Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow! My husband and I officially have no plans, no babysitters, no dates, and I have no presents (and the likelihood of him having anything is not good), but we do have lots of candy, so we might be able to salvage the day.
So when I was growing up, my dad would always make scones for our neighborhood 4th of July party and for super special occasions. And by scones, I mean fried pieces of sweet bread dough that we would douse in honey or dust with powdered sugar.
One night when I was in middle school, it was pronounced that we had scones in the house and I was simultaneously puzzled and thrilled because scones were strictly a holidays-only affair. Imagine my horror when I discovered that these scones resembled triangular biscuits. HORROR.
And then I tasted one and all was forgiven. Sweet but not too sweet, melt-in-your mouth texture, flaky, buttery, and crumbly in the best possible way. Call me weird, but I think scones are totally romantic food. If my husband made me scones, I would a) wonder who he was (especially since upon eating these scones for the first time, he said, “What are these supposed to be like?) and b) I would let him pick our next date night, which would probably involve The Phantom Menace in 3D and no talk of scones.
Sara has a fabulous basic scone recipe, but constantly feeling the urge to wander culinarily (I’m 98% sure that’s not a word), I adapted this recipe from Allrecipes and it comes from Pam Anderson at Three Many Cooks.
First, place the oven rack on the lower-middle position (unless your oven bakes hot like mine does or not hot, like mine doesn’t–then use your pretty brain to figure out where it should go. Mine needs to go in the middle). You’ll need 2 cups of flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, frozen butter, sour cream, an egg, lemon zest, and poppy seeds.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds. Add in the zest of 1 lemon and whisk again.
Grate the frozen butter (a food processor will make the job even easier!) Take a picture because I have determined that grated butter is one of the prettiest, most photogenic things ever in the history of the universe. The fact that I find grated butter so pretty probably says something about me.
Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and use your fingers to combine the mixture so it appears like coarse meal.
In a small bowl, combine the egg and sour cream…
and then whisk it together until it’s smooth. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a fork, trying to ensure the flour mixture is evenly moistened with the egg/sour cream mixture.
Use your hands to press the dough into a ball. It will come together slowly–some portions of the dough will be more moist than others, and it may seem like it’s too crumbly, but be gentle and consistent and it will all come together. I promise. There’s probably some cheesy life lesson in there somewhere.
When the dough has come together into a ball, form the dough into an 8″ disc on a lightly floured surface (I just sprinkled a little flour on the Silpat I was baking the scones on–one less mess to clean up, right?!)
Use a butter knife to cut the dough into 8 equal triangles.
Have I ever mentioned how very bad I am at geometry?
Separate the triangles and evenly space them on a lined baking sheet.
Bake until golden, or about 15-17 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
While the scones are cooling, whisk together 1/4 cup strained lemon juice, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar (more if you want a thicker glaze). Place the glaze in a Ziploc bag. If you want a thin glaze all over the whole scone, you can drizzle it over the scones while they’re still a bit warm. If you want the squiggles, wait until they’re completely cool. Personally? I would go for a bit warm, glaze dripping down the sides. Seriously…to die for.
Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites from Allrecipes
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt (decrease or omit if using salted butter)
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (if using salted butter, cut down on salt)
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
1 large egg
Zest of 1 lemon
GLAZE:
1/4 cup strained lemon juice
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Place baking rack in the middle-low position. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Add the lemon zest and whisk together again. Grate the frozen butter (a food processor makes that job super easy, but you can also just do it on a regular box grater). Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a fork until everything appears moistened. Gently press the dough into a ball–it will take some time and some parts of the dough will be more moist than other parts, but continue pressing together until it forms a ball.
Lightly flour a surface (you can use the lined baking sheet if you want) and place the dough on top of the floured surface. Press into an 8″ disc and cut into equal wedges with a butter knife. Separate the wedges and place them evenly on the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
While the scones are cooling, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth. Place in a Ziploc bag and drizzle over the scones. You can do it while they’re still warm so it spreads over the top and sides of the scone (which I kind of love) or you can wait until they’re completely cool and drizzle squigglies over the scones. Makes 8 scones.
