07 June 2010

Scones, Again



I really outdid myself on Saturday with all the baking/cooking projects I had going on. Read: "I made a HUGE mess of my kitchen!"

The upside of all the mess was a lot of good food and some material for my sadly-neglected-of-late cooking blog. I actually posted my basic scone recipe awhile back, but I was so enamored of the scones I made on Saturday that I have to write about them. anyway Actually, this post could also be called "Toaster Oven" because I was as pleased about using mine to bake the scones as I was about the scones themselves. Only the toaster oven doesn't hit your tongue with that soft, cake-like texture and velvety, melting chocolate-y goodness as a scone does, see?

But when you feel like baking something small-ish on a hot-ish day, there is much praise to be sung in honor of the humble counter-top oven. No heat waves pouring into the kitchen and onto your skin. No enormous waste of energy just to bake one small pat of scones. No half hour waiting for it to heat up. Yay! I love our toaster oven (many thanks go to my husband's late paternal grandmother for this inherited treasure).

So, scones in the toaster oven; a killer combination. In less than 30 minutes, you can go from raw ingredients to delectable breakfast (including coffee brewing time). Have I convinced you that you want to:

a. buy a toaster oven?
b. make scones?
c. bake scones in your toaster oven?
d. all of the above?

If so, read on. If not, read on.

Another one of the great things about scones (besides the close-to-immediate-gratification factor) is the ease and simplicity of forming them. You could spend some time and lots of flour patting them out and cutting them into cute shapes to bake them. But the truth is they taste just as good if you dump the dough on your greased baking sheet (in this case, the toaster oven tray insert), pat them into any odd shape, and score them into the approximate size you want to ingest them in. This past Saturday I made an flat ovally shape, scored them into rough squares, and slapped them on in the oven. No need for fussiness here.





When those babies came out I immediately drizzled them with some orange-chocolate icing I had on hand, and I thought they looked kinda pretty.

(Can I insert another ode in praise of scones? They are so deliciously versatile! Put in them whatever you have on hand in the way of dried fruits, nuts, spices, flavorings. Really, the basic recipe is that: basic. You get the fun of making them uniquely tasty each time you whip up a batch. These have cranberries, chocolate chunks, and vanilla in them.)





I waited awhile for my taste-tester to get back from a project he was working on, but I couldn't hold out for long against the alluring smell of these gems. Mug of coffee nearby, and camera in hand, I did some serious damage to a few.





"the last bite"



Now do you want scones?

Basic Scones
(makes two rounds, depending on how you form them--these pictures show a half recipe)

1 3/4 cup flour (may subs. other flours for texture, fiber, etc.)
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
5 TBSP butter
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup yogurt

Instructions: Sift flour, baking, powder, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter until it is in pea-size chunks. Stir in any dried fruit/nuts. Add milk and yogurt, and stir minimally! Dump dough onto greased baking sheet, push into desired shape and score with a knife. You may brush them with milk/egg if you want a shiny finish. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.

3 comments:

  1. yeah, yeah, yeah. I want scones, okay! You happy now??? Candice

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  2. wow, that looks soooo good! cant wait to try it tomorrow :) just got my oven toaster yesterday so... yeah. thanks for the recipe!

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  3. Hi. I'm making this recipe with 20 1st graders today, wish me luck... I can't wait to see how it comes. Thanks for this.!

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