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and Enchanted April
in my upbringing , with a little Keeping Up Appearances
thrown in for good measure. There were also a lot of fake British accents, tea parties and, of course, scones. Sometime in high school I taught myself to make scones and they remain one my absolute favorite things to bake. Ever. |
| This was a plain batch -- plain, but ever so tasty |
I really don't need a good excuse to bake scones. Friends visiting? Time to bake scones. Ladies' get together? Must bake scones. It's Saturday...scones! So, for Gretta's bridal shower, what did I offer to bring? Well, scones, of course! I was delighted that they turned out to be such a hit, especially considering that I mindlessly left my favorite scone accompaniment, my "faux Devonshire cream", at home in the refrigerator. tsk, tsk, tsk...
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| How sweet! I added dried tart cherries to the heart-shaped scones. I only wish I had added more! |
As an aside, I almost always make scones by hand. A couple of times I have tried using the food processor to cut in the butter and combine the dough, but it's just not the same. I don't mean the taste and texture aren't the same -- those don't really seem to suffer. It the experience for me that changes. When you make scones by hand, the smell of butter billows up as you're cutting it into the flour. Then, after folding in the liquid ingredients, I love to plunge my hands into it the bowl and gently knead the crumbly mess into a uniform dough. A food processor just takes too much of the pleasure away...and far too much of the necessary mess. While preparing the dough in the food processor will shave off a few minutes, you can still whip up a batch rather quickly, especially once you get the hang of it.
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| I love how these herbs serve double duty. They are both a beautiful table decoration and a very useful party favor! |
The recipe below is a basic tea scone recipe. It's wonderfully adaptable and I'll share some of the small ways I sometimes change it up.
