Scones

Tracie came for a visit and we made scones!!!

Tracie was my right arm at the café. I hired her before I even opened my doors and knew when I hired her she would be a big asset!! You see, not only was Tracie my right hand, my adoptive daughter and my friend, she was my pastry chef. And a wonderful one at that!!!

You might wonder why, if I always did such wonderful baking I hired a pastry chef. Well, once I saw Tracie’s portfolio, I knew she would help me take the café to a new level, and that she did!!

We started out making bacon cheddar scones. (I’ll share that recipe one day) Then we decided to make sweet scones. We tried several recipes and this is the one we settled with. The scones are light, moist and packed with flavor!! Our customers loved them!!

For those of you that never tried a scone or have no clue what a scone is, think of a biscuit on steroids!! The combinations of flavors are limitless. Last night we made chocolate chip toffee and cranberry orange. We both decided we should have made our peppermint white chocolate; that was both of ours favorite!!

In addition to selling the scones in the shop, we sold our scones every Saturday in the summer time at the farmers market in Downers Grove and would literally sell out of them!! I let the marketers know we sold them in the café. Not only did it bring them into the café, but it helped them from going through withdrawals of not getting a fix of our scones.

It was so nice baking with Tracie again. My kitchen isn’t the biggest, so fighting over space and running into each other brought back memories of our days in the café. But we had a blast!!! We both decided we will be collaborating again!!! Next time, Sticky buns!!!

Teri

Notes:  I’ve written the basic ingredients and then at the end added substitutions for the flavor. We made Cranberry Orange and Chocolate Chip Toffee. You can come up with any flavors you like. I’ve added the ones we made at the café. The possibilities are only limited to your creativity and imagination!

Scones 

3 ¼ cups of flour
½ cup of sugar
1 tbls + 1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups of heavy cream whipped
1 egg
Sanding sugar

In a large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add ingredients from the list below based on the flavor scone you are making. In another bowl, whip heavy cream to a stiff peak.

Add whipped cream and any other liquids to dry ingredients until combined. Mix with your hands, do not use a mixer!! Over mixing will ruin your scones!!! Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat down to circle or square. Cut to desired size.

 

Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or silpat. Mix egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush triangles with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Bake in 350° oven for 22 minutes or until edges are golden. Larger scones may take longer.

Cranberry Orange - add zest of one orange and juice from one orange and 1 cup of cranberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Chocolate Chip toffee - 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips,  ½ cup chopped walnuts, ½ cup crushed heath bar to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Blueberry lemon - add zest of one lemon and juice from one lemon and 1 cup of blueberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Peppermint White Chocolate - add 1/2 cup crushed peppermint and 1 cup white chocolate chips to dry ingredients before adding wet ingrediants

Strawberry - add 1 cup of diced strawberries to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Cherry almond - add 1 cup of cherries and 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 1 tsp of almond extract to dry ingredients before adding wet ingredients

Enjoy!!