Cinnamon Scones

[s1m0n]

After 25 or so years of making my mother's recipe for scones (Rhymes with gone not stone), This month it finally occurred to me to try adding cinnamon & nutmeg to the mix.

And the result has been a revelation. This is seriously good, and right in season.

Cinnamon Apple Scones

1. Mix white flour and baking powder in the ratio of 1 cup of flour to 1 tsp baking powder. For this batch, we'll use two cups to two tsps. This is the only important ratio in this recipe--everything else you can vary quantities safely.

2. Add a pinch of salt and several tbsps of sugar, a tsp or two of cinnamon and a half tsp of nutmeg. (easy on the nutmeg; too much makes you stoned and the hangover is brutal).

3. Add a cubic inch of butter, and with a wooden spoon cut the butter roughly into the dry ingredients. You don't need a perfect smooth blend, but the lumps of butter should be about the size of a pea or so.

4. Peel and core an apple and cut the flesh into dice.

5. for style points, toss the apple cubes into a small bowl and sprinkle them with cinnamon, stirring it around so that each piece is lightly coated.

6. Mix the apples pieces into the flour/butter mixture.

7. To gild the lily, you could add walnuts or pecans or any number of other things to this mix.

8. Add milk to the mix gradually, one or two spalshes at a time, stirring until you get a thick batter. Only add enough liquid to make all the flour wet--you don't want a runny batter.

9. Glop this mix in two lumps onto a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 until the top begins to brown.

10. For style points, sprinkle a little cinnamon or cinnamon-sugar mix onto the top of each lump.

11. serve hot from the oven or cooled with butter or whipped cream.

[Miwokhill]

Cool. Maybe we can get some other scone recipes as well.

By the way, right on the pronunciation...at least the way we always said it...and my mom being from Banbridge we had scones in our house many years before it became trendy pastry of the 90's. Every time I hear someone pronounce it like 'stone' it always strikes me as sounding snooty somehow!

[Walden]

You mean that gone doesn't rhyme with stone?

[Denny]

is okay Waldon...he's Canadian.

[jsluder]

We've lived near Seattle for nearly 10 years now, but this is the first year we've attended the Puyallup Fair (one of the largest fairs in the country). One of the "BIG ATTRACTIONS" at this fair are "freshly baked" scones, slathered with butter and jam. Everyone just raves about them. So, I decided to try one. Bleh. They're made from a mix. You can taste the preservatives. I suspect the "butter" is actually margarine. The jam is too sweet. In other words, I was colossally unimpressed.

[Lambchop]

That looks like a biscuit recipe to me.

[scottielvr]

mmmm... scones. Next little coolish spell (which should be soon) I'll try that recipe.

** begin rant **
I'd love to be able to make my own clotted cream to go with freshly baked scones... I've tried the super-expensive imported stuff in tiny jars but it's just horrid; I've tasted the genuine article in Devon...there's no comparison. It needs to be made fresh; Alton Brown and others can show you how to do it, and it looks easy enough... but it has become simply impossible to find non-ultra-pasteurized cream (or milk).

Apparently there's no point trying to do it with ultrapasteurized; the UHT process makes the stuff unusable for making clotted cream, making cheese, etc.--it just won't work. The UHT stuff dominates the market now, and fercryinoutloud, you can't find regular old pasteurized milk/cream anywhere...not even at organic grocers or specialty stores. There's a little Amish store down the road that sells fresh local products such as butter and cheeses. I was sure they would have non-UHT cream, or be able to get it; they told me they used to carry a few bottles of it...but since there were no local suppliers, they had to have it shipped in from New Jersey. They stopped carrying it because there was no call for it. I give up. Grrrrrr....
**end rant**

[s1m0n]

scone variations

To go from the recipe above to the basic sweet scone recipe, just leave out the cinnamon, nutmeg, apple and walnuts. This is the basic scone, ideal with butter, cream, and homemade jam--I usually make a large batch of raspberry freezer jam during berry season, and that's what tastes best with scones to me.

for a richer recipe, replace some of the milk with whipping cream or half-and-half. In a pinch, you can substitute water for milk, if you discover too kate that you're out of milk. Or maybe substitute plain yoghurt for half the milk--any of these will work; this is a bullet-proof recipe as long as you keep the flour-baking powder ratio correct.

cheese scones

For a savory variation, leave out the sugar and the butter, and instead mix the flour/baking powder/salt mix with a cup or two of grated cheese (old cheddar or another strong cheese works well). Add the milk, and spoon into muffin pans and bake. One cup of flour makes 6 standard muffins.

[Congratulations]

That looks like a biscuit recipe to me.

My thought exactly.

[Miwokhill]

I wish I had my mom's recipe to share but I don't...I'll have to see if i can get it...My mom didn't really love to cook or bake but her scones were great (I guess everyone thinks that about their mom's cooking!) Anyway I do know that these were cooked on an iron skillet, frying pan, rather than baked in the oven. If that makes a difference or if it's the ingrediants as well (or both) I don't know.

[emmline]

I have cut and pasted, and will hand the recipe off to the scone-loving college girls when they come home.

[s1m0n]

Scones, biscuits and bannock are all closely related recipes.

[chas]

You mean that gone doesn't rhyme with stone?

And they don't rhyme with on and own??

I've had a hankering for scones; think I'll try Simon's recipe this weekend.

[Denny]

I decided to try one.

[djm]

I can't imagine what your version of bannock would be like if you think its related to scones. My granny's was a meal in itself, made 50/50 whole and white flour, like a heavy, meally cake more than a bread. A slice of that stuff and a bit o' cheese was lunch complete.

djm