Scones

I’m delighted with the outcome of these scones. When I was in college studying Marketing Management through IMM I was elected Vice President of the Student Representative Council. As part of our commitment to the community, the SRC were enlisted to run the Marina Glen Tea Garden on occasion. If you recall back in the late eighties, early nineties, the Marina Glen Tea Garden was a charity organisation that raised funds for various charities. I can’t remember the recipe, but a google search will take you to various facebook sites where it is offered.

One Saturday morning on my run, a lovely lady, Paddy was at our regular coffee shop. She had just finished baking a double batch of her scones for a cake sale at her church. I was so excited and pleaded with her for her recipe. She gladly wrote it down on a little A5 notepad that she carries around seemingly for these such occasions. I was so grateful for her kind gesture but at the time I hadn’t planned on making scones so I filed her recipe away and forgot about it.

On Saturday I was reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I had arrived at the chapter “The Gift Of Strawberries” where she recounts a childhood memory about strawberry fields behind her house. Her father “loves wild strawberries” she recalls. Almost every Father’s Day her mother would make him strawberry shortcake. Well, I too wanted strawberry shortcake. There was confusion for a long time with me about scones and biscuits. Europeans call them scones and Americans call them biscuits. Shortcake and shortbread are not the same thing either. Shortcake is soft and light almost half cake, half scone whereas shortbread is more biscuit in texture.

By now I remembered Paddy’s Buttermilk Scones, so off I went to dig up her recipe. I had all the ingredients at hand, so I got to work making them. They were absolutely deliciously light and perfect with whipped cream and strawberry jam. If you enjoy raspberries you should definitely try my Homemade Raspberry Jam

“I have even seen Rose Levy Beranbaum suggest one freezes the bowl”

Over the years, I have gleaned various tips about making scones. The ingredients must be cold. I have even seen Rose Levy Beranbaum suggest one freezes the bowl one uses to mix the ingredients. Use a knife blade to ‘cut’ the butter into the flour and not your fingers to rub it into the flour. Press the dough out with your fingers, don’t use a rolling pin. Place the scones close together when baking so they help each other rise. The cutter mustn’t twist when cutting the scones into rounds. Preheat the pan you use to bake the scones. Whether you take these tips into consideration, or not, as Paddy say’s “they are practically impossible to mess up, I think!!”. There is something to be said for generations passing recipes down to family, but more importantly something to be said when you are in the same kitchen watching your Mom or your Aunty or your Granny making the recipe with you.

I never knew all this when I was 18 and making very successful scones at Marina Glen all those years ago. I wish I had jotted down the recipe and paid more attention to the entire process. There appears to be a few Marina Glen scone recipes about, it’s hard to know which one is the original one I used back in the late eighties. I do know the cup was an industrial metal thing and the flour was stored in big metal bins. The ovens were also very rudimentary too with no option of thermo fans and top and bottom grills. The oven was on or it was off with the twist of the knob to dial in the temperature.

They are so light and airy and dainty like scones are meant to be.

On Monday morning I woke up with another idea to tweak Paddy’s Buttermilk Scones recipe. Of course there was no need to tweak her recipe. Her scones are delicious just as they are. But me being me, I wondered what would happen if I changed the ratio a little. It’s all in the name of research and enjoying more scones or strawberry shortcake. Thank you Paddy for your delicious buttermilk scones, I will always be reminded of your kindness and our little spontaneous chats at Ciao Bella coffee shop on a Saturday mornings. I baked my Scones Inspired by Paddy and Strawberry Shortcake and took them to my Mom’s house on Monday. She had invited Lynne and I over for sandwiches for our regular Monday Lunch. We enjoyed the scones with tea. I am please to tell you they both enjoyed the scones immensely. They are so light and airy and dainty like scones are meant to be.

Paddy’s Buttermilk Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 60 g cold butter
• Three-quarter cup buttermilk
• One egg

Instructions

• Sift dry ingredients
  2 cups self raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, Pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon sugar
• Grate in butter, mixing in with a knife
  60 g cold butter
• Add egg to buttermilk and add to scone mix
  Three-quarter cup buttermilk, One egg
• Pat out cut and bake 10 minutes at 200°C
• Makes eight scones

Scones inspired by Paddy and strawberry shortcake

Scones and shortcake riff

Servings 8 scones

Ingredients

• 240 g self raising flour
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ tsp maizena
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbls sugar
• 80 g cold butter
• 1 egg
• 120 g buttermilk

Instructions

• In a blender fitted with a blade attachment at the flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, cornflour, salt, and sugar. Blitz to blend.
  240 g self raising flour, ½ tsp cream of tartar, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ¼ tsp maizena, Pinch of salt, 2 tbls sugar
• Add butter and blend until coarse breadcrumbs form. Add the buttermilk and egg together. Pour into breadcrumb mix and blend until dough comes together.
  80 g cold butter, 1 egg, 120 g buttermilk
• Tip dough onto counter and pat out to about 3 cm thickness
• Optional: fold the dough in half and roll out again. This gives a laminated effect that is used for strawberry shortcake. This can be repeated 2 more times and put in fridge to cool down before baking.
• Use a 6 cm cookie cutter to press out the scones – do not twist
• Place the scones in the hot cast iron pan and bake for 15 minutes or until golden blonde
• Serve with your favourite jam and whipped cream

Notes

Optional

You can brush the tops of the scones with egg and buttermilk mix and sprinkle with some sugar

The cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda and cornflour are an alternative raising agent to baking powder. This is an aluminium free alternative – use 1 teaspoon of baking powder in the recipe if you don’t mind using regular baking powder.

Whipped cream  – 250 ml cold cream, whipped with 1 tbls of icing sugar and a pump of vanilla bean paste will elevate your scone experience.

Course: afternoon tea, baking