Scones a la Seattle

SEATTLE SCONE GIRL
Enjoy freshly baked scones piping hot from your oven every day with Seattle Scone Girl.

Imagine a scone so moist and flavorful youmay choose to eat it plain. Sally Swafford’s Seattle Scone Girl Scone Mixenables scone lovers to enjoy the ultimate scone which she grew up with, thanksto her Grandma Ruthie.. Using her grandmother’s amazing 100-year-old Irish sconerecipe, Sally has re-created these scones, which not surprisingly are verypopular in her corner of the northwest.
Sally says: “It wasn’t until I was grown that I realized mygrandmother’s scones were totally unique to her. Some scones can be dry andflavorless – my grandmother’s are like a burst of Ireland in your mouth;complex, lush, comforting, and delightful all at the same time. She was amagical lady who really knew how to bring out the best in life. Her scones wereno exception.”
Some of Sally’s recipes can be found at the Fair Scones mail-order website, http://www.FairScones.com/ which offers her scone mix.

Ofcourse, our family also tried these with Rose Hips Preserves, the ultimate amongjam aficionados in our household. But lemon curd and clotted cream are thetraditional accompaniments if you choose to go beyond sampling the sconesplain. Lemon Curd is available from lots of gourmet spots, includingWilliams-Sonoma’s stores.

Sally’s recipe for clotted cream:

Gently heat unpasteurized milk until a layer ofcream forms on the surface. After cooling down, surface cream is removed andused as a spread for scones-hence the naming of the traditional “creamtea.” If you can find Devonshire Cream at your favoritegourmet market, usually in the deli department, you are in luck If not,the following is a simple substitute, which I call “Mock Clotted Cream.

Tomake Mock (Devonshire) Clotted Cream
1/2 cup heavy (sweet) cream
1/4 cup sour cream.
Whipthe sweet cream until stiff. Rapidly add the sour cream to the whippedcream, beating it in thoroughly but quickly. Place cream mixture in aserving bowl and chill until ready to serve. Use as a butter substitute onscones with jam or lemon curd.

Scones are a great, and simple, addition to a weekend breakfast, but do not overlook them as a tasty post-skiing, or, dare I suggest, teatime, snack.

If you simply must convinceyourself that buying the mix from Sally makes lots of sense, try making a batch fromscratch yourself first, just for comparison. The following is anacceptably moist recipe for scones:

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup lowfat lemon yogurt
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheatoven to 425°F. Stir together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Using a pastryblender, cut butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.Stir together the yogurt, egg yolks, and lemon peel. Add this mixture to theflour mixture and stir lightly. Add cream, one tablespoon at a time until doughbegins to clump together.

Gather dough on a lightly floured surface and knead three or four times until itholds together. Do not overwork the dough. Pat into a rectangle about 1 inchthick and cut with a 2-inch round biscuit cutter. Place scones on an ungreasedcookie sheet.

Using apastry brush, brush tops with beaten egg whites. Bake in middle of oven for 10minutes or until light brown. Serve warm or cold with butter and jam or lemoncurd and clotted cream.
Yield: Makes 12 to 14 scones.

You can find the above recipe(s) by tapping here on the Home Cookin’ index.

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