A scone situation

On Saturday, after returning from a nice trip out to the Davis Farmer’s market, I was in the mood to bake. But after baking cookies and cake the two weeks before, I was ready to try something else. And I knew immediately that it was scone situation. I hadn’t made scones homemade ever, so this was a good start for me. I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour and adapted it a bit. I used buttermilk instead of half-n-half and substituted raisins for chocolate chips since my sweet tooth needed a day off.

They turned out perfect! They were buttery, and sweet, and did I mention huge??! The recipe said it’d yield 16 scones, but I only got 9. I obviously needed to check my portions out but oh well. I love eating over-sized breakfast scones with my coffee. One tip for handling the dough: it’s going to be very VERY moist so don’t try to mix it too much. Overmixing it will make this scone tough.

Raisin Scones

from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/2 cups (9 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached Pastry Flour or Mellow Pastry Blend (9 3/8 ounces) I used all purpose flour instead.

• heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar

• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats

• 3/4 cup of buttermilk

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of raisins

• coarse white sparkling sugar for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) a baking sheet.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder till thoroughly combined. Add the butter, working it in until the mixture is unevenly crumbly.

Whisk together the buttermilk , eggs, and vanilla. Set aside 2 tablespoons, and add the rest to the dry ingredients, along with raisins. Mix to form a moist dough.

Transfer the sticky dough to a heavily floured rolling mat or other work surface. Gently pat and round it into an 8″ circle. Brush the dough with the reserved egg/cream mixture, and sprinkle heavily with coarse sugar.

Dip a 2″ round cutter in flour, and use it to cut out a total of 16 scones; you’ll have to gather the scraps and reshape the dough once. Space the scones evenly on the prepared pan.

Bake the scones for 20 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm. If not serving immediately or within a couple of hours, store in an airtight container. To reheat, wrap loosely in aluminum foil, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes. Yield: 16 to 18 3″ scones.