Weekend Cooking: Making scones

A few years ago I listened to a book called The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson. As soon as I heard this passage I knew that I wanted to share it but I ran out of time to do so for that year's International Scone Week. And then we were away last year and then I had other things to post, so that brings us to now. I've been saving the post in draft for so long but today is the day that it sees the light of day!

I have had scones on my mind recently after having lunch with an old boss who told me that she whips up a double batch of scones on a regular basis! I was kind of surprised by that as I didn't picture her as a baker but now she has a bit more time on her hands so I guess that accounts for it. 

In this passage our main character Cate is talking to Henry who is a drifter who is helping her work her aunt's farm

"Anyway, I've gotta go inside and bake as I've never baked before."

"Have you ever baked before?" he asked without looking up.

"Never."

"Shouldn't be too hard then."

She wandered back into the cool of the house and started prepping the kitchen. She'd at least seen Masterchef, and she'd picked up tips from loads of share houses, so she wasn't a bad cook; it just that baking was a specific skill set, and she'd never bothered with it. That's what shops were for. She pulled a copy of The Golden Wattle Cookery Book from the shelf, ignored half the advice, and knocked out a dozen scones in well under an hour. Except they were a bit flat. Wrong flour, maybe. She threw them out and tried again. Burned her hand on the tray getting them out of the oven, accidentally turned off the over, nearly blew her face off when she leaned inside to light it again, then sore loudly and refreshed her cup of coffee while she contemplated her future.

She needed to get this done. The damn cake stall was tomorrow. She thought about packet scones, then decided Kath at the co-op couldn't keep her mouth shut. She stood up and launched her hands into the mixture, rubbing the butter into the flour, adding milk, then kneading like crazy. 

"What are you doing?" Henry had come in to observe her progress, and his large figure was leaning in the doorway, looking aghast.

"Making scones."

Henry pulled her hands off the corpse of dough. "No, you're not. Step away from the dough."

She pulled a face of frustration. She didn't need this. "What?"

"How long have you been kneading this stuff?"

"Ten minutes or so."

"Don't."

"Huh?"

"You don't knead scones. You treat them gently, lightly, softly."

"Yeah, yeah, Nigella - what makes you an expert?"

"I have a mother in Victoria"

"You do?"

"And she's  a good baker. Lots of sons. So I know you don't pummel scones to death. And you cook them quickly in a hot oven."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She was fed up, and threw the dough-pancake into the bin. 

"Okay, you're up.Held me make these damn things or it's going to get embarrassing."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to cry, and I can tell you  aren't okay with crying women."

He nodded. He washed his hands like a surgeon ready to operate, and pored over the Golden Wattle Cookery Book with her.

"Here, rub the butter and flour together," he said patiently.

She looked unimpressed. "Why not use the mixer?"

"I have no idea. Just do as you're told."

She fixed him with a glare but got rubbing, and found, ultimately, that it wasn't so bad. Henry guided her through the process with the understanding of a cook who had done a bit of baking in his life. She wondered about the woman who had taught him to cook. Did she know where he was now? Was she looking for him? She hated to think of Henry's Victorian mother pining for her boy and not knowing his fate. Henry leaned over and bumped her as he reached for the baking tray.

"Cate? Time to cut the scones out and get them in the oven." He checked the temperature was high.

She picked up the scone cutter and pushed it into the soft dough, then twisted it and brought it back out.

Henry tut-tutted and placed his hand over hers for the next one, his large arm running casually down hers, looking over her shoulder to check her form. "Don't twist it."

"Why not?"

"Not sure. Stops it rising as much?"

He gave off a lot of heat. "Okay."

He kept his hand on hers for a few more scones.  Maybe he thought the technique took practice. Finally, the scones were in, and rising, forming perfect golden scones.

And now I want scones with lashings of jam and cream

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday -
Monday - Steak egg and chips
Tuesday - Work event
Wednesday - Home made pizza
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: International Scone Week

It's not an exaggeration to say that for at last three years I have been bloghopping around this time of year and found posts about the fact that it was International Scone Week and I had missed it. This year I was determined to be ready for it, so I saved a draft of this post around a year ago!

International Scone Week was created 11 years ago at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, but now it is hosted by Tandy from Lavender and Lime.

The idea is to share a scone recipe with other bakers from around the world.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to make. I thought about making Scones with Lemon Myrtle, but then I realised that we had blueberries, so I decided to make blueberries and white chocolate scones. This recipe comes from Australian Women's Weekly website

I only made a half batch and that was enough to eat them still warm out of the oven with jam and cream and then we had the remainder for breakfast the next day sllathered with butter.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, the answer to age old question is that it is jam and then lots of cream in our house

White chocolate and blueberry scones

4 cup (600g) self-raising flour
2 tablespoon icing sugar
60 gram butter
90 gram white chocolate, chopped
60 gram fresh blueberries
1 1/2 cup (375ml) buttermilk
3/4 cup (180ml) water, approximately



Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced). Grease 20cm x 30cm lamington pan.

Sift flour and sugar into large bowl; rub in butter with fingertips. Add chocolate and blueberries.

