English Tea Scones

About a year ago, I became obsessed with scones. I can't really explain why, other than that a) they're easy to make, and b) you can put chocolate in them. I started doing a ton of research and watched a bazillion videos on Expert Village, many that were little old British grandmas making their century old family scone recipe. I soon realized that the big debate with scones seems to be the fat. Do you use butter or margarine? I even found one recipe that bypassed them both and used olive oil. (By the way, I tried that recipe. I would only recommend using olive oil when making a savory scone, like garlic and rosemary. I used it in a raspberry scone recipe and all I could taste was the oil. Blegh!)

The other debate was how to incorporate the fat. Pastry cutter or by hand? Or by mixer, which is Ina Garten's method for her orange cranberry scones. Her theory is similar to the theory of pie crust. You want the butter to be COLD and to stay cold until it goes into the oven. If you touch the dough too much, the butter will start to melt. However, many of the British women I saw making scones used their hands and "rubbed" the butter into the flour mixture. Then there's the flour. Some use all-purpose, some use bread flour and some use pastry flour. Well, after a year of trial and error, I've concluded that there really is no right answer. It just depends on your personal taste.

See, I have baggage. When I lived in Seattle, there were two places that sparked my taste for scones: Hi Spot Cafe in Madrona, and Madison Park Cafe in Madison Park. In particular, Madison Park Cafe's lemon poppy seed scones, with that omigod-delish lemony glaze. And I think all of my scone endeavors have been an attempt to recreate these "perfect" scones. Dense, but moist, flavorful but not too sweet. My choice would be butter for the fat. Margarine tends to melt faster and makes the dough a little, well, doughy. And I prefer pastry flour, though, if you're in an experimental phase, that can get expensive. All-purpose works fine just for day to day use. But I have yet to figure out how to recreate the omigod-delish lemony glaze. It isn't a white, confectioners sugar concoction. It's a clear, shiny glaze brushed on, but it's not sticky and it tastes like tangy lemons. I think it might be just lemon juice and sugar, simmered and reduced to a syrup, but I still need to do some experimenting.

Anyway, while visiting my parents, I was put in charge of making yummies for my mom's weekly quilting group. A group of women sitting around sewing? Could there be a more appropriate time for scones? I think not.

Normally when I make English Tea Scones, I use currants. However, my parents live in a rural town in southern Washington, so I had to rely on what I could find, and luckily I found dried cranberries. (For the record, I prefer currants in this particular recipe. Cranberries I prefer in in an orange scone. I think the flavors really compliment each other.)

so the recipe goes:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup currants or raisins
Milk
Sugar

First you mix the dry ingredients, then you cube the butter.


Cut in the butter using a pastry blender

Then mix the egg, heavy cream and the dried fruit (some recipes have you toss the fruit in flour and have you add it to the dough at the end, but I've done both and don't see much difference, and this method is much easier.)

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir the wet ingredients in with a fork

Until it comes together

Then turn it out on a floured surface. Now, here's the tricky part. DON'T TOUCH IT. Well, okay, you can touch it a little. But don't overwork it or you'll make the butter angry! You don't even have to kneed it. Just flour your hands and quickly form it into a ball, and then roll it out so it looks like this

Or, you can roll it into a square (which I'm very bad at, so I stick with round) and, instead of using a biscuit cutter (or rim of a cup), you can cut them into wedges. But I prefer my scones round (you'll see why in a minute!). Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sanding sugar.


Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until they look like this


Now...to cut, or not to cut? I say cut. Or, fork split, which leaves all the nooks intact. Now, if I was just eating one of these with a cup of coffee, I'd probably just use a little jam or honey. But, since these were a yummy treat for a gaggle of women...


Yep. Real whipped cream and strawberry preserves. Forgive the blurry photo. My mom had a serious case of grabby hands. There is not time for pictures when there are women waiting for food! I should really know this.

