This is quintessential night baking as far as I'm concerned:
8:15 pm While working out, decide that tomorrow's visit to Sarah (friend with a new baby) is a good excuse to bake something new
8:45 pm Peruse KA cookbook for a recipe containing lemon (I pillaged my tree yesterday for the second time in two weeks)
9:00 pm Emergency Ralphs run for buttermilk powder
9:30-11:00 pm Bake, photograph, clean, and blog
I used a basic scone recipe with some modifications. One of their suggestions was to add fresh cranberries, orange rind, and substitute orange juice for the liquid (you can use milk, buttermilk or water). I opted for blueberries, lemon rind, and a combo of lemon juice and milk. I know, just reading that makes me think of curdled milk. Anyway, I hope it's sweet enough with all that lemon. I didn't really compensate on the sugar.
Potential liability/recipe oddity: the recipe calls for cutting butter into flour, stirring in the liquid until mostly mixed together, without overmixing, and then turning the mix out onto a floured board and folding together until the dough is "cohesive." I'm not exactly sure where the line is between sticky and cohesive. Since the dough is placed on parchment paper, I don't think it will ultimately be a problem, but my dough was definitely still sticky. After I cut each 7" round into 8 wedges, I was supposed to pull the circle apart so the back edges were 1/2" apart and the inside corners were 1/4" apart. My circles didn't pull apart neatly, so I just moved the scones around on the tray to be sufficiently spaced out. Other scones I've made have been much more floury and not sticky to the touch. We'll see how these go.
Since scones are so good fresh, the recipe says you can ready the dough (shape the scones), then refrigerate or freeze them and bake them in the morning. I had already brushed them with egg and sprinkled on the sugar, and I thought the sugar would melt overnight in the fridge, so I baked them tonight.
Update: I have no self-control, and they are the perfect amount sweet. They are kind of unrefined-looking, more like a drop scone than a rolled/cookie-cut tea scone. The sugar melted into almost a shiny, sweet glaze. I'm disappointed because I like crunchy grains of sugar, and I used raw sugar here. (Any suggestions?) In any event, they are certainly good enough to eat and to bring over to a friend. Yum!
8:15 pm While working out, decide that tomorrow's visit to Sarah (friend with a new baby) is a good excuse to bake something new
8:45 pm Peruse KA cookbook for a recipe containing lemon (I pillaged my tree yesterday for the second time in two weeks)
9:00 pm Emergency Ralphs run for buttermilk powder
9:30-11:00 pm Bake, photograph, clean, and blog
I used a basic scone recipe with some modifications. One of their suggestions was to add fresh cranberries, orange rind, and substitute orange juice for the liquid (you can use milk, buttermilk or water). I opted for blueberries, lemon rind, and a combo of lemon juice and milk. I know, just reading that makes me think of curdled milk. Anyway, I hope it's sweet enough with all that lemon. I didn't really compensate on the sugar.
Potential liability/recipe oddity: the recipe calls for cutting butter into flour, stirring in the liquid until mostly mixed together, without overmixing, and then turning the mix out onto a floured board and folding together until the dough is "cohesive." I'm not exactly sure where the line is between sticky and cohesive. Since the dough is placed on parchment paper, I don't think it will ultimately be a problem, but my dough was definitely still sticky. After I cut each 7" round into 8 wedges, I was supposed to pull the circle apart so the back edges were 1/2" apart and the inside corners were 1/4" apart. My circles didn't pull apart neatly, so I just moved the scones around on the tray to be sufficiently spaced out. Other scones I've made have been much more floury and not sticky to the touch. We'll see how these go.
Since scones are so good fresh, the recipe says you can ready the dough (shape the scones), then refrigerate or freeze them and bake them in the morning. I had already brushed them with egg and sprinkled on the sugar, and I thought the sugar would melt overnight in the fridge, so I baked them tonight.Update: I have no self-control, and they are the perfect amount sweet. They are kind of unrefined-looking, more like a drop scone than a rolled/cookie-cut tea scone. The sugar melted into almost a shiny, sweet glaze. I'm disappointed because I like crunchy grains of sugar, and I used raw sugar here. (Any suggestions?) In any event, they are certainly good enough to eat and to bring over to a friend. Yum!
Comments
I think that needs to be edited to read, "In any event, they are certainly good enough to eat and to bring over to Nanette."