Make a well in centre of flour mixture; add buttermilk and almost all the water. Use a knife to "cut" water and buttermilk through the flour mixture, mixing to a soft sticky dough.

Press dough out to 2cm thickness. Dip 4.5cm round cutter in flour; cut as many rounds as you can from piece of dough. Place scones, side by side, just touching, in pan.

Gently knead scraps of dough together; repeat pressing and cutting of dough, place in same pan. Brush tops with a little extra milk; bake for about 15 minutes, or until scones are just browned and sound hollow when tapped firmly on the top with fingertips.

Here are some of the other scone recipes I have shared over the years:

Sally's Scone

Scones with Lemon Myrtle

Scones

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner

Sunday -  Out for dinner

Monday - Beef Chilli with sweet potatoe wedges

Tuesday - Green Curry Chicken Pie

Wednesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake

Thursday - Beef, broccoline, mushroom

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Scones with Lemon Myrtle

This week it has been NAIDOC week here in Australia. NAIDOC week is a week when " celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community" (from the website)

It was a bit of coincidence that my post last week featured my cooking class which focussed on lots of native ingredients, so in order to bookend both ends of NAIDOC week, I decided to share a foodie quote from a book I read earlier this year called Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss which I reviewed here. The title of this book is in Wiradyuri translates to River of Dreams

This book is written from the perspective of a young Wiradjuri woman by the name of Wagadhaany (pronounced wogga-dine) who works for a Quaker woman named Louise, who wants to find out more about the Aboriginal culture and so asks Wagadhaany to introduce her to the local women

My favourite part of this quote is actually the part where it ends with "Sharing food was just the Wiradyuri way." It made me think about how food is so integral to cultures all around the world and yet can be viewed differently as well

The women are looking to Wagadhaany for some sign, some surety that the waadyin before them can be trusted. For her part, Wagadhaany wants to make the women feel at ease, for them to understand that she has the trust and friendship of a good White person, because surely they can't all be bad. She decides there is pride to be had in having a good White friend, and so she introduces Louisa again, touching her arm.

"Louisa is my friend, she has been taking care of me. Well, we take care of each other, I guess. And she doesn't make me do all the chores in the house myself, we do them together.

This is the first time Wagadhaany has seen Louisa appear nervous and uncomfortable. As she stands holding a basket of baked goods, small beads of perspiration form on her brow. Wagadhaany urges her forward gently because someone else needs to speak and right now the women are just glaring at them both.

"F...f...for you," Louisa stammers. " We baked them together," she adds, motioning to Wagadhaany. Louisa considers it an important act of friendship, a token gesture of kindness, as a way of demonstrating her generosity. For Wagadhaany, food has always been shared among her people, not as a gesture of anything. Sharing came from understanding that another was hungry. Sharing food was just the Wiradyuri way.

"Yes, we did." Wagadhaany endorses.

She's hoping one of the women will smile, even slightly, and soften the mood, making them both feel welcome, because at this moment she knows that her presence is tainted simply by being there with Louisa. She starts to feel that this may have been an incredibly bad idea, bad judgement, disrespectful even. The bamali-galang had warned her about trusting White people, so why did she bring Louisa here? She is cranky with herself for not listening, for not understanding and practising yindyamarra.

While the bamali-galang demonstrate no interest in Louisa at all, it's hard not to notice their eyes focusing on the basket in her hands. She is sure the aroma of baked scones is making their mouths water. Their eyes all look in the same direction of the basket and Louise lifts the calico cloth to reveal some pumpkin scones, freshly baked, and bright orange in colour. Their eyes widen at the sight of this new food. They have only had white damper before.

"Scones are a bit like damper," Wagadhaany explains, "but these are made from pumpkins. We grow them ourselves. The pumpkins, not the scones."

Wagadhaany panics when she sees an entire row of raised eyebrows in front of her, but then half laughs because they are exacty the same faces her mother and aunties pull back home. But she doesn't know why they are looking that way. Then it hits her. She remembers hearing stories back home about White people lacing damper with a poison, something called arsenic, and leaving it out for the Aboriginal people to eat. Many had died. She feels sick to the stomach because she knows this is why they are probably wary.

She reaches into the basket and takes a scone. Actually, Louisa, I think I need one right now," she says, taking a bite, then handing it to Louisa to take a bite too.

Louisa and the women are all shocked. Blacks and Whites don't share food, especially if it is poisoned.

Wagadhaany frowns at Louisa and whispers, "I'll explain later, take a bite."

Louisa breaks a small piece off the scone and puts it in her mouth, watching the women the whole time. Once she has swallowed, the women relax their brows and all reach into the basket and take a scone. They relish every bite, making sounds of pleasure as they devour them within seconds. Wagadhanny breathes a sigh of relief.

