttermilk over crumb mixture. Stir together with fork just until mixture comes together. Gather dough gently into a ball; knead 4 or 5 times. Cut dough in half and transfer pieces to prepared cookie sheets. Shape each piece into two 6 inch x 1/4 inch thick circles, 2 inches apart. Using floured knife, cut each circle into 8 wedges.

For glaze, brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 16 scones.

If you are going to freeze these to re-heat later, bake them just short of golden brown and re-heat, thawed, for 5 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Enjoying the Berries of Early June

I wish that I could say that I'm super concerned about using seasonal ingredients in my meals, but in truth I purchase raspberries and blueberries in winter knowing that someone has most likely shipped them from the southern hemisphere. The same is true of broccoli...I eat it year round when it's really a fall or winter veg.

That said, I do enjoy celebrating the arrival of local produce. Our local strawberry farm began selling their fruit in May, much later than usual due to the extended chilly spring and late rains. We just bought some on Thursday and then I discovered yesterday that the olallieberries  that grow down by the road are ripe...at about their usual time. We had a heat spell for a few days (high 90s) earlier in the week and that really pushed the ripening. This morning it was foggy and cool, so I filled up three pint baskets with gorgeous, huge, ripe olallieberries in short order. There were even a few that were over ripe already.

The best thing to do with ripe, seasonal berries like these are to enjoy them just as they are...well, after a quick wash to get rid of any dust or bugs...to enjoy their juiciness, tang and sweetness. I also like them on my morning cereal or with plain yogurt. 

Today we were invited by our neighbors across the street to come for dinner tonight. They lead very busy lives so we find that spur of the moment plans work best. I offered to bring a dessert with the berries. The great thing was that I had already planned to make scones to go with the berries and then planned to add a dollop of freshly whipped cream. So much nicer to have others to share it with!

These scones go together fairly quickly with about a 20 minute prep time and another 20 minutes for the baking. I used soy creamer instead of the heavy cream since I was saving the cream for whipping. I put the cut up butter in the freezer for a few minutes while I made the egg-creamer-almond extract mixture and the dry ingredient mixture. I baked them on pizza pans that I had lined with parchment paper. It wasn't in the recipe, but I also sprinkled some sparkling sugar over the tops of the scones since they were headed for dessert, but that's optional.

Do try these this summer while all the berries and stone fruits are plentiful and ripe and juicy. You'll be glad you did.

To make these shortcakes you put a scone on a plate, scoop about 1/3 cup berries on top, then add a large dollop whipped cream and serve. You will need:

1 pint whipping cream, chilled and whipped to soft peaks...with a teaspoon sugar added as you whip.
2 pints fresh berries - rinse and drain - if strawberries, hull, then slice - use all one kind or mix them
1/2 recipe Almond Cream Scones (save the other half for having with tea or freeze)

Almond Cream Scones
Cream Scones enriched with both almond flour and almond extract
a variation of two recipes in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours
"Perfect for every scone-able occasion"

1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream or Silk soy creamer
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 cup almond flour
(or grind 1 cup blanched almonds and the following sugar in a food processor until finely ground)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Stir the egg, cream and almond extract together. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, cake flour, almond 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. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between...and that is just right.

Pour the egg and cream over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes 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. If not sticky, add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream or soy creamer.
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. (at this point, the scones can b e frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking - just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake the scones for 20 -22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firm. Keep an eye on them the last 5 minutes or so so they don't overbake.

Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.

Scones with Currants

Dried currants are a favorite of mine. Each tiny one of them holds a big burst of flavor, so when you have lots of them baked into your favorite scone, you have a delicious treat.

Scones are a really simple quick bread...no yeast involved. The key to the best scones is to handle the ingredients gently and to just barely mix the liquids into the dry ingredients...a few dry crumbs that can be swept up into the dough mass as you form a ball is just right.

This scone has soy milk soured with lemon juice, some lemon zest, and lots of currants. I made these with all-purpose flour, but they are delicious with a mixture of all-purpose and most whole grain flours, like whole wheat, spelt, etc. I like to use King Arthur Baking's Irish Wholemeal flour for about 1/4 of the flour. It adds nutty flavor and a bit of chew. 

Once they are baked, do try to eat your first one while it is still warm from the oven to get the best experience. Those Sweetie and I didn't eat at once were allowed to cool to room temperature, then I put them into a gallon ziploc bag and then into the refrigerator. They kept well for a couple of days and were still delicious when re-heated on low power in the microwave.

Try them with butter or a smear of lemon curd and you will never want to be without a currant scone handy in the freezer. They do freeze beautifully. 

