Hi all,
I wanted to follow up with the actual date scone report. They turned out great! I figured why not use the occasion to pass along my general thoughts on scones. Because this is really what matters, right? Scones? I think so.
Basically in my experience, there are many scone recipes that are good-to-great but The One Scone Recipe to Rule Them All is Ina Garten’s, published in the very first Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It’s listed as a (dried) strawberry scone recipe but it can be substituted with many a fruit. Which around here is often currants. Frozen blueberries is another fav (easier to work with than fresh). Also frozen cranberries with lots of lemon zest. I’ve experimented more lately with lemon glazes (just whisk confectioner’s sugar with a bit of lemon juice; don’t drizzle before the scones have cooled). The aforementioned dates. If one eats bacon, one can also do bacon and date, inspired by this. I also love doing chopped candied ginger, again with lemon zest.
I always err on the side of too much when it comes to add ins. Risk being if you actually overdo it, your dough will get unmanageable / wet / not flaky. The only modification I make to Ina’s recipe is I turn the temperature slightly down to about 375 and I swap, flip and rotate the trays halfway through the bake. Might just be that my oven burns hot. Also good to check them on the earlier side; the problem I run into is bottoms burning.
I’ve substituted with buttermilk (for the cream). I’ve also done them entirely vegan, with vegan butter (or coconut oil) and egg replacer and coconut cream and it’s worked out fantastic. Key in my experience is to try to get the (vegan) fats cold as you can in the freezer. Also if you’re serving vegan things to non-vegans, it’s fun to not even mention it and see if anybody notices; they typically do not. Then you say, “And they’re vegan!” and people may be wowed.
In general my thoughts on scones are as follows: Scones are delicious and if you like baking, I do find baking scones to be a nice thing to do. Especially if it’s cold out, because your butter won’t melt as fast. It’s also good if other people get to enjoy the scones. A batch of scones, I find, can even be an excuse for texting some neighbor friends, having a little brunch even, ~socializing with humans~. But, if you’ve got freezer space, you can also bag and freeze scones and enjoy them later yourself, which is also excellent. Reheat in a lowish oven (like 300 F), without a tray, which I find helps keep the bottoms from burning on the reheat.
Here are some other yummy recipes in case you’re feeling bored or stuck inside or just want to cook something comforting. Many are vegetarian or easily vegetarian-ed. Most of these get made around here regularly; I’ve maybe even shared some before.
This classic chard and white bean stew from Smitten Kitchen.
This newer, different but also delicious white bean stew, also from Smitten Kitchen.
J. Kenji López-Alt’s vegan mapo tofu.
Meera Sodha’s daily dal.
Whole wheat waffles (which I did yesterday as blueberry pancakes and they were superb).
If you want an ambitious-er cooking project, this cabbage and onion torta is wonderful. Also Tyler Florence’s tagliatelle bolognese.
Finally a quick announcement that my class for The Workroom — an online, two-part craft seminar on revising personal essays — will be kicking off this weekend. Last I heard there were still some slots left, so if you are interested now’s the time to sign up. Here’s the listing.
Take care,
Sandy
p.s. What’s Helping Today: Alas despite much effort to the contrary, I’ve been experiencing a sit-on-the-couch level of pain lately. 😩 I’ve therefore been listening to my body and sitting on the couch. Feeling grateful for The Great Pottery Throw Down, a deeply boring, deeply comforting, deeply British show about competitive ceramics.