I went looking for a recipe for pumpkin scones, maybe with some native ingredients,  to share as well as this quote. I am not sure if they are a particularly Australian thing but if I see pumpkin scones on a menu they just aren't something that I am likely to choose. I know that there are things like pumpkin pie but to me pumpkin is a savoury thing not a sweet thing. This is something that I have posted about before over the years 

I did find a recipe for pumpkin and lemon myrtle scones, but given that I don't recall ever trying pumpkin scones before, I decided against sharing that one. So, instead, here is a recipe for plain scones with lemon myrtle which I found here. 

this recipe uses the cream and lemonade method for making the scones  which is my go to method for making scones. You can find my normal recipe here.  It is worth mentioning that the lemonade called for is your Sprite style clear lemonade rather that the real lemony style of lemonade

Scones with lemon myrtle

3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup cream
1 cup lemonade
2 teaspoons lemon myrtle


Heat the oven to 200C.

Sift flour and lemon myrtle into bowl.

Add lemonade, cream and mix to soft dough. Be sure to mix it only enough to bring the dough together. It is often recommended that you use the back of a knife to do this. If you mix too much then your scones will be tough instead of light and fluffy.

Place on floured surface.

Cut into shape (I use a glass as a scone cutter most of the time) and place on warm scone tray.

Bake for 10-15 min.

I did just see a delicious looking recipe for roast chicken with lemon myrtle, so I am thinking that I am going to have to buy some soon and give that a try too.

Weekly menu

Saturday - Pork ribs

Sunday- Leftovers

Monday-Beef stir fry

Tuesday-Takeaway

Wednesday  - Butter chicken pizza

Thursday  Pulled Pork with baked potato

Friday -Spanish tuna bake

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Sally's Scones

 A couple of years ago (or more like 3) I posted a scone recipe here as part of Weekend Cooking.

In the comments my friend Sally gave me an alternative recipe that she calls her best ever scone recipe. This is one that she serves to the shearers that come to her sheep farm in New Zealand (no sheep jokes allowed).

Since then I have made this recipe several times, and it is very easy, and definitely the scones turn out to be very light and very fluffy, just as she promised.
Now I am posting it here so that I can find it more easily, and share it with you all of course.

Sally's Scones

4 Cups Self Raising Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Cup of cream (300ml is ok) and it is better if the cream is sour or old
1 and a 1/4 Cups of lemonade.

Mix together until the dough comes together without working it too much. Role out to about 1 to 1 and 1/2 centimetres and then cut out using a scone cutter (although i don't have one of those so I use a glass as my scone cutter).

Bake in a hot oven (around 220C) until golden- or just starting to go brown on top. They are always light and fluffy. Serve with butter and jam, or whipped cream and jam- or even jam and cheese when cool (at least this is Sally's suggestion. I am a traditionalist and go for jam and then whipped cream on top.

Recently I hosted a morning tea with a few friends and this is the spread that we came up with, featuring still warm scones!

 

I know I said no sheep jokes but I can't resist sharing some of the photos from when I went to visit Sally a couple of years ago

Meet  Baaarnaby and Baaarbara 

And Ewe-nice

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

Weekend Cooking: Scones

Over the last couple of Weekend Cooking posts I have been talking about recipes that intimidate me. Today, I am posting a version of a recipe that used to intimidate me just a little until I actually tried to make them. The recipe that I made last year was a different version to this one, but it was just as easy to do, and hopefully one day, when I try this version, it will be as tasty.

So why did the idea of making scones intimidate me? I think it is because when you have a really good scone, there is nothing better especially with some jam and cream, but when they are dry and crumbly even jam and cream can't save them.

I think it is interesting to see how the brain works. Last week I mentioned that I was going to post a scone recipe and I think my subconscious has been thinking about this ever since. This morning I met up with the Victorian branch of the Sharon Kay Penman Fan Club and I knew even before I got to the meeting that I was going to be having the Devonshire tea. Didn't even have to look at the menu really! Fortunately, the scones that I was served were delicious. Fluffy and light on the inside with a little bit of crunch on the outside. Delicious!

I should mention the morning tea that a couple of the other people had. At the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) at the moment they have the Melbourne Now Art Tea. The idea is that you get a biscuit that is decorated like a painting frame and you can make your own art on using various treats and sauces as your materials and it is all edible. In addition you get a couple of sandwiches, a scone and a class of sparking wine. One of the two people who were having this in our group made a sun out of the bits of marshmallow and macaron which represents Sunne In Splendour, one of Sharon Kay Penman's books. Lots of fun, even just as an observer!

Art tea - in the background you can see the sauces and treats that
 you use to make your masterpiece

Anyway, back to the scones!

This recipe for scones comes from Merle Parrish's latest cookbook Merle's Country Show Cooking and Other Favourites which I reviewed last week.

Before the recipe though, I have a very important question. It is, of course, the age old pronunciation question!

Are your scones like stones or are your scones all gone?




Scones

3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp cream
1–1/4 cups milk, plus extra to brush
Jam and cream to serve



Preheat oven to hot (220°C) and lightly grease a baking tray.

Sift the flours, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Use a butter knife to mix in the cream and enough milk to make a soft dough.

Gather the dough together and turn out onto a lightly floured bench. Knead gently and briefly until smooth. Don’t overwork the dough or you will have tough scones.

Use a rolling pin to roll out to about 1.5cm thick. Cut out rounds with a 5cm round cutter and place slightly apart on the tray. Brush tops lightly with milk, and bake for 12–15 minutes, until risen and lightly browned.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with jam and cream.

Makes 15

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.