I’ve been meaning to join Penny’s International Incident Scones Party, but I was like a couple of hours late. Oops. Anyway, my scones shouldn’t be penalised for my lack of time management and here goes:-
Scones – a well-known British export which I’ve begining to appreciate more after trying my hand at baking them.
My first impression of scones recipes is that I can easily bake these without a problem, especially after watching a how to video entitled “Jackie’s Scones” attached on Penny‘s post. As it turned out, I was very wrong. These little buggers may seem innocent on the outside, the process of baking them, on the other hand, is certainly hard to crack! My hat’s off to Jackie and those who make fantastic scones!
Having said that, I won’t go as far as describing that my scones were a flop. To me, the word “flop” can only be used when the end product of my cooking attempt is completely inedible. 😛
My scones are still edible but lacking the light and fluffiness of a fair dingkum scone should have. Obviously, my scones have failed to rise to the occasion, hence I ended up with dense texture like rock cakes. After troubleshooting my scone problem on Google, I gather that the dense texture is due to adding insufficient liquid to the dough despite I followed the recipe word for word. Maybe this will be a little tweak I have to do with the recipe next time around (and yes, there’ll be a next time! :))
Cranberry Scones
(adapted from Animal Farm in Orwell, Vt found on NY Times Recipes Archive)
Makes 8 scones
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
1 cup pastry flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup heavy cream, preferably not ultra-pasteurized
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 177 degrees Celsius. Grease a baking sheet with butter or layer with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add the butter and blend until crumbly.
3. In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg and cream, and then add all but 1 tablespoon of it (to brush over the scones later) to the flour-butter mixture. Pulse several times until a dough starts to form.
4. Add the cranberries and pulse once. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball.
5. Using a rolling pin, roll it into an 8-inch circle and cut into 8 wedges. Brush the remaining tablespoon of the egg-cream mixture over the scones. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.
I love the flower shape!
Almost flops? Really? They look scrumptious! That one that’s been halved with the cranberry oozing out looks so great I immediately turned the computer to show someone else so we could both “oooh.” Love that flower shape. And if those are even near flops, keep on flopping.
I love your presentation of your scones. Much prettier than the usual triangle shape!
How lovely! I shall add it to my round up 🙂 I love the shapes… so PRETTY!
Lovely scones! They looked good Emily! I don’t think they’re a flop. I would eat them all for you if you like “=) Scones are slightly challenging especially texture and denseness.
A dense scone is still a tasty scone and those little flower cutouts are adorable! Don’t give up on them.. they’re delicious!!
Oh, yum! I rarely think to make scones, but I love cranberries and using them would probably mean I could get away with eating these plain, without cream (stupid lactose intolerance). I also adore the shape of your scones. So gorgeous!
Scones are frustratingly sly things to make. Your batch came out so pretty.
It looks beautiful nevertheless. Great work!
Yummie, the scones look SO cute, and I am sure that they taste good with the cranberries 🙂 in spite of being dense
My definition of “flop” is the same as yours. As long as I can load the tasty treat up on a spoon or fork…it’s good!
Love these scones. Anytime I’ve ever tried making scones they were like “rock” cakes too. I thought that is the way they were supposed to be. Silly me!