Eat these straight out of the oven, and they'll melt in your mouth.
I recently wrote about how bad apples and bad flan have a lot in common.
The same can be said about scones. Bad scones are as hard as a stone. (A stone scone?) Bad scones are so dry and tasteless that they can only be salvaged with copious amounts of creme fraiche and lemon curd.
But a good scone? It's filled with butter and melts in your mouth. It's rich and just the slightest bit sweet, and it's the perfect vehicle for creme fraiche or lemon curd.
Thanks to a friend who once worked for Julienne in San Marino, I have the recipe for the best scone ever. I'm sure this recipe will be in Susan Campoy's Julienne cookbook, which will be released on Mother's Day, May 10. The book and a promise to make me something from it would be the perfect MD gift.
Little scones all in a row, ready for the oven
Julienne's Scones
(Makes about 28 mini scones)
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 tbl. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbl. sugar
12 tbl. (11/2 sticks) unsalted sweet butter, chilled and cut into small bits (I put the butter in the freezer because it is easier to cut into those small bits)
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cups currants dusted with 1/2 tsp. flour (I used dried cranberries)
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbl. cold water for the egg wash
granulated sugar to dust the scones
whipped cream or creme fraiche
lemon curd, jam or butter
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Use the paddle attachment to mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter to a mealy consistency.
- Add the cream & eggs; do not over beat.
- Fold in the currants.
- Turn the dough out on a floured surface and pat it down by hand until it is 3/4 inch thick.
- If you wish cut out the scones with the cookie cutter, occasionally dipping the cutter in flour or cut them and with lighly floured hands shape and place onto large cookie sheet. (I used a 1"+ biscuit cutter.)
- Brush with egg wash, Sprinkle with plenty of granulated sugar.
- Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve with whipped cream, creme fraiche, lemon curd, butter or jam. Or just pop them into your mouth.
9 comments:
I once made bread pudding substituting stale scones for the bread. It was unbelievable! I'll have to try this recipe and somehow I know there won't be any left-over scones for bread pudding. :)
That is an inspired idea to use stale scones in a bread pudding. Dang, that must have been rich.
Look very yummy. I'm printing it off.
BTW—unrelated, but that beef stew recipe was a winner. It's so simple, it might be a no-brainer to a more experienced cook, but it came out exactly right. Fed us for days!
signed,
Mr. Petrea Burchard
Sounds delicious and not too hard for a non-cook like me. When I get home I'm going to try it. I love scones! By then I'll forget where the recipe is so I might ask you.
Margaret, this is definitely a keeper.
Mr. P, I heard about your famous stew. And isn't it fun to have leftovers.
Ronni, One of the reasons I keep a food blog is to keep my favorite recipes in one place.
OMG these look delicious. I love a good scone but they are hard to find. Usually too dry for me.
Will and I were just checking your blog. He took one look at the picture of scones and said, "need that mommy!" :)
Nelle, there's nothing worse than a dry scone.
Em, that is SOOOOO cute that Will said that.
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