Dried Currant and Citrus Scones
Adapted from a Ladies Home Journal recipe March ‘97

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet.

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used non-dairy margarine)
¾ cup currants
1 cup buttermilk (I used soy creamer soured with 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice)
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Glaze:(optional) 2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar or sanding sugar

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add diced dried fruit and pecans. Combine buttermilk and orange peel in a bowl or measuring cup. Pour over crumb mixture. Stir together with fork just until mixture comes together. Gather dough gently into a ball; knead 4 or 5 times.

Cut dough in half and transfer pieces to prepared cookie sheets. Shape each piece into a 6 inch x 1/4 inch thick circles, 2 inches apart. Using floured knife, cut each circle into 8 wedges. You will have two circles, cut into 16 scones.

For glaze, if using, brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 16 scones.

Raspberry Scones

I've barely been baking, partly because I didn't have yeast for a while and flour was difficult to find, so I didn't want to use up what I have too quickly and partly because I don't bake when I'm down and the sense of upheaval caused by the shelter-in-place had me down for a while. It was disconcerting for everyone to have all the usual, expected routines upended and so quickly. At first I just thought that was all that was bothering me, but eventually I realized that part of the problem was that it brought back the time when I lost my son suddenly in an auto accident. My whole world changed in an instant then, too. There was no going back to what was before and I suspect that will be the case here, too. Many things will return to almost normal, but this sudden, worldwide pause (that's what my  brother calls it - The Pause) in life as it is usually lived won't be forgotten. We now all know how profoundly things can change is a very brief amount of time. I already knew it, but this brought that knowledge...and the memories from when it happened almost 21 years ago...to the fore. Now that I know why I was unsettled and depressed by it, it seems to have little force. I'm back to baking and living each moment to the fullest, not hiding from it as I was.

So what have I baked? One of the most recent bake was of fresh raspberry scones. The raspberries are tart and the scones themselves aren't very sweet, so I washed the top of the scones with soy creamer and sprinkled on sanding sugar so that these are sweet-tart in the best way. I cut each raspberry in half, but the thing to remember is that once cut, raspberries have a tendency to come apart even more, so be gentle but quick in mixing them into the batter.

One of the keys in making scones is to use very cold ingredients and to handle the dough as little as possible. One way to do that is to portion the dough in half while still in the mixing bowl, then turn one of those halves out onto parchment paper which is lining a baking sheet. Use clean hands to gently gather the dough together and form it into a slightly flattened circle, then use a bench scraper or long knife to cut each circle into six or eight triangles. I baked them still attached to each other and divided them once baked and it worked out well. You can also flour the parchment lightly so that the cut triangles and be separated before baking, just do so gently.

I served these, plus some breakfast sausages, for our Anniversary breakfast, along with coffee for Sweetie and tea for me. A great way to start a day, but these scones would also be perfect for an afternoon break. They go together fairly quickly, so do try them yourself. If you can't find raspberries, you can substitute diced strawberries or washed and dried fresh blueberries. When using raspberries, you'll likely find that here and there throughout the scone, after baking, there is a slight purplish tinge...that is fine. The berries are just giving off a little juice. The scones are more delicious that way.

Fresh Raspberry Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup almond meal
½ cup 12 grain flour (or substitute whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 oz (1/2 stick) very cold butter, grated on the large holes of a box grater
1 egg
½ cup light cream
¼ cup buttermilk ( I used 3/4 cup soy creamer soured with 1 tablespoon plain yogurt for the cream and buttermilk)
¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest - colored part only
1 cup fresh raspberries, cut in half if large

1 tablespoon cream or soy creamer
2-3 tablespoons sanding sugar (optional)

With a fork stir together the flour, almond meal, 12 grain(or whole wheat) flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the grated butter, then, using clean fingers, rub the butter and flour together until the texture of bread crumbs. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.

In a large measuring cup, use the fork to stir the eggs to beat them lightly, then add the light cream, buttermilk,  almond extract, and citrus zest and stir to mix well.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually add the liquid ingredient mixture, mixing lightly with the fork, just until ingredients are barely combined. Do not overmix. If mixture seems to dry, add a few drops of milk; if too wet, add a tablespoon of flour. Finished mixture should be the consistency of moist biscuit dough.

Again using the fork, gently and quickly stir the raspberries into the dough, just enough to disperse them.

Turn half the dough out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Pat dough into a circle with about a 1 inch thickness. Cut with floured bench scraper or knife, into six or eight scones. Repeat with the second half of the dough on another parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush lightly with cream or soy creamer then sprinkle with sanding sugar (optional). Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly in pan, then serve warm.

