A friend of mine thinks I should go on the Great British Bake Off. I’m flattered by her faith in me, but I know my limits. I would melt butter the moment I entered the fabled tent.
What’s the Great British Bake Off? Only the best thing to “cross the pond” since the Beatles, that’s what. The Great British Bake Off – or GBBO to those of us in the know – features two dozen amateur bakers. Each week, they are given three challenges that are tasted and critiqued by two celebrity judges. For the past few seasons, the judging duties have been handled by the crusty Paul Hollywood and the wonderfully noble Prue Leith.
The challenges can be…well, challenging. Some weeks the bakers have to bake and decorate cakes. Other weeks, it’s fruit tart. Each of these tasks is performed in the famous white tent, which is erected somewhere in the bucolic British countryside.
After roughly eight weeks, a champion is crowned and tears are shed. The winner receives a crystal cake plate and the admiration of bakers the world over.
Because I like to bake – and I have this column – my friend thinks this should translate into success on the show. She’s apparently unaware of a recurring nightmare that I have.
In this dream, I’m actually on GBBO. I’ve just baked a cake that has fallen flat. I’ve tried to cover its faults with icing, but the result is like trying to put lipstick on a pig. I stand there in terror as Paul and Prue make their way around the tent. When they finally get to me, Prue takes one look at my cake and says, “This does not measure up to our standards.”
It’s that moment when I wake up in a cold sweat.
I’ve been thinking about that dream as I prepared for this week’s column. After some hemming and hawing, I decided that I had a craving for scones. There’s just one problem with writing a column about scones. I have no idea what a traditional scone tastes like.
Don’t judge me. I grew up in Northwest Iowa to German-Lutheran parents. We were not a scone-making family. Nor were my hometowns – Melvin and Sheldon, respectively – known for serving high British tea. Apple pie and chocolate chip cookies were our jam.
But then, when I was in graduate school, I got a job in a coffee shop that served scones. I tried one, and I was intrigued. It was sweet like a muffin but crumbly like a biscuit. And then I was hooked.
But was what I was tasting a real English scone? It’s now 30 years later, and I still have no idea. Thus, I am hesitant to devote an entire column to recipes that may or may not be actual scones.
Then again, the recipe below does produce scones that are delicious and tender. And while I rarely – or never – serve high tea, these scones are terrific with your breakfast coffee.
Which is one way of saying that while Prue may feel that my scones “do not measure up to our standards,” they are worth baking.
A few tips to make a delicious scone
Because scones are not “my jam,” I decided to do a little research on what makes a scone a scone. First, the texture should be crisp on the outside, but soft and crumbly on the inside. They also should rise rather than spread. If your scones look like a big cookie, you’ve done something wrong.
That might make it sound like scones are a fragile, frustrating beast. On the contrary, like most quick breads, they are a breeze to make. That is, they are as long as you follow certain guidelines.
- Keep your butter cold. Most recipes – from cookies to cakes – require room temperature butter. Scones, however, like their butter cold. The colder the better. The recipe that I followed below says to freeze the butter and then use a box grater to grate it into the flour. It worked pretty well for me, so I recommend it. If you forget to freeze the butter, however (or if you don’t have a box grater), you can use butter that has been refrigerated. Just be sure to cut it into very small pieces.
- Try not to overwork the dough. The recipe below calls for working the dough just until the flour is moistened. That’s good advice. If you work the dough too long, you run the risk of building up gluten, which will toughen your scones.
- On a related note, mixing together the wet and dry ingredients is best done by hand. While you can use an electric mixer or a food processor, the risk of overworking the dough is too great. There’s also the chance that the friction from the machine will melt the butter. Thus, I first stir in the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula and then complete the job with my hands.
And that’s it. Seriously, making scones is easy. I made two batches on one Saturday afternoon, and I still had time left to watch NCAA basketball. There’s no reason you can’t make these on a Saturday and serve them for Sunday breakfast. If they last that long, that is.
Lemon-Blueberry Scones
This recipe comes from the website Sally’s Baking Addiction.
I love this recipe for several reasons. First, it calls for very few ingredients. Yes, I had to buy lemons and blueberries, but the basic scone ingredients were things we already had in the pantry. Second, it’s easy. See my note above about baking two batches in an afternoon. Third, it produces scones with a beautiful texture and an even better flavor. I love the slightly crisp outer coating that conceals a soft and tender interior. In other words, exactly what I was aiming for.
Ingredients
For the scones:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, frozen
2 cups flour
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest (only the yellow parts of the peel)
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cream
1 egg
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
½ to 1 cup of blueberries (depending on their size; also, it’s OK to use frozen blueberries)
About 2 tablespoons of cream (for brushing on top of scones)
Coarse sugar
For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons lemon juice
To make the scones:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Grate the frozen butter. Alternately, you can cut it into small bits (the smaller the better) with a sharp knife.
Stir together the flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and stir until butter is completely coated with the flour mixture.
In a small bowl, beat together the cream, egg, and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the blueberries. Note: The mixture should be saggy and wet. If it seems too dry, add a bit more cream (no more than a tablespoon) and stir.
Turn scone batter out onto a floured counter. Use your hands to shape the batter into a rough nine-inch circle. Either slice the batter into eight equal-sized wedges or use a round biscuit cutter to cut and shape the scones (personally, I like the round shape for some reason). Place cut scones onto your prepared baking sheet roughly two inches apart. Brush scones with additional cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
At this point, refrigerate your cut scones for roughly 15 minutes. This will help to reset the butter and prevent spreading in the oven.
While your scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
To make the icing:
It’s also good to make the icing at this point. Stir together the sifted powdered sugar and the lemon juice in a small bowl. Set aside.
To bake your scones:
Bake for 18-22 minutes (the original instructions called for 20-22 minutes, but my batch came out a little burned, so start with the shorter time). The scones are done when they are lightly browned on top and along the bottom edges.
Remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes.
To ice the scones, either brush the tops with the powdered sugar icing or dip the tops directly into the icing. Allow icing to harden a bit and then serve.
Makes about 8 scones.
Michael Knock is a food columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
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