The one thing about scones is that they don't keep. I've tried everything to get them to maintain their pizzaz for at least a couple days, but, like most baked goods, they're really best right out of the oven. However, I have had some success with wrapping them individually in waxed paper and freezing them. Then you can defrost one at a time. (Okay, three at a time. I mean, who can eat just one scone??)

Back to Basics: Oatmeal

I know it might seem pedestrian for my very first post to be about oatmeal. Oh, stop it with the gagging and barfing sound effects. Oatmeal is very misunderstood, mostly because it's been bastardized for convenience into small packets of dust that quickly turn to little mounds of gooey paste when you add liquid. Most people who "hate" oatmeal, my husband included, have only known the instant goop version of this fabulous breakfast food. I encourage you to give it another day in court. Only this time, buy REAL oats and make it from scratch. (Steel cut oats - or Irish Oats - are the best, however, they do take a little longer to cook. But if you have the time, do it!)

I made the following batch one morning while staying at my parent's house in Washington. My mom didn't have the steel cut oats, but luckily she did have just regular oats. My recipe - and I use that word loosely because there's really only one way to make oatmeal i.e. boil water and/or milk and add oats - is a take on Ina Garten's Sunday Morning Oatmeal.


1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oats
brown sugar, maple syrup, sliced bananas, dried cherries or cranberries, chopped walnuts - basically anything your little heart desires.
ground flax seed or tbsp flax seed oil - *optional

I didn't have the flax seed on hand, but it does add a delish nutty hint, and it's way super good for your heart, so I highly recommend getting some. Now, this isn't rocket science. You bring the milk and water to simmer, add the oats, let it all cook for about five minutes (longer for smoother oatmeal).

Then you add all the yummies - my favs being brown sugar and bananas.

I know what you're going to say next. You don't have time in the morning to make it from scratch. My response would be to re-read the above paragraph. Five minutes, folks. Okay, add on another two to get the water/milk simmering. But still. You're already boiling water for the instant goo, right? Oh, you have to eat a particular kind of instant oatmeal because it's recognized by Weight Watchers, or because the little blurb on the box promises it has less sugar or will lower your cholesterol better than any other? Come on, think about it. ANYTHING you make from scratch is going be to a bazillion times better than what comes in a box because YOU are controlling the ingredients. You want low sugar, then use just a little bit of sweetener, or use agave nectar or honey or something that is naturally sweet. And unless you're using whole milk, it's naturally low-fat. And ALL oatmeal has cholesterol lowering abilities. They don't grow a special, magical oatmeal that is more potent. I'm no food scientist, but I'd be inclined to say that making it from scratch would retain more of the nutrients that using instant anyway. But above all...homemade oatmeal is YUMMY. I promise.

Well...unless you're like my husband, who still, after tasting my fabulous oatmeal creations, still shakes his head and goes, "meh...still tastes like mush". If you still feel that way after making it from scratch, then you have my permission to make all the gagging barfing sounds you want!

Open wide...

Hello. Yes, yes, another food blog. But...mine will be fun because a) I have no idea what I'm doing and b) my husband is a really good photographer, so all of my mishaps will be well documented. See, I used to be big time culinarily challenged, but then I became a mom on a budget and quickly realized how expensive convenience foods are. I had a choice. I could go back to work, or learn how to cook. I chose the latter. And then something amazing happened. I fell in love. Like, MAD love. The kind of love you want to shout from rooftops. "Hey, world! Did you know that if you make mashed potatoes from scratch using Yukon gold potatoes and add a dash of nutmeg right at the end, they're little spoonfuls of heaven??!!!!!!!"

Many of my friends are void of any culinary interest, so if I start talking about pulled pork tacos with cabbage slaw, they fall asleep within moments. That's why I'm here. I found with my other blog - which reps my other mad love, writing - that if I blogged enough, other writers eventually found me. That's what I'm hoping will happen here. So, if you've found me, and get excited about things like crab won tons and pasta machines, please stay. I know we'll get along swimmingly.