Singing Hinnies with the Bread Baking Babes

This has been a hot summer for us. Lots of days in the high 80s, the 90s, even a couple triple digits ones. As you might note if you look at other recent posts, not a lot of baking is going on. When it was time for me to select a recipe for July as the Bread Baking Babes Kitchen of the Month, I decided to go with something that didn't require an oven. I'm not the only one of us contending with high temperatures!

One of the oddly named recipes that I have been meaning to try for a while is Singing Hinnies. So for July we will be making Singing Hinnies. What on earth are those you might wonder. Well, they are a scone-like griddled bread from Northumberland in Northern England.

"There are many thoughts about the derivation of the name but I’m sure it is the noise they make as they cook.  Apparently a mother explained to her daughter that they would soon be ready as she could hear them singing.  She then referred to her daughter as ‘hinnie’ – a Northumbrian term of endearment, hence the ‘singin’ hinnie’." Thus wrote Laura Fitzpatrick of the blog Hello Eco Living. 

I mainly used her recipe, with a few variations, plus there are suggestions below for making your own changes. If you are going to be a Bread Baking Buddy, and I hope that you do that, the only requirement is that they are scone-like and contain a fruit like currants or raisins and that they are cooked by griddling.

They are the perfect breakfast  or tea time treat and come together in less than 30 minutes using pantry staples. You can use all butter or margarine, or use part butter and part lard if you have a good supplier of lard. You can use a food processor to pulse the cold fat into the flour mixture before adding the currants and mixing the rest by hand in a bowl, or use the traditional method of rubbing the fat in by hand or cutting it in using a pastry cutter or two knives...your choice.

Another choice is to add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the flour mixture and then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk before adding it to the flour mixture after the fat is cut in. This will probably produce a slightly higher singing hinnie, but it might take longer to cook. A key element here is a cast iron skillet or a griddle or similar cooking surface that is heated on a low heat. Mine was at the perfect temperature when, as I flipped the hinnies to the second side, they 'sang' from the fat particles hitting the hot griddle. That will happen if it is too hot, also, but not if the heat is too low (which is what I had at first...that's how I know).

Do handle the dough lightly and minimally as you would a scone or biscuit mixture to keep them from being tough. Cut straight down with your round cutter and don't twist so that they will rise well. I found that I needed a full 9 tablespoons of milk to wet the dry ingredients so that they would hold together to be rolled out. I rolled them to a half inch thickness. They do puff up a bit when they cook and thicker might make it harder to griddle them fully without burning the outsides.

These are delightful, rather like a rich but thinner scone. The griddled part gets a nice browned butter flavor and the currants give a bit of sweetness. I used a small fork to split a couple of them and added more butter, but decided that I preferred them unsplit, just as they are when they come off the griddle. They are very tender on the inside and just a bit crisp on the outside. Do eat them while still warm! Jam and butter are optional. Tea goes really well with these.

Be sure to check out the other Bread Baking Babes for their take on this rich little goodie. If you go to Web View of this blog, the links to their blogs are on the right, down a little way.

If you'd like to become a Buddy and get one the beautiful badges that Elizabeth created (similar to the one above), just email me at plachman at sonic dot net with a photo and the URL of your post, plus a brief description of your experience making these. The deadline is July 29th. I'll try to post the roundup on August 1.

Singing Hinnies

225grams (8ozs) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams (4ozs) butter (or margarine)
50 grams (2ozs) currants
Milk to mix to a dough (about 6-9 tablespoons)

Sift the flour and baking powder (and baking soda if using) into a bowl.  Rub in the fat (or cut in with pastry blender or two knives) and stir in the currants.  Add enough milk to make a dough.  Roll out onto a floured tray or board and cut with scone or biscuit cutter into rounds of chosen size, usually about 3 inches wide.

Heat pan (griddle or cast iron skillet work well) and lightly grease.  Place scones onto griddle on a very low heat so that the scones can cook very slowly.  Turn once and cook on other side.  To check that they are cooked remove one of the scones and tap it gently – it should sound hollow. The top and bottom should be browned but not burnt.

Serve warm, either split and buttered, or not. Strawberry jam should be great with these.

Scones For The Mostly Dairy Free Folks

When I first learned to make scones I loved using cold butter and rich cream to make wonderful, light but rich and flaky delights. When I planned a tea party for this month my sister challenged me to make a scone that was equally delightful, but with none of the usual dairy. After all, when my guests were going 'mmmm good' as they ate their scones, I wanted to be right in there with them. No lemon curd or clotted cream for me, but raspberry jam goes really well with the perfect scone.

