About Scones

On Sundays we often have scones for breakfast.  Here is a photo of today's scones.  They're all gone now because my granddaughters were here for breakfast.

Scones are like a cross between shortbread and biscuits.  My basic recipe for scones is this:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup shortening

3 t baking powder

2 T sugar

1/4 t salt

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup dried cranberries and/or raisins

When I say "my basic recipe" it's because I belong to a long line of cooks who preface every recipe they share with "Here is the recipe, but that's not what I do."

My namesake niece Sara Katharine, who left us too many years ago now, struggled for months trying to duplicate my mother's famous barbecue from the recipe Mom gave her.  She recorded the episode in a delightful blog - I have the link to it on another computer and will see if I can access it for a re-post, but Windows 10 has invaded that computer, so it's a project for another day.

Here's what I do with scones.  First I combine a mixture of flours to make up about two cups of flour.  Today's scones had about a cup of oat flour, about a cup of prairie golden wheat flour, and about 1/2 cup of almond meal flour.  I like to use oat flour because it seems Scottish to me.  Then I add the baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Today I used raw sugar.  If you don't want to use sugar at all, you can leave it out.  If you want sweeter scones, add more sugar or wait until you get to the liquid part of the recipe and then add a liquid sweetener (sometimes I use maple syrup or honey).  

The next step is to add the shortening.  Today I used salted butter.  If you use unsalted butter, you may want to increase the amount of salt in the recipe.  I buy butter when it's on sale and keep it in the freezer, so if it's not soft enough to work in to the flour mixture, as it wasn't today, I use a grater and grate the butter into the flour.  Then I work it in thoroughly with my hands until the mixture looks like corn meal.  Now add the dried fruit. 

Now add the milk and work it until it makes a nice dough that sticks together and can be kneaded.  Knead it until it feels right. (This is where experience comes in handy.  Here's where you may need to add more flour or more liquid in order to get the right texture. )  For smaller scones, divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a circle about 1/2 inch thick on a floured board, cut in to six pieces, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  They should be a little brown on the bottom and not gooey on the inside.

There are so many variations you can use to make scones.  Most of the recipes I've tried work.  I just like mine the best.  Some people add a beaten egg, which should make the scones rise higher.  I haven't tried coconut oil instead of butter, but I expect it would work just fine.  You could also use coconut milk instead of dairy milk. Sometimes I use sour cream or yogurt for the liquid, adjusting the quantity so I still achieve the proper texture.

Experiment with using different kinds of flour and nut meals, using frozen blueberries or chopped up apples instead of dried fruit, adding vanilla or almond extract, orange or lemon peal for additional flavor,  For supper scones I sometimes add grated cheese and leave out the fruit.    

Priorities

This bit was written in 2011, but just now published, so it shows up in 2016.  I want to leave it here because I want to keep it, but if you know me, it won't make sense to be in 2016.



So here I am home from harp school and Pete is in Maine, hopefully happy, at Boat School.  My mental list of things to do while he's away is crowded with obligations - mostly having to do with the up-coming county fair and the extension homemakers food booth.  The rapidly growing weedy grass, some family errands, and household chores fill much of the rest. 

After a sleep catching up nap on Sunday, I decided to mow the lawn.  About a third of the way through it the mower broke. 

Monday afternoon the well pump quit in the middle of a load of laundry.

Tuesday morning my coffee grinder gave up the ghost.

By afternoon on Tuesday the pump was fixed (thanks to the wonderful fellow from Moss Well Drilling), I had located a repair person who promises to pick up (and presumably fix) the mower, I had located another coffee grinder, and I made a pot of coffee.

Dealing with these crisis (however mundane and truthfully insignificant) has put all else in perspective and I have revised my list.

Some thoughts about food

So ... I think I need to start another food blog.  Not because the world needs another food blog, but because I have a unique (like everyone else) perspective on food and if someone wants to learn something about it, I can probably teach them something.   Isn't that a lot of something?!?

I promise I'll get better at it.

We're reading medicalmedium.com  I find the suggestions in the book interesting and worthy of consideration.  Basically he's saying EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.  That's good advice no matter who gives it.

For the past three weeks Pete has been drinking a pint of fresh juiced celery juice, as per William's advice, to address a lifelong issue he has had with indigestion.  Since it seems to be working, we have also been able to incorporate more fruit and vegetables in to our diet -- because he used to not like or want to eat garlic, celery, broccoli, onions, peppers, any relation of cabbage, cucumbers, etc.  He was okay with tomatoes, peas, carrots, potatoes, corn, spinach, occasional lettuce, sweet potatoes, green beans, and summer squashes.  With the increased list of acceptable vegetables, and with a foray into the world of fruit, the culinary possibilities have increased exponentially.

So here is the first of many meals I want to share:

This is sweet potato and plantain mash.  I found the recipe at https://girlmeetspaleo.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/roasted-plantain-sweet-potato-mash/ 

It's very tasty, filling, and fun to prepare.  Just make sure you use a ripe plantain.  

and I accompanied the mash with a nice house salad of red leaf lettuce, sliced pears, walnuts, and dried cranberries with the Walthery house dressing of flaxseed oil and seasoned rice vinegar.

The following evening I experimented with some spinach noodles sort of Alfredo with vegetables.  

I think I started by putting water on to boil for the noodles.  Then I started the sauce.  To make the sauce I sauteed onions, celery, and green peppers in coconut oil.   When the water boiled I added spinach noodles.  Back to the sauce: when the onions were clarified, I added about a tablespoon of butter and three tablespoons oat flour to thicken.  I added about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce for extra flavor.  Then I added half and half until it looked right to thicken.  As the sauce was cooking, I put cut carrots in the steamer, let them steam about five minutes, and added zucchini to the steamer.   On the spur of the moment, I added some left over White Zinfandel wine to the sauce.   Then I added a slice and a half of Lorraine Swiss cheese to the sauce and stirred it  well.

To plate, I ladled the noodles, put the steamed veggies on top, and spooned the thick sauce onto the veggies. The result was okay.  I pronounced the sauce to be too thick and cloying.  It was tasty, but too rich for the noodles and veggies.  I will blog later about sauces.

The next evening meal was a bit fresher tasting.  Basically a Thai green curry.  I stir fried the veggies with some candied ginger and then added coconut milk and about a tablespoon of green curry sauce.  The rice wasn't quite done, so I added it to the skillet and let the whole mess simmer for about five minutes.

This morning we had Belgium style waffles, as specialty of the house, with bananas and blueberries on top.  I like to add Raspberry preserves and maple syrup.