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Food

Happy scone day

Show Mom how much you care by baking something special - and simple.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published May 9, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Patty Yablonski] Scones are a perfect offering because the quickly mixed dough can be in the oven in about 15 minutes and on the table 30 minutes later.

Your mother or your children's mother deserves to wake up Sunday morning to a house filled with the aroma of baked goods.

She'll be so happy you remembered Mother's Day, and especially ecstatic if you marshal the troops to clean the kitchen.

Scones are a perfect offering because the quickly mixed dough can be in the oven in about 15 minutes, and on the table 30 minutes later (and that includes a brief cooling time). Fresh-baked, buttery goodness in under an hour? A drive to and from the closest bakery could eat up that much time.

Scones have other tempting attributes besides ease of preparation. Sweet scones are foils for luscious preserves, marmalades, lemon curd or a homemade clotted cream knockoff that stands in well for the favorite U.K. schmear. Split a savory cheese and herb scone, then stuff it with a chunky slice of country ham or even chicken or shrimp salad.

The basics

Comparisons between a doorstop and a scone are not unwarranted. I've had hard, dry scones that two glasses of milk can't wash down, mostly from under glass domes at airports or bakeries that should know better.

The secret to fantastic scones, short of a trip to Great Britain, is to make them yourself and eat them soon after they come out of the oven.

They can be cooled and stored in an airtight container, but they'll never taste as good again.

Not that we won't eat them later, but they're wimps in comparison. Don't reheat in the microwave unless you want rubber biscuits.

To warm, put them back into a 300-degree oven for about five minutes. This will heat them through and refresh their crispiness.

An authentic scone is similar in ingredients to an American biscuit, but we've come to think of this simple quick bread as a sweet.

Many contemporary recipes add sugar. Sure, a plain scone is tasty with just jam and butter, but in our tradition of over-the-top variations, we stud the dough with everything from dried cranberries to chocolate chips to crystallized ginger. Oh, yeah, and lemon zest. Lots of lemon zest.

At its simplest, flour, leavening, butter and buttermilk are mixed together without a lot of handling.

Overworking until the flecks of butter disappear makes the dough tough. Scone dough is like pie dough that way.

Three variations

For Mother's Day, I recommend making one (or two!) of these scone variations:

- Chocolate Chip, which includes the zest from an orange and will appeal to everyone, especially youngsters. Yes, it's Mom's day, but you know she'll share. A brush of milk and dusting of granulated sugar before baking makes them sparkle. Serve warm with butter or Nutella, a hazelnut-chocolate spread.

To complete the feast: Serve with fresh fruit compote (make sure it includes oranges), thick vanilla yogurt and a mimosa (champagne and orange juice).

- Lemon-Ginger, which gets subtle flavor from crystallized ginger. Don't skimp on the candied ginger; it will take a bottle and a half of the McCormick brand to meet the half-cup called for.

This scone is almost like a pastry, owing to the dusting of confectioners' sugar added at the end of baking.

Don't get distracted when you broil the sugar topping. It will only take a few seconds to brown. In three minutes you'll have a charred, smoking mess. Trust me.

Make a bowl of Kind-Of Clotted Cream to serve with the scones.

To complete the feast: Serve with a lovely cup of lemon herb tea, fresh berries and smoky bacon.

- Cheddar-Chive, loaded with the assertive flavors of extra-sharp cheese and minced fresh chives. I used Cabot cheese, but any good quality Cheddar will do.

Avoid dried chives; you want the bright quality of fresh herbs. To serve, split and fill with ham. Believe me, each person will eat two, maybe three.

To complete the feast: Serve with steamed asparagus, apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon, and sparkling apple juice.

It'll be a Happy Mother's Day for sure when homemade scones are on the menu.

Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or jkeeler@sptimes.com Read her recipe blog, Stir Crazy, at www.blogs.tampabay.com/food.

 
BAKED GOODS

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced

2 teaspoons (packed) orange zest

3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chilled buttermilk

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Milk (for glaze)

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

-Sift 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into large bowl. Add butter and orange zest; rub in with fingertips until butter is reduced to size of rice grains. Mix in chocolate chips.

-Whisk buttermilk, egg yolk and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; mix until dough comes together in moist clumps. Gather dough into ball. Press dough out on lightly floured surface to 8-inch round; cut round into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

-Brush scones lightly with milk; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until scones are crusty on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes 8 scones.

Source: Bon Appetit, December 2000

ACCOMPANIMENT

Kind-of Clotted Cream

4 ounces mascarpone (see note)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 or 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

Zest of lemon or lime (optional)

- Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until the mixture holds its shape and looks like softly whipped cream. Use right away or cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Note: Mascarpone is an extra-rich Italian cream cheese. It can be found in the refrigerated cases, usually near the cheese. Cream cheese can substitute.

Source: www.joyofbaking.com

BAKED GOODS

Lemon-Ginger Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped into small pieces

Zest of 1 large lemon

2/3 cup buttermilk

For tops of scones:

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Confectioners' sugar

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.

- Stir in the chopped crystallized ginger and lemon zest. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix the dough.

- Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat it into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Make an egg wash of one well-beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture.

- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and then turn your broiler on high. Sift confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar heavily over the tops of the scones and place them under the broiler. Broil for just a few seconds, turning the pan as necessary, until the sugar has melted and turns golden brown. Be sure to watch the scones carefully, as the sugar will burn very quickly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 6 to 8 scones.

Source: www.joyofbaking.com

BAKED GOODS

Cheddar-Chive Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh chives

2 cups extra-sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup heavy cream plus additional for brushing

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

- Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add chives and Cheddar, tossing to combine. Stir in buttermilk and cream with a fork until a sticky dough forms.

- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8 times with floured hands. Halve dough and form each half into a 7-inch round. Brush tops of rounds with additional cream and cut each into 8 wedges.

- Arrange wedges about 1/2 inch apart on a large, ungreased baking sheet and bake in middle of oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Makes 16 scones.

Source: Gourmet, July 2000

[Last modified May 8, 2007, 19:23:18]