These may not have been the perfect scone, but they were delicious and had the right texture, too. I used very cold margarine instead of the butter, used a light hand with the cutting in of the margarine, used a mixture of soy milk creamer and Greek yogurt (the only dairy I can tolerate) for the liquid and I added a touch of almond extract, too. Sweetie had one shortly after I took them from the oven and he was a convert. I enjoyed mine, too and so did my guests. If you are eating vegan, just skip the Greek yogurt and use a full cup of the soy creamer. I used Silk brand original plain soy creamer. I've found that it works well as a milk/cream replacement and tastes good, too.

Here are half the scones before baking...you make two discs like this.

Simple Only Yogurt Scones
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup non-dairy margarine, well chilled
¾ cup soy creamer
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Glaze: 2 tablespoons soy creamer
2 tablespoons sugar (I used white sanding sugar)

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine to medium crumbs. In a large measuring cup whisk together the soy creamer and the Greek yogurt. (Alternately, just use 1 cup soy creamer instead of that mixture.)

Pour soy milk mixture over crumb mixture. Stir together with fork just until mixture comes together. Use a light hand. Gather dough gently into a ball; knead 4 or 5 times. Cut dough in half and transfer pieces to prepared cookie sheets. Shape each piece into a 6 inch x 1/4 inch thick circle. Using floured knife or bench scraper, cut each circle into 8 wedges. Put wedges on the prepared cookie sheets.

For glaze, brush tops with soy creamer and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 16 scones.

If you are going to freeze these to re-heat later, bake them just short of golden brown and re-heat, thawed, for 5 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Apricot Scone with Almond Flour

Although I had a really bad loaf of bread recently using gluten free sourdough starter and buckwheat flour, in general I'm starting to get the hang of gluten free baking. Recently I made some delicious scones with dried apricots. I used King Arthur Flour almond flour and white rice flour, plus some tapioca flour to replace the all-purpose wheat flour and I increased the baking soda to a teaspoon, plus used yogurt and water instead of buttermilk, but otherwise it was pretty much the same as one I baked before. I big difference was using very cold butter flavored vegetable shortening instead of butter. Needless to say, it doesn't taste like a wheat flour/butter scone, but it was tasty and the texture was pretty good, if just a bit gritty from the almond flour.

In case you are keeping track, I cut the last pieces today for Phil's stained glass piece and finished the copper foiling. Hope to work on it some more tomorrow.

Apricot Almond GF Scones

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet.

3 cups all-purpose flour (substitute equal parts almond flour, white rice flour and tapioca flour)
½ cup sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature  (substitute equal amount very cold butter flavored vegetable shortening)
¾ cup finely diced dried apricots
1 cup buttermilk (substitute 3/4 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup water)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 egg yolks

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in vegetable shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add diced dried apricots.
Combine yogurt mixture and almond extract in a bowl or measuring cup. Whisk in the egg yolks. Pour over crumb mixture. Stir together with fork just until mixture comes together. Gather dough gently into a ball; knead 4 or 5 times to make sure all components are combined well.

Cut dough in half and transfer pieces to prepared cookie sheets. Shape each piece into a 6 inch x 1/4 inch thick circle. Using floured knife, cut each circle into 8 wedges.

Optional: Brush top with egg beaten with 1 tablespoons water, then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 15 – 20 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 16 scones.

Scones Shine With Pumpkin

It really is pumpkin season. It's also the time of year when we 'fall back' in the U.S. and go back to standard time instead of daylight savings time. I've been doing without a watch for the past few months, so I have had a general sense of time. Now I find that my sense of time is off. I think it is actually harder for Pi, our wonderful black lab. He has gotten used to dinner being at 5 pm. Just because we decided over the weekend that 5 pm should become 4 pm doesn't change the fact that he expects to eat at that time. He really doesn't care what time we call it. So today he was fed dinner at 4:10. Tomorrow it might be 4:15 and so in about 10 days he will be eating at 5 pm again.

Because we are used to eating earlier, I decided yesterday that we should have tea around 4 pm (after I fed the dog) and to go with the tea I made pumpkin scones. I found a recipe at King Arthur Flour, but changed it around so that the scones had both all-purpose and white whole wheat flour, it contained some buttermilk  and brown sugar instead of white, and I also added some bourbon soaked dried cranberries and chopped toasted walnuts. Actually only half the scones were treated to the cranberries and walnuts. The other half of the dough was just plain pumpkin. I actually like both version about equally. The one with the cranberries smells a lot like Christmas fruitcake, so I think I'll make them for Christmas morning this year. The plain ones allow the pumpkin to shine more, which is a wonderful thing if you like pumpkin as much as I do. The next time I make them in either version, I plan to increase the spices a bit. It could use a bit more cinnamon for sure. Still, both Sweetie and I managed to eat one of each kind.

