By Rick Nelson
Associated Press
During several visits to Ireland, prolific Minneapolis cookbook author Zoë François became obsessed with the simple scones she seemingly encountered everywhere.
“My first stop after the long flight was to a farm, where I had my first Irish scone with marmalade,” she writes on her blog, zoebakes.com. “The love affair with the country and its scones was set in that moment.”
The power of Irish butter
“Why I dreamed about these scones after leaving Ireland was the butter. I’ve never had dairy like that and not just the butter. I had this Victoria sponge with strawberry jam and whipped cream, and I was certain that there was something else in that whipped cream — sour cream, or mascarpone — because it was so rich. Their cream is fattier, and their butter is fattier. They leave all the fat in, and that makes all the difference. Obviously, because it’s Ireland, it’s all grass, and the cows eat grass all the time, and so the cream tastes different. The color is so pretty, and the texture and the flavor is so good. I didn’t get that until I went there.”
Tips for first-time scone bakers
“This recipe is so easy. If you’re entering the scone/biscuit world, this is a good one to start with. It’s not one of those where you have to keep the butter super-cold; it’s not one of those crazy recipes where it’s going to fall down on you. A lot of recipes from Ireland and England and Australia use self-rising flour, but I find that it can be tricky for people. I translated the recipe back to all-purpose flour. That’s what Americans use. Self-rising flour has just never caught on here.”
Adding currants, chocolate and other flavorful ingredients
“This is going to get me into so much trouble, and now I’m never going to get invited back to Ireland. I’m American, so of course, I throw other things in there, although then I would never call it an ‘Irish’ scone. In my post, I keep it traditional. But in the show, we have an episode about pumpkins, and I made scones with butternut squash and white chocolate. They’re awesome. So, yes, I just can’t leave well enough alone. That’s the fun of it.”
IRISH SCONES
Makes about 1 dozen scones.
Note: From Zoë François of zoebakes.com. High-fat-content European-style butters, such as Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, Président and Plugrá brands, are available in the dairy section of many supermarkets.
- 4 cups flour, plus more for shaping dough
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar, plus more for decoration
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted “European” butter (see Note), chilled, but not quite hard, so it can be easily worked into the flour
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. With your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal. The flour mixture should be fully coated with the butter, and it will turn creamy in color.
Gently stir in enough of the buttermilk to create a moist dough that still holds its shape; you may not use all of the buttermilk. There should be a few dry patches at the bottom of the bowl as you are mixing in the buttermilk. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Using a bench scraper, fold the dough in half, so you are pressing any dry flour into the dough and folding it as you go. This kneads the dough gently. Do this about six times.
On a lightly floured work surface, pat the dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Use a 3-inch biscuit cutter (or a round cookie cutter) to cut scones into shape, then place scones at least 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Very gently, gather up remaining scraps of dough, press together into a 1-inch thick rectangle and cut out more scones, repeating until all the dough is used.
In a small bowl, beat egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush the scones with the egg wash, then sprinkle scones with a bit of sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown and set, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm with marmalade.
