bluefacedpixie

Look Ok!, originally uploaded by machaggis.

Yes, it’s really quite startling. Trapped indoors on a Ballard snow day yesterday (unfortunately I was already on vacation and sick-watching the girl) I had no afternoon baked goods to go with my coffee! Alert! Alert!

The girl and I made short work of these Coffeehouse Scones (with a handful of dried cherries). They even taste good – Danika says so.

The random internet search/Joy of Baking recipe with comments:

2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk (G – 2/3 cup of low fat with a 3/4 tablespoon of vinegar does nicely)

1 handful of dried cherries

Egg mixture for brushing tops of scones:

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon milk
——
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Stack two baking sheets together and line the top baking sheet with parchment paper. (This prevents the bottoms of the scones from over browning during baking.)

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. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.

(G – don’t know what a pastry blender is, can’t find it (we have one apparently) and I have small child beside me, pretty much ruling out all sharp knives except the one I used to dice the butter. Get your hands in there and mush it all up small)

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat, or roll, the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 pie-shaped wedges (triangles).

(G – throw some flour on the worksurface and do all this. Then remember you forgot to add the cherries. Add cherries on top of nice circle of dough. End up kneading it all again. Now kneaded 100 times. Make new ball and roll into nice circle. Then realize you need to cut into six pieces with sharp knife. On top of your nice wooden worksurface with small child beside you. Be careful, shielding eyes of small child.)

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.

(G – why one big egg? I brushed and brushed and still had half the stuff left. Oh well, more food for small child.)

Bake for about 15 to 20 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. Make sure to watch the scones carefully as the sugar will burn very quickly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

(G – use the big oven. 20 minutes is perfect (checked at 15/19/20). Wax paper will smoke. Warm gently under broiler, blink and you will have burnt sugar, which is almost a track from the Rolling Stones, but not quite.)

Makes 6 scones.

(G – like, duh, you cut the big circle into 6 earlier, right? Good to know when skimming the recipe though.)

(G – cool enough to eat within 10 minutes. The most important part of any baking recipe, should be mandatory. 6 scones is about 3 normal greedy person servings btw.)