This recipe makes tender but slightly dense scones. If you use the sparkling sugar you get a nice crunch, too. I like the slight tang that the buttermilk imparts, but I think I'll use a full teaspoon of salt next time.

Don't like cranberries or walnuts but want to have add-ins? Try mini chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or similar things.

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Scones
based on a recipe found at the King Arthur Flour website

1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup bourbon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon half and half
coarse white sparkling sugar, for topping

In a small bowl soak the dried cranberries in the bourbon for at least an hour, overnight is even better. Drain and reserve the bourbon for another use. Set cranberries aside.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.

Work the butter into the dry ingredients just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly (best done using a pastry cutter or two knives); it's OK fore some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.

In another bowl whisk together the pumpkin, eggs and buttermilk until smooth.

Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredient mixture and stir gently until all is moistened and holds together.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or grease the sheet. Scrape the dough onto a lightly flour surface. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the dough into two. Gently knead the cranberries and walnuts into one half.

Take one of the chunks of dough and gently round into a 5-6 inch circle. Gently flatten circle to about 3/4-inch thick. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the circle into 6-8 wedges. Place those wedges on the prepared baking sheet.

Take the second chunk of dough and repeat. Place those wedges on the baking sheet, too. Place the baking sheet into the freezer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. (I left mine in overnight and baked them the next day and they were fine.)

While scones are in the freezer, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bake the scones in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until they're golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, with no wet crumbs.

Remove the scones from the oven and serve right away while warm. Wrap any leftovers airtight and store at room temperature. Reheat very briefly in the microwave if desired. If you prefer, you may leave the scones in the freezer until ready to bake, baking only as many as you wish to eat. They should be well wrapped in the freezer if you plan to bake them any longer than about 4 hours after putting them in the freezer.

Spring Fruits in Scones

If you read through some of my blog posts it probably seems like I bake all the time, just because. In truth I used to do just that, but for a while now I've had to curtail my impulse to bake for a couple of reasons, but mainly because as we get older it seems to be harder to burn off those extra calories and so fewer calories are needed. While I would love to eat nothing but baked goods, good sense encourages me to fill up on fruits and veggies and quality protein instead.

That said, I still love to bake, so it is wonderful when I have a reason to bake something as delicious as scones. This past weekend I attended a P.E.O. conference in LA and we had a very early flight, so I made scones for Sweetie and I to enjoy at the start of our trip, plus I made a few extra to enjoy with committee members during our early morning committee meeting on Sunday. Since I had fresh blueberries and apricots on hand, plus a bag of sweet, moist dried apricots, I decided to make scones with them, some sliced almonds, and to use buttermilk for the liquid. It's tang goes so well with those fruits and it helped to keep the scones moist until Sunday morning, even though I baked them on Friday. P.E.O. supports women in their educational goals through scholarships and low interest loans, plus we own a college, Cottey College. The effort is almost all done by volunteers, like my fellow committee members, so they deserved some fine scones for getting up so early, right?

These were rough looking because I barely gathered the dough bits together, similar in technique to making Irish soda bread. The upside of that is they were tender and almost flaky. There was enough butter that you didn't need to add any and the flavor combination with the apricot, blueberry, lemon and almond flavors, combined with buttermilk, was excellent and hit the spot in the early morning with a cup of coffee. These don't take much time and would take even less without the dried apricots and if you left the peel on the fresh apricots, so mix up a batch yourself. You'll be glad you did.

Blueberry and Double Apricot Scones
Adapted from a Ladies Home Journal recipe March ‘97
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet or use parchment or silicone mat.

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (no substitutions)
1/4 cup finely diced dried apricots
½ cup chopped fresh, peeled apricots½ cup fresh blueberries, dusted with a bit of flour
½ cup sliced almonds
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Glaze: 2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons sparkling sugar

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add diced dried fruit, fresh apricot pieces and the blueberries and sliced almonds. 

Combine buttermilk, egg and lemon peel in a bowl or measuring cup. Pour over crumb mixture. Stir together with fork just until mixture comes together. Gather dough gently into a ball; it might be crumbly...that is OK. Divide dough in half and transfer to prepared cookie sheets. Shape each piece into a 6 inch x 1 inch thick circle, 2 inches apart. Using floured knife, cut each circle into 6 wedges.

For glaze, brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12 scones.

