The Modern Baker Challenge is the newest "club" I've joined. Here's the premise: a group of people are baking their way through every recipe in the book "The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri and blogging about it. What I like best about this club is that there are no strict rules to adhere to and no hard and fast deadlines to meet. Phew! With my crazy and unpredictable schedule, which teeters between having large blocks of time to bake, and then weeks at a time when I can barely get organized enough to throw together dinner, this suits my lifestyle perfectly. The only "rule" is that we are not publishing the recipe - so if you really want to try this, you'll have to get the book. Sorry. As much as I like to share all the recipes I use, I have to respect that - for reasons that require no further explanation.
Having said that, I have to admit, I've never really gotten excited about scones. They've always looked like a heavy clump of dry dough that is better suited to be used as a paper weight than something I'd eat. So, having received my copy of this beautiful cookbook, "The Modern Baker", and being that we are on the 'Quick Breads' section that has several scones in it, I decided to was high time to step outside my comfort zone. It helped that I tried my first scone at a bakery earlier in the week in preparation for this task. I mean, how would I know how successful I was if I didn't have a frame of reference for comparison?
These scones were super easy to throw together. You use your food processor to cut the butter into your dry ingredients (flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder and salt);
When the mixture is "mealy", you add the wet (eggs and cream). Then you make three 5 inch disks with the dough, cut each disk into quarters;
place the scones on a parchment lined baking sheet;
and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. As you can see, I chose to add chocolate chunks into the batter because I had them and they just make everything better.
The verdict: I'm a convert. I now subscribe to the Scone Fan Club. They are not too heavy or dry. These ones were sweet in the subtle way - the chocolate helped. I would happily eat one of these with my latte for breakfast. I am now looking even more forward to delving into this book. Go get it and join in on the fun! Here's the link: The Modern Baker Challenge.
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Nice job, Heather! I, too, was a bit skeptical of all the scones recipes in the book. I mean, I like scones well enough with a cup of coffee once in a while, but baking my own? Like you, I'm a convert! These -- and the other scones in the book -- were great.
ReplyDeleteSo funny that you bought a scone to prepare for this recipe! Now, how did your scones compare to the store-bought ones? Which ones were better? Your scones definitely look scrumptious - I like the addition of chocolate chips. I added butterscotch chips in mine...
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ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest, the bakery scones were better. : ( They were sweeter and had raspberries and white chocolate. Texture wise, they were pretty comparable though - so I guess it's just a matter of taste preference. I'm beginning to realize I have a bit of a sweet tooth. I like the idea of butterscotch chips!
Yum! This was by far my favorite recipe from the quick-bread section. I love raspberry and white chocolate scones (I am a scone-lover from way back), and I was debating adding dried raspberries and white chocolate chunks to the real Welsh scones to see how those would be . . . . .
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