Saturday, June 19, 2010

Buttermilk Scones

Completely stolen from the Taste website

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19423/buttermilk+scones

Makes

16

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups self-raising flour
  • 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 60g butter, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • jam and whipped cream, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C/200°C fan-forced. Grease and flour a 8cm-deep, 19cm (base) square cake pan.

  2. Place flour, sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

  3. Make a well in the centre. Add buttermilk. Using a flat-bladed knife, stir until dough almost comes together. Place on a lightly floured surface.

  4. Knead gently until dough comes together. Press out to a 3cm-thick round. Dip a 5cm round cutter into flour to prevent dough sticking. Cut out scones. Gently press leftover dough pieces together and repeat to make a total 16 scones.

  5. Place scones, touching, in prepared pan. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until light golden and hollow when tapped on top. Serve with jam and cream.

  • Variations:

  • Spiced date scones: Add 1/3 cup finely chopped dried dates and 1 teaspoon mixed spice at the end of step 2.

  • Basil and parmesan scones: Add 1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese at the end of step 2.

  • Bacon and chive scones: Cook 4 chopped shortcut bacon rashers. Add at end of step 2 with 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives.



They're still cooking, but they look fabulous! I used a glass as a cutter, and it was about 6.5 cms round, not 5 cm like they recommended, so I could only fit 9 scones in the tray and had a lot of mixture left over. I think I might invest in a proper scone cutter, I'm sure it won't be expensive...

It was a bit of effort rubbing in the butter, and it was a bit difficult with G wanting to join in. I wonder if I could use the KitchenAid mixer for some of it, or whether a food processor might do the job. Of course, I don't have a food processor yet, but there have been several times recently where I know it would have come in handy...

1 comment:

  1. Here is some chat I had with my lovely friend Kate G about scone making, I'll post it here so I can remember next time I give it a go...

    I was thinking about your scones, if you want crispy type scones, then leave them out once they are cooked, if you want softer scones, put them in a bowl wrapped up in a clean teatowel. they sort of self steam.

    A friend taught me a few years ago, and the less you do with the flour the better. you need featherlight fingers to rub the butter in, and then use a butter knife to just barely combine the milk, and when you cut them out, don't twist the glass.

    just use fingertips and very soft butter. not melted, but soft soft butter

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