Apricots for Sweetie

It can't be Sunday evening, a full week after St. Patrick's Day! Where has the time gone? For about a week before that day and for a day after, we seemed to be on that pendulum upswing where there was lots of social stuff going on, then the pendulum swung more towards things that needed to be done. Probably some of that was due to not handling the usual while we were being so social? Anyway with more kitchen planning and visiting places that sell appliances and cabinets, with taxes and scholarship group and fire department stuff and graphic design, the usual errands and chores, getting seedlings re-planted into little peat pots (which makes them 'starts'!, the dance card has been full for every dance and then some.

So today's post is for the scones with apricots that Sweetie requested for his birthday, even though that was days ago. I served them still warm, with a nice bowl of mixed fruits and hot coffee...no butter needed. They are barely sweet, except for when you bite into one of the apricot pieces, a bit on the rich side, and fragrant with apricot and almond aromas. As with many quick breads, these benefit from being barely handled. At first there wasn't enough liquid, so I added a bit more, then it seemed like the dough was too sticky. I so rarely make scones anymore that I thought I'd lost my touch and was sure they would be dense. I sort of flattened out the sticky dough on the silicon mat into a rectangle, then used a knife with flour on the blade to cut them into rough squares. I scooted the squares away from each other and slid the mat onto a baking sheet. You could do the same thing using baking parchment - when the dough is sticky it is nice to shape and bake the scones on the same surface.

I love the bits of apricot showing, too. Sweetie was a happy birthday boy when these were served!

These would make a nice bread for Easter, too. If you threw in some dried cranberries as well, it would look and taste even more festive.

Apricot Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup almond meal (almond flour - I use Bob's Red Mill) 
½ cup white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 oz (1/2 stick) very cold butter cut into small pieces
1 egg
½ cup light cream
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup moist dried apricots, diced finely

With a fork stir together the flour, almond meal, white whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the diced butter, then, using clean fingers, rub the butter and flour together until the texture of bread crumbs. Work quickly to keep the butter cold. You can also use a pastry blender to cut in the butter.

In a large measuring cup, use the fork to stir the eggs to beat them lightly, then add the light cream, buttermilk, and almond extract and stir to mix well.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually add the liquid ingredient mixture, mixing lightly with the fork, just until ingredients are barely combined. Do not over mix. If mixture seems to dry, add a few drops of milk; if too wet, add a tablespoon of flour. Finished mixture should be the consistency of moist biscuit dough.

Take a tablespoon of flour and use it to dust the diced apricots, working to have all sides lightly coated with flour.

Again using the fork, gently stir the apricots into the dough, just enough to disperse them.

Turn dough out onto a baking parchment lined surface (or a Silpat mat). Pat dough out to about a 1 inch thickness. Cut with floured scone or biscuit cutter, or with the rim of a drinking glass. Gather scrapes and pat them down, then cut some more scones until dough is used up. If dough is too sticky, pat into a rectangle or circle and cut with a lightly floured knife edge, then use the knife blade to  move the cut pieces apart. Slide the parchment paper onto a baking sheet. You could also use a Silpat mat, like I did. Just be careful when cutting so as to not cut the mat.
Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly in pan, then serve warm.

The Strawberries of Spring in Scones

Last Saturday Sweetie and I celebrated our anniversary with a road trip south along the coast. A seafood lunch was followed by some hiking and cheese buying and the views of the spring countryside along the way were wonderful! Shortly before reaching home we found a farm stand selling fresh strawberries, so fresh that their sweet fragrance was intense. The vendor said that they were picked right next door and, sure enough, when we looked across the dirt parking lot we saw dark green rows of plants not far away. Few things are more welcome in the kitchen than fresh, first-of-spring, local strawberries!

Naturally most of the strawberries were eaten fresh after a quick rinse. I did put a few into some scones and I had a hard time getting photos of them before they were eaten up.

One of the secrets to having tender scones, instead of hard hockey puck lumps that often pass for scones, is to handle the ingredients gently and as little as possible. I was lucky enough to have some unsalted butter in the freezer. Instead of cutting it in to the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, I used the shredding disc on my food processor and shredded the frozen butter, then cut it in. I think I learned that trick by reading Julia Child's method for quick puff pastry. Anyway, it works really well.

I also used my spread apart fingers for mixing in the last of the buttermilk with the final bits of dry ingredients because it was easier to be gentle that way. A quick pat of the dough into a rough round and it was time to cut the round into 8 pieces with the bench scraper and into the oven they went. The oven heat made the strawberries smell even more wonderful than when we bought them. These scones are amazing! They are buttery, only slightly sweet, and bursting with bits of delicious strawberry. A sprinkle of sanding sugar on top gives them a nice crunch on the outsides which contrasts with the softness of the insides.

