Yum!! I love scones!! Try adding chopped peaches or apples to the dough (coat in flour first to stop fruit from sinking). My mother used to make a nice scone-based "pizza" - make a batch of normal scone dough, roll out to fit on a baking sheet, top with tomatoes, onions and mozzarella and bake till the dough round the edges is golden brown.

In my experience, northerners say "scon", southerners pronounce it "scone" (rhymes with stone). "Scoon" is the pronouncation when talking about the famous stone or castle.

Baker and Spice on Walton Street.

who else....
http://www.fodors.com/rants/rrread.c...=name&pg=4

The best scones I've ever had, in a limited career, are at the Dorchester hotel, though they are not wedges and they are more cakey than crumbly.
I have the recipe, which appeared in Gourmet magazine once. I checked the recipe listings at epicurious.com which publishes recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit, and the recipe from the Dorchester isn't listed, but the recipe from Bon Appetit just called Tea Scones is similar. You will also see at that site many other scone recipes with cook's reviews.

I think the best fruit to put in scones is dried cherries. Then pile on Hero brand strawberry jam and top with real whipped cream to which you have added a little sour cream to stabilize it and some powdered sugar. Yum!

My favorite bakery sells several varieties of scones, but even there they are quite heavy. They are best baked using a soft wheat flour. I like White Lily brand for them and for biscuits (quick bread, not cookies, for all you Europeans).

Scarlett and Obxgirl, I love Maids of Honour, too.

This thread is just loaded with good stuff. And all the recipes are so low in calories. I may have more than my usual half-dozen.

One last question. Do any of you use a special scone pan with 8 triangles inside? The "little wife" is itching to buy a nordic non-stick pan for $26. Does that sound about right? Looks like it may also be good for cornbread.

(BIG honkin' cornbread fan here) Hey, that sounds like a two-fer-one deal, Degas!

But with regards to scones...my friend who makes the really yummy ones just cuts the dough like a pizza, and then bakes the scones on a cookie sheet. They turn out pretty well.

My mum uses a cookie sheet and her scones are lumpy formless things that melt in your mouth!
I second strawberry jam!

I don't think you need the special pan with the pre-formed triangles
Any 9" round cake pan will do, if you want the wedge shapes, just cut accordingly

Bake your own scones???? Why would you do that when you can buy them?? Don't you have domestic help who can at least do all that cooking for you??? My god, some of you having been watching too much QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY. Daft.

Who is thinsmorgus? Sounds like some excitable artsy-fartsy character who got canned as a part-time costume boy at a ting rural community theatre in Iowa.

I'm told that I make the best scones (scons) in the whole world :-) Lucky me, now I always have to make them, over and over and over!!!!

The secret to good scones is that they must be worked very quickly. They like cold conditions, nice cold butter and milk, and no hot hands. I make mine in a food processor and never over-mix.

I serve them warm, straight out of the oven, with butter, strawberry or other berry, jam and as much cream as you can pile on top. Oh boy am I hungry now :-)

Happy baking, and eating.

PS. ThinGorjus, sorry to tell you, but NOTHING can beat the taste of home cooked/baked. YUM!

John, even your housekeeper must take the day off!
As you might guess, my cook and housekeeper run this house and I do what they tell me to do! As a reward for being good, they make scones and the best Southern fried chicken ... you should try it sometime, you never know when you might actually have to do something for yourself!
If you like, I will send you recipes :)

Mischka
would you share your recipe?

Hi Elaine,
I will share the recipe, hopefully tomorrow when I get a moment. Just wanted to let you know that I'm not ignoring you.

when you are kind enough to share the recipe, could you comment on what texture I should expect:
crumbly, or cakey
thanks

Message: Here's my recipe Elaine. I read through Scarlett's recipe and it sounds good, anyway here's mine.

Scones

8oz (2 cups) Cake Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 oz (3 level tablespoons) Butter
1/4 pint (150ml) Milk

Combine the flour, baking powder and butter in the food processor bowl with double-sided blade. Process until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the milk through the feed tube and process until the dough forms a ball round the blade. ( More milk may be needed to form a very soft, but not wet, dough.)

Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut into rounds with a 2? pastry cutter. Arrange on a greased baking sheet and brush with beaten egg or milk. Bake in a hot oven 450 deg F for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden.

Variations.

For a richer dough, beat 1 egg in measuring cup and add enough milk up to ? pint.
Or
Add 2 teaspoons sugar and 2oz currants to the dry ingredients.
Or
Add 2oz grated cheddar cheese to dry ingredients.

I use the basic recipe. Just remember to work quickly when making the dough and don?t handle too much with hot hands. I roll out on a marble surface because that is always very cool.
Serve with butter and any jam and loads of fresh cream. Enjoy!
The texture is not really cakey, more crumbly I think. Don't over-bake them, they must be soft inside and just golden outside. Good luck

Hi
down near the richer dough, you've got a question mark where I think a fraction should be

I don't know if there is a difference between British pints and American pints (there is a difference in gallons). American pints are 16 fluid ounces, is that what you are referring to?

thank you

I must ask, since I am perfectly willing to be chastised as a commoner and a "colonial" -

Is "clotted cream" more like:

(1) Sour cream
(2) Cream cheese
(3) Whipped cream
(4) Anything else?

I await your replies (and any labeling of my worldly innocence as barbaric.)

Cheers,

Ron