scones

These scones are amazingly tender. I love the big chunks of delicious pears and plump raisins. I had some beautiful Pears from 3 springs farms, hence the pear and almond tart on the blog earlier this week. Give yourself some time with these scones. The pears are roasted for 20 mins and then need to cool to room tempeture.A quick fix place the pears on a plate and put in the freezer.

These are adapted from my favorite blog ” The Smitten Kitchen “. I switched out the Chocolate chunks for the raisins. And the heavy cream for light cream.

Ingridents

3 Medium pears i pound or 455 grams

1 1/2 cups all -purpose flour. Lower protein flours like Gold Medal

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted buter, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup light cream *

3/4 cup raisins

1 egg

* the original recipe called for heavy cream I was out and only had light cream …. it worked but try with the heavy cream 1/4 cup.

Instructions

Heat the oven 375 degrees. Peel and core pears. Cut into 1 inch chunks. line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roast the pears for about 20mins, they should feel dry to the touch and have little brown underneath. Remove from the baking sheet. Either let cool on the parchment on a rack, or place on a plate and in the freezer to cool quickly. Turn oven up to 400 degrees.

Whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in the bowl of your electric mixer. Add the cooled pears, and the cubes of butter, cream, and egg. With the paddle attachment, mix the dough on low speed until just combined .add the raisins and mix about 5 more seconds.

Take the dough from the mixing bowl. Place on a floured surface and knead a few times. Place the dough into a round cake pan and pat out. Release the cirlce of dough onto your work space and cut into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to a baking sheet and brush with cream wash.

Bake the scones about 30-35 minutes. you want them to be nice and golden. Tranfer them to cooling rack. Let them rest for 10 minutes.(believe me let them rest it firms them up)

Serve with Whipped sweet butter and your favorite perserves… or with nothing at all.

Let me know how yours turn out !

When I first started my baking adventure,one of the first recipes was scones.

I thought these seem easy enough and would be perfect for my dear friend Dorothy Tomassini. Well I wasn’t really expecting the dough to be so wet and hard to deal with. Since then its a breeze to combine and whip up a batch of scones.

I was invited for tea with Mrs. Tomassini, and was asked to bring scones. I was excited and forgot I had made them a few years earlier for her. Delighted with a challenge and having more knowledge about baking.

The first time I did these biscuit gems I simply used a large spoon and dropped the dough on the baking sheet. This time around I learned two amazing techniques from America’s test Kitchen. Use a food processor and place the dough in a round cake pan to form a nice circle, easier to cut the scones into eight.

Ingridents

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour( try and use a lower protein brand like Gold Medal)

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Zest from one large orange

1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Set oven to 425 degrees. in the work bowl of the food processor fitted with the metal blade ,place flour,baking powder, salt and sugar. Process with six 1-second pulses.

With the food processor, remove the cover and place the butter and zest evenly over the dry ingredients. Cover and process with 12 1-second pulses. Add the crannberries and pulse one more time. Remove the dough into large bowl.

Stir in the heavy cream with a rubber spatula until dough begins to form about 30 seconds .Transfer the dough onto your work space ( I tend to lightly flour my work board), knead the dough by hand just until it comes together. The ball will be slightly sticky, this kneading process is 5-10 seconds. You don’t want to over Knead the dough. Press the dough into a cake pan , then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.

Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with cream. Bake 12-15 mins you want the tops to have a nice light brown color. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 min…( dont skip this part! it improves the texture)

Serve with whipped sweet butter and your favorite preserves!

Let me know about your tea party and how the guest loved your scones……