Memories of Scones Before I Ever Went to Ireland

 

A Throw Back to 2009... Since I am travelling to Ireland today I thought I would repost something 'Irish'... Scones!

 

School holidays are happening as I type. French Husband and Sacha went skiing. Chelsea came home with more books, binders, and notepads than laundry. She has finals and nothing else matters more than intense studies right now. My broken rib, lack of skiing skills, a daughter who needs a devoted mother to feed her, and my love of silence allowed me the avenue to stay home. I am happy the sun is shining.

I asked Chelsea what she would like to have for lunch, she replied, "Scones."

A flood of memories poured in with that one word... Scones. Don't you love food memories? Oh how they nourish the heart and soul, giving it food for thought without calories. The memory of scones does just that...and we are not even from Scone-Land. Scones, muffins, bagels and cupcakes are not a French thing. Instead Brioche, pain au chocolat, escargot, croissants and pain perdu take their place.

 

 

                                  

 

 

 

During the school holidays, when our children were little, I often made scones for them. More often than not, when we made scones something happened, interrupted us from our scone making-- or caused us to make them in a flash.

It got to the point that if we were going to make scones, we would expect something unexpected to happen. If nothing happened, we would doubt whether the scones would turn out.

 

From my cookbook the SCONE recipe says:

(1995-- School Holiday Scones)

"This morning we made scones for breakfast at lunchtime. While I was making them I was not focused on what I was doing due to the phone ringing, the postman coming to the door, and a friend came over telling us about how they found human ashes in a milk container. (I decided to use yogurt instead of milk for the scones.)

And guess what? The best, flaky, moist on the inside, crisp outer texture scones arrived out of the oven. I discovered the secret ingredient in making scones: Distraction."

Recipe from my friend who is Irish: Mary Kate (Allison's Sister).

 

                              

 

 

 

Scone Recipe

A well buttered baking sheet from the hand's of children

In a bowl (Sacha mixed the ingredients with his plastic sword turned into a spoon.)

• One cup and less than a third of flour,
• 1 teaspoon of sugar,
• a pinch of salt,
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder,
• Half a teaspoon of baking soda.
• Mix the above then add:
• Two tablespoons of cold butter, crumble lightly into the flour mixture.
• Add one egg (room temperature is best)
• and a small container of yogurt (about half of a cup). Fold until blended.

Dust the table with a little flour. Place the dough on it, gently knead and pat out into a circle. Cut the scones using an upside -down, juice glass. Makes 6 or 8 scones.
Preset oven to 375 and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off oven and let rest for a couple of minutes or so.

 

 

 

 

Serve with butter, strawberry jam, honey, orange marmalade and a bowl of cafe au lait (this is France after all.)

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I hope to have new memories of scones soon!!

Comments

[Marilyn]

Take goodness for scone memories, keep on creating new memories. Love your scone story. Hadn't thought of yogurt in the scones, sounds good.

[Debra]

Thanks. I had forgotten about this recipe . I think I will make some tomorrow! Have fun on your trip - looking forward to seeing your photos! xo

[Lana Kloch]

steve is finally home from his 50 day around the world trip w/ his nephew.. tired and glad to be home. he walked so much, he has lost weight..

loved your sharing your experience about chelsea and scones.. can't wait to try the recipe tomorrow morning.. it's nice having steve home so that he can enjoy it.. too..

sending hugs.galore

[Ourfrenchoasis]

Being English my memories of scones are always special occasions when people came over for tea! However, I have been making them a lot recently. I have adapted my recipe and now I use Spelt flour and no sugar, so that they are a great deal healthier! I often make them for the children's 4pm gouter (afternoon snack traditional in France), they come out of the oven just before I collect them and so they are still warm. Add a little homemade lemon curd, thanks to my glut of eggs, and the children are in heaven! So too are their French friends who are really beginning to like my English cooking!!!

[Gracie]

Say Hi! to Ireland from me....maybe one day I will be back to retrieve the piece of my heart I left there...

[Kristin]

Scones coming up! Reading the story, and the recipe has me wanting some with my morning coffee. And yes, yogurt and yogurt whey make a dough lighter and more wonderful....a little discovery one day when the milk bottle had been emptied.

[Merisi in Vienna]

Yes, there's a lot of truth to it, some things are meant to be kept simple, so they can reward us with the best there is.

I have very fond memories of a British Airways flight from London to Washington, DC. Just as we were finally reaching the North American shore, flying over New Foundland, we were being served tea. Along came the best scones I have ever had, served the British way, with clotted cream and strawberry jam. I can still recall the taste, divine!

[Leslie in Oregon]

Merisi, my introduction to scones came when I was flying for Pan American World Airways. On our 747 flights from London to Seattle (which I flew most weekends), we too served tea during about two hours before landing. As we often had about 100 British scones, and plenty of tins of British clotted cream and strawberry jam, left over after we served the passengers and cockpit crew, we (13-16 flight attendants) too had tea. (All food lef tover from that flight had to be destroyed, as per U.S. customs rules.) I will never forget how luscious those teas were. It must have been because of all the calories we burned on that 9+hour flight that I never gained an ounce from those scones...that wouldn't happen today! Thank you for the recipe, Corey...although it would be hard to have scones without the clotted cream (which we cannot get in the U.S.).

[Merisi in Vienna]

Thank you, Leslie, for sharing your side of the "scones in the air" story!
London to Seattle is quite a haul, and that most weekends, amazing feat.
I have not inquired about clotted cream around here. Maybe I should. ;-)
My first contact with clotted cream was in Rome, of all places, in a nunnery that had a large roof terrace. A Swiss girl was addicted to the stuff. I remember her up there, in a deckchair, eating spoonful after spoonful of that strange stuff.

[Merisi in Vienna]

"Strange stuff" because in Rome, whipped cream on top of espresso coffee was all I knew. I had never heard of scones or that clotted cream looked like mayonnaise to me. ;-)

[Brenda, Walker, LA]

just made some this morning, very good!