French Tarte Faves (FTF) No. 6: Scones

It’s been awhile since my last FAVE post - life happens, doesn’t it. This is certainly not a new topic for this blog. Over the years I’ve shared pumpkin, lemon, ginger, cheddar and blueberry scones to name just a few. In the lead image - raspberry glazed vanilla scones - yum.

I’ve been working on this particular post now for several months - whoa! It’s about time to finish it. Having taught a scone and teacakes class last week and another one coming up next week, I’m definitely in the mood.

Fair warning - it’s a lengthy one! I completely understand if you simply scroll through, check out the images, click on some of the recipe links and create your own tasty version of scones. Just have fun with it.

Pumpkin scone with blackberry jam

First let’s take a look at basic ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, dairy and sometimes egg.

Flour is usually all purpose but you can create your own combos. For example - create a mix using all purpose, whole wheat, spelt or rye, particularly for a cheesy savory scone. Or replace 1/4 of the flour with a nut flour like almond or hazelnut especially when adding dried fruit and/or chopped nuts. Even “00” pizza flour subbed in for 1/4 to 1/3 of the all purpose lends a lovely texture.

Just a few flour choices

Butter is typically unsalted in the majority of baking recipes, and, while I generally stick with that, I’ve used European style salted butters for different bakes (particularly shortbread cookies) with delicious results.

Some favorite butters at our local grocery

Not all scone recipes contain egg. Without it I generally find the end result to have a drier biscuit like texture and I do prefer the moisture provided by adding the egg (except Rose Levy Beranaum’s ginger scones! made with whipped cream!).

Here’s Rose’s ginger scone with fresh strawberries and homemade strawberry ice cream - delish!

The form of dairy can vary from heavy cream or crème fraîche to buttermilk to yogurt or even cottage cheese or ricotta. I’ve used combos of cream+yogurt or buttermilk+ ricotta to create slightly different textures and flavors. Play around with it.

Then consider chunky or crunchy add-ins like dried fruits (cranberry, cherry, apricot, currants are all fair game), lightly toasted-then-chopped nuts and/or chopped or grated chocolate/chips/pearls; or savory versions with grated cheddar cheese, sun dried tomato or bacon bits. So many possibilities!

Be careful with “wet” add-ins which are likely to affect the scone’s texture. I generally don’t use fresh raspberries or strawberries due to their water content as well as difficulty incorporating them into the dough without squishing them a lot. I have however had pretty good luck with blueberries in this Joanne Chang recipe.

I utilize two base recipes for the most part. Here’s the one for a classic simple lemon or vanilla scone with some suggested flavor variations and different glazes you might like. And here’s the one with add-ins - same ingredients with adjusted quantities to allow for add-ins and yield the same batch weight as the classic version.

Example - if I’m making both lemon and cranberry nut scones, I’ll have essentially equal weights of each dough and can shape and cut the same number and size of scones from each batch. Yeah, I know - a bit over the top on the uniformity end of things, eh?

With a slight variation for savory scones I use this base.

I usually shape my dough either into circles from which I cut larger triangles OR a rectangle from which I cut squares then divide those into smaller triangles. It’s not so much the exact dimensions but that you shape your dough at least 3/4” - 1” thick for a nicely risen scone.

Here are a couple of templates that help me determine shapes/sizes that I might choose to cut. Note different colored lines to indicate different sizes/yields/approximate weights of each scone. Yes I know - I’m kinda of a nut case!

I came across an approach recently for a slightly different take on things. For my basic lemon scone recipe I use exactly the same ingredients but incorporate melted/cooled (yet still “fluid”) butter into the mix rather than the usual cold, diced butter that’s briefly worked into the dough with the fingertips. This one requires some planning ahead since the dough has to chill in the fridge for 4-ish hours or overnight before you portion and bake.

Let’s take a look. Below are the ingredients for the basic dough - note the melted/cooled butter on the left.

Blend the dry ingredients in the bowl, pour the butter in and gently mix it by hand or gently with a bowl scraper. Note the curd like consistency in the bowl on the left.

Then add the egg/cream . . . . . .

. . . . .and blend with a fork/bowl scraper to bring it all together.

Note the more moist cottage cheese like consistency below.

Now wrap it up . . . .

. . . . . and refrigerate at least several hours or overnight. This allows the flour to absorb the liquid.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 425º. I keep a baking stone in my oven and will heat it as the oven is heating. I place my pan of scones directly on the heated stone for a bit more even heat while they’re baking. An option is to use a second sheet pan as your “stone”.

Scoop dough portions (I prefer mine on the smaller side) onto a parchment lined sheet pan, lightly press them down and sprinkle with raw sugar if you like. Option is to glaze after baking with lemon glaze (lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar blended to your chosen consistency) or a lemon simple syrup.

Bake 10 minutes, rotate pan 180º, reduce oven to 400º and continue baking 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remember every oven is different - pay attention!

Brush glaze on while warm, let cool a bit and enjoy.

Simple syrup glazed

I recently did a side-by-side test of my classic version and the melted butter one. Both tasty with a similar crumb - I think I still like the original method (cold, diced butter sanded in) a tad better. Try them both and you decide!.

Eyeball the classic on left, scooped melted butter version on right.

Pretty similar crumb and moistness

We’ll be finished soon! Let’s take a look at the add-ins version with similar steps outlined below. Nothing like repetition to get things to sink in.

Below is a basic lay out of ingredients for a batch with tart cherry/chocolate/pecan.

