Tuesday, March 4, 2014

TWD: Baking with Julia - Buttermilk Scones

Buttermilk Scones!  What a fantastic way to start a day, by eating a delicious scone.  And delicious is definitely the word to describe these scones.  This recipe is a real winner, which I will foresee making many return visits to my kitchen.  Yum.  This was our recipe for Tuesday's with Dorie this week and it is a total success!

This recipe has you make scones two ways.  The first is the triangular one you see above.  The second is a rolled scone, filled with some sort of jam, fruit or nuts.  The recipe makes enough dough for two batches of scones, so I made a batch of each style, triangular and rolled.  Why not?

Here is the rolled one:
I rolled mine with homemade apple butter on the inside.  Mmm.

The recipe itself is really straightforward and demands repeating.  It really does!

Here goes:
First, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together with  fork.  Just a fork.  No fancy gadgets for this recipe!

Add cold butter (I always use frozen butter if I can) and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingers.  Yes, you could use two forks or a pastry blender here, but trust me, fingers are better.  Wash those hands and dig in.  It just feels good.  It will make you have a big sigh and smile.  Life is good when you are mixing dough with your hands!  Keep mixing it together until the mixture looks like cornmeal.  If there are still some bigger butter lumps, that is actually good - it adds to the flakiness!

Add buttermilk and orange zest and mix just until moistened.  You are supposed to use 1 tablespoon of zest but I just used all of the zest from my orange.  So it was well more than a tablespoon... from a baseball-sized naval orange. 

Gather it into a ball and knead it a little bit, then cut the dough in half.  I pressed one half into a circle about 1/2 inch thick to then cut into wedges.  The other half I pressed into a strip 1/2 inch thick and about 12 inches long, slathered it with apple butter, and rolled it up like a cinnamon roll. 


Pop these babies in the oven until they are golden and voila!  An amazing, melt in your mouth breakfast!

Now, personally, I liked the wedge shaped scones better than the rolled ones.  The dough really doesn't need anything else.  However the rolled one was very good, don't get me wrong.  And it leaves you with endless options of what to put in the middle.  Maybe some dried cherries or apricots, or some fig jam?  Or even cocoa nibs or tiny dark chocolate pieces?  I am curious to see what my fellow TWD bakers chose.  They always come up with brilliant ideas!

These scones are amazingly flaky.  And the orange zest really makes the scone, I think.  It is a little surprise that dances right across your mouth, just as the buttery, flaky scone is melting.  Yum.  Can you tell I liked these?  These will definitely become a recurring event in my house!

You can find the recipe on pages 210-211 of Baking with Julia. Or, go here.   I don't care how you get the recipe, just get it, print it out, and put it on your to-do list.  Your morning will thank you. 


20 comments:

  1. Sharron,
    Your beautiful pictures do really show how easy it was to make them.
    Usually, after baking, my kitchen is in a worse estate, but with the scones - wow! almost shiny!!! LOL
    This recipe wasn't a winner for me, but I am so glad it was for you! Wonderful scones!!
    Have a lovely day!

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  2. Wow yours turned out really well! I just made the wedge ones as I was a bit too lazy, but the rolled ones look interesting too.

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  3. Your scones look so good. Agree with you about the orange zest adding that extra zing. They will be a regular feature in my kitchen too.

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  4. Beautiful scones! I loved how easy this recipe was to do - no advance planning required!

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  5. Lovely, I love your rolled scones, they look amazing!!!!
    I'm glad it was a big hit for you, seems heavenly!!! Great!!!

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  6. I made both versions as well but used strawberry jam and white chocolate chips in the spirals. Glad these turned out so well for you! They are lovely!

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  7. Great baking!! I baked both versions too, adding dried cranberries in my rolled up version. Yummy!

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  8. Great looking scones!! I too loved these. And yep, this recipe is indeed a winner. I'll be making them again and again.

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  9. can't go wrong with apple butter! they look wonderful.

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  10. Love the post! It didn't cross my mind to do one of each type...good thinking!

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  11. Impressive that you made both versions!

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  12. Great photo essay of the recipe. And apple butter? That sounds like a heavenly addition to these.

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  13. Your scones look great...both plain and with apple butter (great idea.) I too loved the flaky texture of these scones.

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  14. Love the wedge scone too! And I l-o-v-e that beautiful ceramic mug in the first picture. Little surprise that dances in your mouth indeed.

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  15. they both look great! i thought the orange zest really added nice flavor, too.

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  16. Your scones look great! I want to try these again with orange zest - too easy not to try other variations.

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  17. I love the rolled ones, I bet they were delish.

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  18. Nice post! And .....wow....you were really busy making both variations - and both are looking great!

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  19. Glad these will be a regular in your kitchen; they are easy, right?! Nice work doing both versions.

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  20. I agree. I'll definitely be making these again. Next time I think I'm going to try the plain ones. You make a good argument for them!

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