Thursday, March 17, 2011

A Belated Baking with Dorie: Honey-Nut Scones

 
This post is three days late and I must apologise to those who came via BWD to look for this week's recipe! I have had no luck with getting on blogger.com for days and let me tell you, boy! it's super frustrating!! I am typing this as fast as I can with the hope to publish it as soon as I can before the connection is broken. I have been told the 8.9 magnitute quake and tsunami in Japan affected the networking system in my region.

And since we're on the topic, my condolences goes out to the people of Japan especially those who are directly affected by the catastrophe, with the lost of dear ones and a place to call home. Let's pray they be given the strength and perseverence to take them through these difficult times.

And now back to this week's bake - Honey-Nut Scones chosen by yours truly! I love breakfast food and I think this is also perfect for tea, or any time of the day for that matter!

These were sooooo easy to put together too, you need not take out your mixer nor your sifter. God given fingers are all you need!

They tasted exactly how Dorie described them, "hearty, homey warmth, a light sweetness and a touch of rustic about them".

In her words again, "their texture is a bit rougher and slightly more crumbly that that of standard scones".

The walnuts added a great crunch - their scarceness provided a wonderful surprise of tasteful crunch when they finally find their way in your bite.

And one more thing I love about these is the fact that they keep well and tasted as fresh as they did out of the oven, 12 hours later! (baked these at night and brought them to work the next morning).

Honey-Nut Scones
by Dorie Greenspan

1 large egg
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup cold whole milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts



GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Stir the egg, honey and milk together.

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Drop in butter and using fingers, toss to coat pieces of butter with flour and rub until mixture is pebbly. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. Don't overdo it. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times. Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are deeply golden and firmish to the touch. Transfer them to cool for 10 minutes before serving or wait to cool at room temperature.

4 comments:

  1. These came out lovely and I love how you described the 'wonderful surprise' of the walnuts. (I joined the group recently. Good to meet you.)

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  2. Was wondering where you were hiding, hehehe! I have yet to make some scones from Dorie's book. These look absolutely delish! I guess, you, Yani and I have all our guinea pigs at work *wink, wink*

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  3. Sorry I'm late!
    Thanks for picking this recipe - I loved these scones even though I made mine without nuts. Can imagine very well the 'surprise' crunch of the walnuts must be wonderful.
    Thanks for baking with us this week!

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  4. I'm so glad you picked this recipe- it's a great one!

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