My friend, Terry, is such an inspiring homemaker. She loves taking care of Rose Cottage - the name she's dubbed her home - and making it a sweet place for whomever enters. She's a whiz in the kitchen, a great seamstress, and an avid gardener. And I so love that she's willing to share her knowledge. She's taught me much about herbs and plants, how to make soap from scratch, and how (by example) to bless others with the nearly lost art of letter writing.
My latest lesson from her has been in scone-making. Terry makes the best scones I've ever tasted. Just the scent of her scones makes me sigh in pleasure. And no wonder they're good - she trained as a pastry chef in England!
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| An autumn bouquet from Terry's garden |
After a successful morning of making Dried Cranberry, Butter Pecan, and Dried Cherry scones, we visited Betsey Bunny & Perry Parakeet. Then for a hearty autumn lunch of vegetable soup, a loaf of whole wheat bread that Terry brought, and yummy little toothpick-fuls of raspberries, bananas and blueberries, compliments of Candy.
And we had such a good time that Terry started brainstorming what she could teach us next! It sounds like we'll be doing Pastry-Making 101 in the depths of winter. What bliss!
Scones8 oz. flour (a generous 1 3/4 C.)
3 level tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 oz. sugar (3 tabl.)
2 oz. of cold butter (1/2 stick)
5 oz. whole milk (2/3 C.)
Any of the following desired Add-ins:
2 oz. dried fruit or nuts (1/2 C.)
1/2 C. fresh blueberries
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 oz. shredded cheese (hold the sugar)
1 tsp. flavoring (vanilla, butter, etc. - this gets added to the milk)
Preheat oven to 450. Place trays in oven as it preheats. Spoon flour from its container into your measuring cup versus dragging the cup through the flour. (This helps to aerate the flour and keep the scones light.) Place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Cut the 4 tabl. of butter into very small chunks and place in the bowl. Now with your fingertips, rub in the butter by lifting the flour mixture (again aerating) and rubbing the butter chunks. This will be done for approx. 3 minutes until the mixture is consistent and rid of all butter lumps. At this point, sprinkle any of the add-ins into the flour mixture and pour any desired flavorings into the milk. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and pour in the milk. Mix gently with a spoon and then turn with hands just until moistened and all ingredients are combined into a ball. DO NOT OVERMIX. You want to handle the dough as little as possible. Place the dough ball on a floured surface and sprinkle the top of the ball with some flour. Squish the dough to 3/4" thickness and pat it into a circle. Don't knead the dough. Cut into 8 triangles or divide dough in half and cut each half into 6 small triangles. Separate each triangle on the sheet if you want all sides browned or just leave scored circle together and separate after baking. Sprinkle with regular sugar or (even better) crunchy crystals of sanding sugar. Bake on the preheated trays for 7-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from tray and cool on wire racks. Can be frozen.
Mock Clotted Cream (Terry made up some of this deliciousness to put on our scones. She only made 1/4 of this recipe for the 3 of us.)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 C. 10X sugar
Dash of salt
2 C. heavy whipping cream (whipped for about 2 minutes by hand)
Beat sugar into cream cheese. Add salt. Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream. Refrigerate.
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| And besides flowers and a scone lesson, Terry brought me a beautiful stack of Victoria back-issues! |
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