Scones : Free And Easy Bake-Along #27, Theme : Scones

It's Bake-Along time! Scones is the theme that Lena from Frozen Wings chose for our Bake-Along No. 27. I love eating scones, especially when they are warm minutes after baking. I thought of making some sweet scones as well as savoury, I've already chosen the recipes, but then that did not happen! The weather is really hot, and much as I love to bake, somehow the weather puts me off from baking more often than I would have liked. Many a times when  butter was taken out earlier, my recipe book, opened on a chosen recipe, I would stand right in my kitchen, sweating and irritated, and decided to call it quits! Hot and humid! Excuses, but really, all I could think of was a shower, switch on the air-cond and relax with a cup of tea and some homemade bakes, but of course, there is no homemade bakes, when the baker call it quits! :)

So my plans for sweet scones and savoury ones remain as my plans, for the time being! I made these more than a week ago, would you call this savoury, this is definitely not sweet, as there's no sugar in them. Savoury? I will just describe them as original!

These lovely scones is from one of Nigella Lawson's earlier cookbooks "How To Be A Domestic Goddess"

These scones uses lots of baking soda and cream of tartar. I almost did not make these, just because of the amount used for these two ingredients. But then Nigella Lawson describes these as the best scones she's ever eaten, so I was rather curious! According to her, the cream of tartar contributes to the lightness of the scones. And Nigella advises to eat this freshly baked, while still warm from the oven.

These scones are lovely. They are indeed buttery, light and tender, and I like eating these plain while still warm. 

Spread it with your favourite jam or clotted cream as suggested by Nigella, or just ate them plain like I did with a cup of tea. I reheated some leftovers by wrapping them in aluminium foil for about 8-10 minutes in the oven and they will be soft again. Do not throw away the aluminium foil, simply wipe them clean and reuse again for heating other bakes like breads and cakes. Reuse and recycle!

To take a look at all the lovely scones, please visit my baking buddies, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and our baking friends who has baked along with us in the linky below.

For our next Bake-Along, we shall be baking Coconut Checkerboard Brownies from Bon Appetit Desserts, page 589 or you may get the recipe here. The link for this bake will be open from 11 July to 17 July. Please do join us, everyone's welcome!

Lily's Scones

(adapted from "How To Be A Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson)

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

4-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, diced

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, in teaspooned lumps

1-1/3 cups milk

1 large egg, beaten, for egg-wash

2-1/2-inch crinkle-edged round cutter

1 baking pan, lightly greased

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar into a large bowl. Rub in the fats till the mixture goes like damp sand. Add the milk all at once, mix briefly - briefly being the operative word - and then turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly to form a dough.

Roll out to about 1 to 1-1/4 inch thickness. Dip the cutter into some flour, then stamp put at least 10 scones. You get 12 in all from this, but may need to reroll for the last 2. Place on the baking sheet very close together -the idea is that they bulge and stick together on cooking - then brush the tops with the egg wash. Put in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.

Always eat freshly baked, preferably still warm from the oven, with clotted cream and jam or, my favourite, Thunder and Lighting, which is clotted cream and molasses.

Variation :

Add 3 ounces of raisins or golden raisins for fruit scones, or, something I'm keen on, use the same amount of dried sour cherries, with or without the finely grated zest of 1/2 an orange. To make cheese scones, add 3 ounces of sharp Cheddar, grated.

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