Pretty Dishes

Before I approached the scone testing, I did a fair amount of research into what makes for an excellent scone. I read recipe after recipe trying to nail down the common ingredients and what made the variations stand apart. Once I felt like I had a good starting point, I dove in and started baking.

My first attempt was decent. It was a learning experience, specifically for what to expect of the dough, the length of baking (and scone hue), and such. I had selected a heavy cream scone recipe because the tea room scones had a soft, almost cakelike quality, and I was looking to replicate that dairy-based creaminess. I therefore avoided scones that had similar ingredient ratios as biscuits.

The heavy cream scones were pretty good (mine looked nearly identical to those pictured), but not quite right, and not close enough to bother pursuing further with modifications. One down.

A couple of weeks later, I tested a recipe that featured sour cream as the dairy ingredient. I had heard several times that sour cream lends an excellent moistness to baked goods. I felt a little more comfortable handling the dough, and much to my surprise, when I tasted one of the scones, it was very close. The sweetness was off, and there was a hint of an aftertaste, but the results were promising. I wasn’t ready to break out my jars of cream just yet, but I now do believe that the tea room scones contain sour cream or something similar to achieve the consistency I’m after.

I cut them a little too large, but even only making half a recipe, there were way too many for just me. Below is the half recipe I made with a few of my own modifications. (The original recipe is here.)

The Best Scones. Ever. [Note: Not my title.]

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 egg [I admit, this was tough. I cracked and lightly beat it, then tried to figure about half.]
1 teaspoon heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir the sour cream and baking soda to combine.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or by pulsing in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the sour cream mixture, egg, heavy cream, and vanilla into the flour mixture, and stir until just combined.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide the dough and pat into two thick circles. Cut the circles into four or six wedges, position on a nonstick baking sheet, and bake until the bottoms are golden and the tops are just slightly browned, about 16 minutes.

———-

As for my third attempt, I almost can’t call it a true scone effort: I was pretty sure the results would not be ideal since they were from a mix, not from scratch. I was right. I had received a Harry & David scone mix for Christmas and decided I might as well use it on the off chance that it really was incredibly amazing. (I was pretty skeptical when the mix called for just water to be added rather than milk or additional ingredients.) The scones were fine, but they were very biscuit-like (as can be clearly seen in the photo), so I had a couple and then handed off the rest.

I certainly feel like I’m on the right track with that second attempt, and it’s nice to have hope. I have just finished my fourth batch—report to come in a future post—and yes, I am getting awfully tired of eating scones . . .

I am obsessed with a very specific scone.

This may appear to contradict my claim that I don’t care much for breakfast, but I swear this recent obsession was very unexpected.

I wouldn’t even call myself a fan of scones in general. I have probably tried about a dozen varieties at different times in my life, such as when I’ve been in a situation where I need to grab something quickly from a Starbucks, bakery, coffee shop, etc. I’ve been pretty disappointed in most of the scones I’ve eaten, usually because they were dry, crumbly, and filled with dried fruits or nuts. They haven’t done much for me in the past, and thus a croissant or other pastry is my go-to in similar situations these days.

Enter a birthday gift from my mother-in-law to visit The Secret Garden Tea Room last July. We enjoyed their many varieties of tea and delicious lunch offerings, all of which come with one of their homemade scones. I ate mine and was blown away. It was moist and dense and just a little sweet (and unadorned). It was without question the best scone I had ever had, and beyond that, I wanted more. I decided to purchase a box of three to take home; they package them with lemon curd, Devonshire cream, and jam—all made on the premises and also incredible. I happily gobbled them up the following three mornings (lucky for me, my husband doesn’t like scones at all). And then I sort of moved on.

However, because we had such a nice time there, my MIL suggested we begin an annual Christmastime tea party tradition with the girls in the family. So the first week of December we made another trip, and of course I was looking forward to the scones for weeks beforehand. I already knew I would be purchasing another box to go. And the scones were even better than I remembered. From that point on I have hardly been able to stop thinking about them when compared to my otherwise uninspiring breakfast options.

Naturally I called the shop and explained that the nearly hour drive each way was pretty inconvenient for regular visits, and was there any way they might be willing to share the recipe? (I promised it was for my own home use.) No, I was told they would not reveal it. (The woman did kindly confirm that they were made in-house from scratch, not using a mix.) Disappointing to say the least, but obviously it is perfectly within their right to keep it secret.

I may try again, asking if they could give me a list of ingredients without exact measures just to put me on the right track for experimenting, but I suspect I’d have to be especially charming and get the right person on the right day, so we’ll see.

In any case, I have made three batches of scones to date (recipes and photos to come in future posts) in an attempt to uncover a match. When they don’t approach greatness, it’s pretty tough not to lose interest, and I usually give most of the batch away. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get it exactly right, but one of the recipes was very close, so there is hope. I’ve considered purchasing a dozen of the real thing, tasting and retasting, and attempting batch after batch of my own until I’m satisfied. I don’t know any professional bakers personally, but I sometimes wonder if one might be able to determine the real recipe by eating one of the original scones. That would be pretty cool.

I will continue on my quest for a scone with just the right moisture, texture, and sweetness, until I get sick and tired anyway. I have listed some potential contenders in The Great Scone Hunt links sidebar. And when I uncover the most worthy of the bunch, I will smother them with the very reasonably priced imported Devonshire and clotted creams I bought from English Tea Store just for that purpose. I can’t wait.