Fresh Strawberry Buttermilk Scones
a variation on Blueberry Buttermilk Scones from Baking in America by Greg Patent
Makes 16 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, plus a bit more for glazing the top
1 tablespoon sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with cooking parchment or a silicone liner; Set aside.

Sift the flours, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Grate the butter using the shredding disc on your food processor if butter is frozen, or cut the butter (which has been cut into tablespoon-sized pieces) into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives. Be gentle. Use your finger to work the butter rapidly into large flakes. Add the strawberries and raisins and toss with your fingers to coat evenly.

Pour the buttermilk into the strawberry mixture and stir and fold gently with a rubber spatula. Use your fingers, spread out, to gently work the last bit of very moist dough into the last dry bits. The dough will be thick. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and dust it lightly with flour. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each piece gently into an 8-inch disc. Brush a bit of extra buttermilk over the discs and sprinkle on the sanding sugar, if using. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut each disc into eight pieces.

Transfer each piece carefully to the prepared pan, setting the scones slightly apart. Bake in the preheated oven 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to cooling racks with a large spatula and serve warm or at room temperature. These are great without any additional embellishments, but do taste good with butter, jam or lemon curd added.

Tea Time Rhubarb Cream Scones

It's been quit a while since I've made scones. In the meantime Sweetie has eaten scones at bakeries and restaurants and made much of them. They were fine but truly not as good as the ones I make. One thing that was usually true of those other scones was that they were heavy, dense and/or cake like. My ideal scone is more like a biscuit in texture but lighter while still being rich due to the use of both heavy cream and butter.


Thanks to the generosity of some friends this past week I was the recipient of a couple stalks of fresh gorgeous rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of the harbingers of spring and it's fresh tangy flavor is a tonic to the winter weary spirits, just like Meyer lemon. Usually I make a strawberry-rhubarb pie when I have rhubarb but this time I decided to find out how well rhubarb goes with cream scones by adding chopped rhubarb and pecans to the basic recipe.

One of the tricks to making light, moist and delicious scones is to barely handle the dough once the liquid ingredients have been added to the dry mixture. I used a fork to mix and had the dough about 3/4 combined when I sprinkled on the rhubarb and nuts. That way they were folded in during the last few strokes of mixing. Once the dough was turned out onto the floured board, I barely kneaded it...just enough to work in the last crumbly bits. To shape it I was again careful to use a light touch and the least amount of handling possible.

The result was a nice tray of light and delicate scones that almost melted in your mouth. The rhubarb's sharpness was the perfect contrast to the sweet richness of the dough. Because the scones already had butter and heavy cream in them, no additional butter or clotted cream was necessary. If I'd had some lemon curd I might have added a smidgen but they didn't really need anything extra to be the perfect companion to a nice hot cup of afternoon tea. Cheers!


Rhubarb Oat Cream Scones
makes 12

1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup oat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1/3 cup chopped fresh rhubarb
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Stir the egg and cream together. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, cake flour, oat 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 from pea-size pieces to pieces the size of oatmeal flakes.

Pour the egg and cream over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Gently fold in the rhubarb and pecans. Don't overdo it. Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand a few turns (or knead briefly when you turn it out on the floured board).

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. (at this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking - just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake the scones for 20 -22 minutes, or until their tops are golden. Tops may also be slightly cracked...that's OK.

Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.

Discoveries in Limerick and California Scones

Our time in Ireland is coming to a close. As you can tell from the journal, we have enjoyed the land, the people, the ruins, and the culture and food…not so much the roads, but that part was an adventure! Today we leave the lovely lakes of Killarney and head toward Limerick, and then turn north to Ennis for one more pleasant night with Mrs. Keane at Grey Gables.

As we drive toward Limerick, we are again in the Palatine area with lush green fields full of sheep and cattle. At some point we reach the equivalent of a freeway…a two year old modern road with limited access. Once we get used to the fact that it is only a lane and a half in either direction, we enjoy the ride. Slower traffic moves to the half lane on the left, which allows for reasonably easy passing on the right. The day is bright after morning overcast so we enjoy the ride. As we near Limerick I look at one of my guidebooks to see what we can visit in the hour we have. King John’s Castle, which we passed as we left town, seemed too much like the other castles we had already visited.


The Hunt Museum, with “a hoard of archaeological finds” sounded promising, as did the National Self-Portrait Collection at the University of Limerick. We decided to take the first exit we came to and see what the signs said. On exiting we saw signs directing us to the University of Limerick, so that’s where we went.

