Category: Biscuits + Scones

Chocolate Chip Scones

 

 

 

 

 

Someday I hope to visit Scotland, home of shortbread and scones. How such simple ingredients–essentially butter, flour, and sugar–can yield such marvelous treats is a wonder.

These scones are certainly Americanized, not much like traditional Scottish scones, but they are light and flaky and pair very well with a good cup of tea. This recipe requires you to literally get your hands into the mix, rubbing the butter into the flour mixture, which can take a few minutes and requires great subjectivity. My mixture looked like a bowl of cake crumbs, with some smaller and larger pieces, before I added the chocolate chips and wet ingredients. And, take note that the dough will be wet and sticky when you turn it out onto the parchment-lined baking sheet; it will not be dry like biscuit dough.

Next time, I plan to add some sanding sugar to the tops for a bit of crunch.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and milk; set aside.

Add butter to the flour mixture. Using your hands, rub in the butter until the mixture looks like cake crumbs.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Add egg and milk mixture and stir together, using a fork, until the dough just comes together.

Turn out onto parchment-lined sheet and flatten to about one-inch thickness.

Cut into eight wedges and, using a small offset spatula, pull the wedges apart so they are not touching.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until tops are golden brown.

Serve warm or allow to cool.

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Biscuits

 

 

 

 

 

My love of carbohydrates cannot possibly be dimmed no matter how many articles I read about the evils of white flour.  I understand that whole grains are better for the body, and I eat them often.  I’ve spent my life having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on wheat bread.   But now and then, you simply have to have a grilled cheese on white, a crusty dinner roll, or a biscuit.

On many a Sunday during my childhood, after 9 o’clock mass, my mother would make biscuits for my brother Andy and me.  Usually she made “drop” biscuits, which didn’t require any rolling or cutting, and we slathered them with butter and jelly or butter and honey (my toppings of choice) while she drizzled hers with syrup.  At diners, Mike has ordered many a biscuit covered in sausage gravy, a food which I have never actually eaten but he tells me is quite good.  Whatever you wish to put on these, I hope you enjoy them.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with foil.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.

Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture resembles very coarse crumbs.

Make a well in the center; add milk and mix with a fork until combined.

Turn mixture out onto a lightly dusted counter top and knead very gently, 10 to 12 times, until the dough is smooth. Do not over-knead your dough or the biscuits will be tough.

Pat down or lightly roll to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut dough with a biscuit cutter (or round cookie cutter or a glass) and place about two inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake for 10-14 minutes, until tops are golden brown.

Serve warm.

Strawberry Jam Scones

 

 

 

 

 

Mike and I traveled to England in 2007, where we had great fun traipsing through Bath, York, Keswick, Chipping Campden, and London in the rain.  Locals apologized to us for the weather, but I loved it, the gray skies and drizzles that turned into sudden downpours.  I’d been waiting to visit the UK since I was fifteen and read Wuthering Heights, and it definitely delivered.  I spent most of the drive (yes, we drove around England, in a mini-van we nicknamed Silver Sally) from York to the Lake District scanning the moors, keeping an eye out for Heathcliff, just in case.

As a tea drinker and avid dessert fan, I was in heaven.  If the Brits know anything, they know tea, and they’ve developed all manner of treats to accompany their varied brews.  In a charming tea shop in York, we had our first traditional British scones, studded with currants, topped with clotted cream so thick it looked like whipped butter and tart strawberry jam.  The recipe below is far more American than English, but it took me back to that little tea shop on that gray afternoon.  Now, if only I had some clotted cream…

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • About ¼ cup strawberry jam

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.

Process until the mixture resembles coarse, crumbly meal.

Turn into a medium-sized bowl and stir in heavy cream, a little at a time, until a soft dough forms.

Knead very briefly, just a few times, then turn out onto a floured surface.

Roll dough into a 10-inch circle and cut with a 2-inch cookie cutter in the shape of your choice.

Using your half-teaspoon measuring spoon, press an indentation in the center of each scone.

Fill indentation with about ¼ to ½ teaspoon strawberry jam.

Bake 18-20 minutes, until edges are golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack; drizzle with powdered sugar icing or slather with clotted cream if desired.