Also, I just want to add a note that there has been literally no day of my life where both the washing machine and dishwasher were running by 7:15am. Most days I’m barely crawling out of bed by then. Things have not changed since we were roommates in college and she would have to shove my piling laundry back on my side of the room with a broom handle. Sarah and I: the odd couple indeed! You know how most people want quiet appliances? Like, the kind where you can’t even tell if the dishwasher is running? Not Sarah. She’s always talking about how when everything is running at once she feels like someone else is doing all the work for her. Like a regular old Rosey the Robot, from Jetsons. The future, guys: we have arrived. Sarah and her family are in the middle of a transcontinental move right now. They are heading back to the states after a 3 year stint in Japan with the military. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be back in the same time zone as my best friend! Even after 3 years, I still call her half the time and then hang up frantically when I realize it’s 4am in Japan. The first time I had a truly amazing scone was when Eric and I went to High Tea at this fancy hotel in Victoria one time. They had the cucumber sandwiches and 3 tiered serving platter and everything. The scones were SO GOOD. Perfectly moist and tender on the inside, delightfully crispy on the edges, and full of buttery flavor. And topped with clotted cream and freshly made jam! Heaven! Or how about we just bake away all our sorrows?? Scones for the win! If you are not feeling excited about the prospect of a freshly baked scone yet, it’s because you’ve never had a decent one. Curse you and your dried out baked goods, Starbucks! Ruining the reputation of classic British baked goods the world over! I decided to make scones a few weeks ago when my friend Kim promised my 9-year-old daughter that she would throw an Anne of Green Gables watching party if Charlotte finished the book. Well she finished the book and all 72 sequels after that, so an Anne party we had! (We even dyed our hair green. Just kidding.) What food could be more early-century Canadian than scones?? A warm homemade scone spread with butter and jam is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but I didn’t always think so. Mostly because my mom never made scones growing up, so my only experience with them came from coffee shops. An already-bad scone that has been sitting in a glass display for 8 hours? I need a glass of milk just thinking about it. Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram First put together all your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Then use a pastry cutter (or a cheese grater!) to cut the cold, cold butter into the flour. Next pour in the wet ingredients: egg, vanilla, cream, sour cream. Stir it together into a shaggy dough and then switch to using your hands, making sure to coat them with flour first. Use your hands to fold the dough on top of itself in layers until it comes together. Try to use as few strokes as possible. Fold in mix-ins if you like (it’s not necessary), and pat into a circle. This is a master scone dough recipe and you can add any type of mix-ins that you like. I made a few different versions: cream cheese, blueberry, and plain. Here in California we don’t have clotted cream at the grocery store (I think they have it in Canada??), and it’s kind of a long process to make your own (I will post a recipe someday!) So my quick fix is adding chunks of cream cheese coated in sugar to my scones. It’s so good! You could even try doing half cream cheese, half blueberry scones. That would be delicious. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice your circle in half, then each half into 3 triangles. Look at how thick it is! Can you see the layers? You get that by not over working your dough. Freeze for 30 minutes. This freezing step is really, really important. Super cold butter going into a screaming hot oven is what makes your scone tender and flaky instead of tough and dry.If you don’t have room in your freezer for the whole baking sheet, just put them on a plate in the freezer and transfer back to a baking sheet after 30 minutes. You want to have pea-size pieces of butter. Don’t over mix it! You can use a food processor for this step if you like. Or a cheese grater as shown above. You can even use frozen butter. The colder the butter, the better! Sweet:
Berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries even) with a tablespoon of lemon zest Chocolate chips and toasted pecans Dried tart cherries with almond extract (top with sliced almonds) Dried cranberries with orange or lemon zest Grated marzipan, chocolate chips, and orange zest Raspberry and white chocolate (frozen raspberries work great) Apple and cinnamon Dried apricots and coconut extract Sugar coated cream cheese scones; see recipe
Bacon and White Cheddar (like in this overnight recipe) Parmesan cheese and rosemary Sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and basil Apple, cheddar, and crumbled bacon Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta Mini pepperoni and chopped chunks of mozzarella. Dip in marinara.
Do scones freeze well?
Yes! To store longer than a few days, wrap the baked scones so they are air-tight. Freeze up to 3 months. Rewarm in the microwave on a low setting and don’t overdo it. Don’t “cook” the scones in the microwave, just warm them. You can also slice in half and toast. To make the dough in advance, follow the recipe through cutting the dough into triangles. Put the triangles onto a pan or plate and freeze for 30 minutes. Then tightly seal the frozen sections of dough in a ziplock. You can have scones on any random day! Just take them out and pop them in the oven totally frozen. This is also a great recipe to make for overnight guests. Make the dough the night before, then toss them in the oven in the morning.
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