The campus is very beautiful with abundant plantings and modern buildings. We managed to find a parking place and the parking attendant asked if he could help us. I said that we were here to see the National Self-Portrait Gallery. He thought for a moment and said that he didn’t think there was such a thing. Once we explained that our guide book said the gallery was there, he directed us to the Information desk. There the young woman on duty asked us if she could help us…and we gave her the same answer. She looked puzzled and said she would make a few calls. The first person she called said we would need to have a guide go with us, but that none were available. The second said it was fine to just go over and see the self-portraits. She directed us to the White House (plus a few minutes of chat about our White House and President Obama, etc.)

so we walked over to a lovely old mansion, painted white, which was the old manor house for the property prior to it being purchased to become the University.

Once we entered the beautiful lobby we were approached by an elderly gentleman who asked if he could help up. We repeated our request to visit the National Self-Portrait Gallery. He said that he didn’t believe that they had such a thing, but that there were some paintings on the wall upstairs and we could go have a look, and that as long as we were looking for paintings that we should also go through to the Foundation building where they had some more hung on the walls. By then we were quite interested in seeing these illusive self-portraits.

We mounted a beautiful staircase off the lobby and went through some tall glassed doors and found the first few of the self-portraits. They were wonderful! A long, long time ago I used to paint portraits. Self-portraits are even more of a challenge for an artist. There were probably 25 – 30 of them, hung along the corridors on the second floor. We sort of felt like interlopers, so I didn’t take notes about who these were self-portraits of, although I did photograph my favorite ones:

Then we went over to the Foundation building and enjoyed a collection of lovely watercolors on display

courtesy of the Limerick Watercolor Guild (at least I think that is the group it was).

It was unfortunate that they were hung in an area where glare obscured the true beauty of the paintings.

Then we had tea in the café’ near where the watercolors were hung. As we were leaving we noticed that there was an exquisite mural designed to depict a ballad, using Venetian glass tiles.

Here at the University there are three wonderful collections of art in at least three media and no one seemed to appreciate that it was there. What a shame!

That evening, back in Ennis, we were chatting with our server in The Poet’s Corner Pub in the Old Ground Hotel. It turned out that she was a student at the University of Limerick. I asked what she majored in and she said “Fine Arts”, so I asked her if she had seen the National Self-Portrait gallery. She said she hadn’t. I mentioned that it was in the White House. She said that explained it, because students aren’t allowed in…it is a faculty only building. The corridors where the self-portraits are hung are those giving on to faculty offices. How disappointing that the students were barred from seeing these wonderful, skillful works of art.

Maybe that will change one day, especially if enough visitors show up and ask to see the National Self-Portrait collection. Just don’t believe them when they tell you they don’t have such a thing!

The following morning we were off to Shannon Airport and the long flight across the Atlantic. Glad that we didn’t have to take a flying boat and spend over twenty four hours on the flight!

It’s been a month since we returned to California. Today I was remembering the lovely scones we ate in Ireland and decided to make a California version. Part of the usual white flour was replaced with my King Arthur 12 grain flour. Some almond meal left over from making the Bakewell Tarts was added, too. I added a little almond extract to the milk mixture to pick up on the almond meal flavor and to go with the truly California part…fresh, diced strawberries, grown just a few miles from here…full of the sweetness of summer. Good thing I baked them on a silicon mat because the juices from some of the strawberries caramelized around the edges of the scones. This afternoon we sat outside, remembering the fun we had in Ireland, enjoying the view of the garden that grew so large while we were gone, and sipping Irish Breakfast tea as we ate our fruit and nut California scones.

Thus ends the tales of my trip to a small portion of the beautiful island of Ireland. Maybe one day we’ll go back and see some other parts. Still hoping that our cousins from Glin will come visit us!

California Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup almond meal
½ cup 12 grain flour (or substitute whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 oz (1/2 stick) very cold butter, grated on the large holes of a box grater
1 egg
½ cup light cream
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup fresh strawberries, diced finely

With a fork stir together the flour, almond meal, 12 grain flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the grated butter, then, using clean fingers, rub the butter and flour together until the texture of bread crumbs. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.

In a large measuring cup, use the fork to stir the eggs to beat them lightly, then add the light cream, buttermilk, and almond extract and stir to mix well.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually add the liquid ingredient mixture, mixing lightly with the fork, just until ingredients are barely combined. Do not overmix. If mixture seems to dry, add a few drops of milk; if too wet, add a tablespoon of flour. Finished mixture should be the consistency of moist biscuit dough.

Again using the fork, gently stir the strawberries into the dough, just enough to disperse them.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough out to about a 1 inch thickness. Cut with floured scone or biscuit cutter, or with the rim of a drinking glass. Gather scrapes and pat them down, then cut some more scones until dough is used up.

Place cut scones onto baking parchment lined or silicone mat lined baking sheet(s) and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly in pan, then serve warm.