Cream Tea Scones

A hint of sweet, but not too much…that’s what I love about scones.  They are perfect when you want something a little bit special but don’t want to over indulge with a serious sugar overload.

King Arthur Flour’s Cream Tea Scones are a basic scone, their  “flavor” being only vanilla.  This neutral flavor means that everyone can top these scones with their favorite jam or jelly and the scone itself offers no competition.  In my house, that’s three different kinds of topping – blackberry, raspberry, and red plum.

The necessary ingredients are minimal – all-purpose flour, baking soda, granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, and heavy cream.  The recipe suggests  1/4 – 1/3 cup of sugar, depending on your preferred degree of sweetness.  I used the larger amount and did not find the scones overly sweet.

Once the dough is made, it is divided into two halves.  Each is shaped into a 5 1/2 circle and cut into six wedges.  The cut pieces are placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and chilled in the freezer for fifteen minutes before baking.  This aids in their rising.

The Cream Tea Scones bake 14-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

To me, scones sound like a fancy treat.  They may be, but they are simple to make.  If you want something a little different for brunch, afternoon snack, or maybe a gathering of your book club, give these Cream Tea Scones a try.  They will not disappoint!

from Tracey G.

Maple Bacon Scones

Since I am still suffering at the hands of this illness (started as flu I’m sure, and now a secondary cold/virus) I was happy it was something fairly easy for this week’s recipe! Scones! And to make it even a bit more enticing to me, was finally having a chance  to use my KAF Scone Pan I’d gotten off my King Arthur Flour Website wish-list for Christmas from my Mom-in-Law!

I did have a hard time coming up with what I wanted to makes as far as scones went – I wasn’t able to get out and about to shop, so wanted to use things I had lying around the house and on hand. Lots of recipes were discarded due to not having what was needed. And even the add-in-your-own basic recipes weren’t much help as since I wasn’t feeling the greatest, my powers of creativity were pretty low.

Then I ran across this recipe for Maple Bacon Scones. Interesting… I happen to have maple flavoring on hand and thanks to some leftover bacon from dinner one night that I had stashed in the fridge (it was waiting to head to the freezer for future recipe use). The only thing I didn’t have was the optional maple sugar – but I had an idea for that, I could use brown sugar in its place. They don’t list it as an option, but I decided to try it anyway in all the places it was called for! (after all, I do love to coat bacon in brown sugar and bake as usual for a sometime for a treat!)

It mixed up really quick, ingredients include:

• King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• granulated sugar or maple sugar
• cold butter
• egg
• cold milk
• maple flavor, optional
• cooked bacon or ham

Topping includes:

• milk or cream
• maple sugar

Mix up all the dry ingredients, cut in the butter. Mix the milk, egg and maple flavoring in a separate bowl/measuring cup and then mix it into the dry ingredients. If it’s too dry, you can add a bit more milk until it comes together better.

Now, for the traditional no-pan recipe directions, you pat the dough into a 9×9″ square, cut that into 9 3″ squares, then cut each into 2 wedges, with a total of 18 scones. Place them on your prepared pan (I always use parchment), and pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes. While they are chilling, preheat your oven to 425° F. Before popping them into the oven, brush the scones with cream or milk and sprinkle with maple sugar if desired. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until they are medium to deep-golden brown. Cook briefly on rack and serve warm.

The only thing I did differently, was to pat the dough into my scone pan. I then brushed with cream and sprinkled with brown sugar, instead of the maple sugar. I had to bake mine a wee bit longer as my pan states it’s oven safe to 400° F, so I was 25° lower than the recipe called for. The scone pan in great, they popped easily out of it! I did spray lightly with cooking spray, but I don’t really think I needed to – I highly recommend it. I plan on trying it for my cornbread one of these days!

I really loved these scones for something different than the usual scone that I’m usually making. I loved the combination of the maple, the bacon and the brown sugar too! They were easy and a nice savory treat! I think I want more maple flavor next time, so you can be sure I’ll be messing around with that the next time I make these!!