Kitchen Corner

June 6, 2008

English Rich Scones

"Some say scones, some say scon. Whatever you say these are delicious and these are something you could put together really quickly, eat them freshly baked from the oven with those ingredients you generally always got in your cupboard..."
By Lesley Water.
I came across many scones recipes, this is the best for me. The crumbly and crispy texture with the freshly bakery smell had given me the finest satisfaction in the morning.
I was looking for something rich and crumbly food this morning, and this scones had come into my mind. I didn't take much time to get this fresh scones out from the oven. Just imagine if those ingredients prepared before I went to bed, it will take no time to have this freshly baked scones with just a casual mixing and cutting in the morning. I would just leave it in the oven for 12 minutes and make up myself while waiting for it. Some people like to use food processor to make the dough but that could easily end up with a tougher dough. For me, mixing the ingredients by hands could save me time to do any washing.
First of all, mix 225g flour, pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon baking powder in a large bowl then tip in 55g butter and use your finger tips to rub and combine the flour and butter to become crumbly. Add 55g ground almond and 25g sugar, mix until combine. I normally used the whole blanch almond blended into ground that stored in my cupboard as I like the real flavor. Of course you could easily get it from any supermarket. In another bowl, mix 100ml milk, 2 tablespoons yogurt and 1 egg. Leave these dry and wet ingredients in the fridge before you go to bed or wake up 5 minutes earlier in the morning to do those mixing, anyway it is not a hard work. Whatever you decide to do, preheat your oven at 225'C before you start everything. Now, pour in 2/3 of the wet mixture into the dried mixture, and mix with a palate knife until everything just combine or when the flour is disappeared and that's time to stop mixing. If you find it too dry, add some wet ingredients. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Then, place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Over kneading or mixing will result in a tougher dough. Flatten the dough with your floured hands to form a 2.5 cm thick round shape or any pattern you like as it very much depends on any cutters you use to give a fancy scones or just use a floured knife to cut it into any shape. I cut it into 8 triangle portions from a round dough. I found the triangle shape is just nice to feed into my mouth and another reason is I am lazy to take out the cutter in the morning. Lots of the English scones I have seen was in round shape with lace edges, It is very pretty as kind of traditional outlook. So. No matter what cutter you use, just cut it straight away and do not twist it just to give a prettier look and prevent the dough sticking too much. Push the dough out from the cutter and place it on the baking tray with baking parchment. Put it in the middle of the oven and set the time to 12 minutes or bake until golden brown. Now, prepare yourself a cup of coffee and you would smell the rich scones very soon.
Eat it when it is warm as nothing can be better than the freshly baked pastry for the morning. Cut it into half and enjoy it with butter, jam, peanut butter, soft cheese or like the English, eat with clotted cream. Keep the leftover scones in a fridge for 3 days or 2 weeks in a freezer. Reheat it in a microwave or oven to get a warm texture.
This scone are not only serve in the morning, but also nice to serve at tea time or supper or whenever you are craving. Enjoy!

1 comment:

Kitchen Butterfly said...

Had these when I went to London recently...and then made some last week for my colleagues (out of a kid's cookbook). They were LOVELY and perfectly crumbled.