Here's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Biscuit God. In my early days of baking the phrase "cut in the butter" in a recipe sent me running for the hills. I'm not exactly sure why, but I perceived cutting butter into flour as some Herculean task that only 5 star bakers were qualified to do.
Well, guess what, nothing could be further from the truth. Really it is quite a simple procedure to cut fats into flour and I strongly recommend trying your hand at biscuit or scone making, it is a very welcomed and rewarding thing to do.
Anyway, back to my story. Because I was afraid to pick up any scone recipe that required cutting something into something I looked around and found this fabulous recipe for Dried Fruit Cream Scones in Marion Cunningham's cookbook The Breakfast Book, .
I made a couple of changes to suit our purposes at my restaurant The White Bear Cafe, which was located in Berkeley, California, where thousands of fluted edge mini scones were made, but the original recipe is simply divine.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, figs, papaya etc.)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to distribute. Add the cream and with a fork stir together until the dough holds together in a rough mass. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 8-9 times. Pat into a circle and cut into 12 pie shaped wedges. Place on a sheet pan allowing an inch or so between scones and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Marion doesn't, but I brush the tops with melted butter.
There is something miraculously transformational about biscuit/scone making, and perhaps bread in general. You start with a mixing bowl of very raw looking ingredients, flour, sugar, baking power and soda or yeast and a few minutes or a couple of hours later you're taking glorious bread or biscuits from the oven.
Warm from the oven and slathered with butter and jam these cream scones have an elegant simplicity. Paired with fresh fruit and scrambled eggs...can it get any better?
Remember, when YOU make it, the first ingredient is love.
Buon Apetito!
Well, guess what, nothing could be further from the truth. Really it is quite a simple procedure to cut fats into flour and I strongly recommend trying your hand at biscuit or scone making, it is a very welcomed and rewarding thing to do.
Anyway, back to my story. Because I was afraid to pick up any scone recipe that required cutting something into something I looked around and found this fabulous recipe for Dried Fruit Cream Scones in Marion Cunningham's cookbook The Breakfast Book, .
I made a couple of changes to suit our purposes at my restaurant The White Bear Cafe, which was located in Berkeley, California, where thousands of fluted edge mini scones were made, but the original recipe is simply divine.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, figs, papaya etc.)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to distribute. Add the cream and with a fork stir together until the dough holds together in a rough mass. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 8-9 times. Pat into a circle and cut into 12 pie shaped wedges. Place on a sheet pan allowing an inch or so between scones and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Marion doesn't, but I brush the tops with melted butter.
There is something miraculously transformational about biscuit/scone making, and perhaps bread in general. You start with a mixing bowl of very raw looking ingredients, flour, sugar, baking power and soda or yeast and a few minutes or a couple of hours later you're taking glorious bread or biscuits from the oven.
Warm from the oven and slathered with butter and jam these cream scones have an elegant simplicity. Paired with fresh fruit and scrambled eggs...can it get any better?
Remember, when YOU make it, the first ingredient is love.
Buon Apetito!
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