Fueled By Flapjacks: My Love Affair With Scones

Fueled By Flapjacks

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

My Love Affair With Scones

I love scones, all scones, from the humble plain tea scones to the more decadent, sweet scones. Rarely does a week go by that I do not indulge in a fresh delicious scone with a cup of hot coffee.

I think everyone has an array of 'comfort foods', those treats that are familiar and never disappoint. Scones are one of mine. Whether of the more simple variety, eaten plain or with jam (and cream) or the more luscious, sugary scones, I can always convince myself that I am savoring a somewhat healthy treat, for a scone could hardly be worse than a slab of chocolate cake. Surely those dates must count towards my 5+ and aren't those walnuts a good fat? Whatever. They taste good.

Scones are a traditional British snack, but have since become popular the world over especially in the US where they are larger, sweeter and often cut into diamonds (what I call the Starbucks-style). They fall under the category of quickbread, being made with wheat, barley or oatmeal. The name is derived from the Dutch word schoonbrood, meaning fine white bread (schoon = pure, clean and brood = bread).

One of my favourite past-times as you all know is disappearing down to Starbucks and sinking into my favourite chair with a book, while sipping on a cup of Joe and a warm (microwave heated) scone. My two favourites are the maple walnut and the orange white chocolate scone. The first is a just sweet enough scone with a subtle maple flavour and a sprinke of walnuts, topped with a thin layer of maple icing. The second is a slightly sweeter, paler scone with hints of white chocolate and orange, drizzled with a squiggle of citrusy chocolate icing.

Maple walnut scone and orange white chocolate scone

Another of my fave scones is the chocolate mud scone from Bakers Delight. They've changed slightly since their conception. Originally they were rather large and could happily constitute a meal but have since shrunk to a rather disappointing but still satisfying snack size. In my opinion they are best served warm and smothered with Nutella or peanut butter.

The date scone from Bakers Delight is another favourite. It triumphs over many other date scones I have tried at cafes which I tend to find to crumbly and dry. BD's scone is denser and more doughier, just the way I like it. I'll either munch it straight from the bag in transit to somewhere or I'll split it and munch it down with jam.

Then there is my new favourite scone, which I baked with my own masterful hands, the pumpkin pecan white chocolate scone. So eager was I to wolf this down on several occasions, I never bothered to get a good photo of it but I can tell you that it was delish. You'd be jealous. I'll never cook with pumpkin puree again though, unless I can find it in a can. Spending over a half hour pushing mashed pumpkin through a sieve just to get a half a cup of puree just doesn't seem worth the elbow grease for a scone that only had a hint of a taste of pumpkin. Hopefully it is possible to replicate without the pumpkin. What really makes this scone fantastic is possibly its blatant disregard for health, as it is loaded with butter and brown sugar. Taking a deep whiff of them as they baked, I couldn't wait to bite into it and as soon as they had cooled I quickly plated one for the official first taste. Soft, doughy and dulcet, but not sickeningly sweet, so as to still fall under the scone, not cake category - they were perfect. Biting into a chunk of melted white chocolate was divine and the flavours mixed well with the pecan, one of my favourite nuts. My recipe only made 6 large scones, but it was totally worth the effort. They did not last long, especially as my Dad sneaked back in the middle of the night to grab a second scone while everyone was heading to bed.

My scone babies cooling down

A slightly blurry innards shot

While in England I was lucky enough to a cream tea. While it is most often associated with Devonshire, I ate mine at Tintagel in Cornwall, so technically it was a Cornish cream tea. Scones are served with clotted cream and jam and a pot of freshly brewed tea which you can drink until your bladder bursts. It made for a really yummy lunch and gave me plenty of energy to run around Tintagel Castle, but unfortunately my memory of it is tarnished as I came down with a stomach bug that night and can't look at clotted cream the same way again, even though it is mostly unrelated. Hopefully someday I will return to Cornwall again and reacquaint myself with the art of the cream tea before taking a more leisurely stroll along the ruins on the cliffside.

Cornish cream tea. At the back is the clotted cream which I really should have opened, but was obviously too entranced by my meal to think of.

Closely related to the scone is the American biscuit, which I really enjoyed and tended to find were slightly crispier on the outside than a scone. Sweet scones still rule the more savory type, however much Crystal may claim the brilliance of her beloved cheese scones.

The sexy Crystal poses with a cheese scone at Fidel's on Cuba St, Wellington

posted by Lauren @ 2:44 PM

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