Flour, sugar, baking powder and salt go in the bowl; cold diced butter on top of dry, ready to sand in; cream and egg blended and ready to add (I keep it in the fridge until I’m ready); chopped chocolate (or chocolate pearls), lightly toasted/chopped pecans and plumped, chopped dry cherries at the ready.

Sand in butter, distribute the chopped add-ins around the periphery of the bowl then pour the cream/egg over it all.

Toss everything with a fork to moisten. I then use my bowl scraper to continue blending and bring things together. Don’t overwork! Turn the roughly mixed dough out onto a work surface and quickly pat it into either a round or a rectangle depending on your end point.

When making smaller triangles, shape the dough into a 5”x10” rectangle, cut eight 2.5” squares and then cut each of those into two triangles. Remember that template?

Place scones on a parchment lined sheet pan, brush with a bit of milk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Hold in the freezer while heating the oven to 425ºF. I typically have a second empty sheet pan or my baking stone heating up as well. I find that helps maintain even heat as the scones are baking.

Bake for 5 minutes then decrease temp to 400º and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until nicely browned and set, rotating the pan half way through the bake. Keep an eye on them - if they seem to be browning too quickly, decrease temp to 375º.

In this case I drizzled caramel over the baked scones, popped them back in for a few minutes to set the caramel. Delicious.

chocolate cherry pecan scones

Wow! What a scone ride that was! I hope you learned something.

Happy baking and happy autumn to all!

Bacon cheddar corn scones

So much sweet corn this year - gotta try something a little different. Why not savory scones!

Steve’s been buying up batches of ears, cutting the kernels off and freezing a lot of it, but he’s also grilled some ears and cut off the grilled kernels for adding to stir fries, frittatas, fried rice, corn chowder - you name it!

I went with a slight variant of my cheddar scone recipe and added grilled corn kernels and bacon bits to the mix. A small pinch of cayenne gives it the right hint of heat without being overwhelming (you can always add more if you’re into the heat factor). If you’d like to make these, here’s a PDF of the recipe fully written for this particular project.

Remember - cold butter and cold cream/egg, work quickly and efficiently to bring it all together.

Place dry ingredients into a large enough mixing bowl to accommodate your hands; work cold butter into the mix by flattening the butter between your fingertips and “flaking” the butter into the flour mixture. Leave visible pieces of butter which will help achieve a light and tender crumb.

Place grated cheese (I like a combo of gruyère and cheddar), corn kernels and bacon on top of the dry ingredients. Pour the cold cream/egg mixture into the center and toss it all with a fork to moisten. Bring everything together quickly with a bowl scraper then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface to gently knead a few times to incorporate any dry bits.

This recipe yields about 900 g of dough. I divide it in two, form each half into a 5”-ish round about 3/4 inch thick and cut into 8 wedges for a yield of 16. I happen to prefer the petite sizes, but if you’d like larger scones, cut each round into 6 wedges (yield 12) or even 4 (yield 8) for a pretty generous sized serving. It’s all up to you.

Once the scones are placed on a parchment lined sheet pan, brush with a little milk and sprinkle more cheese on top.

I pop the tray into the freezer and place a second sheet pan in the oven while heating to 400ºF.

Place the scone pan onto the heated sheet pan, bake 10 minutes, rotate trays and bake another 10 minutes until nicely browned. Reduce oven temp to 375ºF half way through if browning too quickly. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times - all ovens are different!

Enjoy slightly warm or cool fully before serving. Hint - a drizzle of honey adds a nice touch.

Crispy outside, moist and studded with goodness inside. You bet.

Work your own wonders with fresh sweet corn. Time’s a wasting!

Happy autumn!!

Butter pecan ice cream

Happy Labor Day weekend to all of you!

I recently made a batch of butter pecan ice cream and thought I’d say a quick hello and share it with you. So good!

But before I do I’d like to share this link with you. I recently received an email from Heather Langford of Gold Coast Ice Cream in San Diego USA. She writes about ALL things ice cream. I’m talking ingredients, ice cream makers, utensils, recipes - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you love making and eating ice cream (and who doesn’t), you should check it out.

Heather has also written a guide to ice cream making that’s straight forward and easy to understand.

For this butter pecan treat I use my standard base recipe with these changes: browning 70 g/5 tablespoons of unsalted butter starts the process; use dark brown sugar (same amount 150 g) instead of granulated; a cup of lightly buttered and toasted pecans are mixed in at the end of ice cream processing.

Here’s a quick review of the steps and the recipe PDF:

Have your egg yolks ready in a medium bowl and place one cup of cream in another bowl over an ice bath with a strainer at the ready.

Start by browning the 70 g butter in a medium saucepan, the same one you’ll cook the custard base in.

Once the butter is browned, blend in the brown sugar and a pinch of salt on medium heat to get the sugar melting.

Add the cup each of cream and whole milk and continue to heat to completely dissolve the sugar.

Temper the warm dairy into the yolks, return all to the heat and cook to the anglaise stage, stirring all the while.

Strain into the cold cream over the ice bath, blend in a teaspoon vanilla extract, let cool then refrigerate for up to three days before processing.

You’ll have plenty of time to prep the buttered pecans. Heat the oven to 350ºF. Blend one cup pecans with one tablespoon melted butter and a pinch of salt, spread out on a parchment lined sheet pan and toast about 10 minutes. Cool. Roughly chop and blend into your churned ice cream base. Hold in your freezer until it’s time to enjoy! Yay!

A delicious treat, as ice cream always is.

Take care of yourselves.