{"id":258,"date":"2012-08-29T20:24:44","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T03:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=258"},"modified":"2015-07-18T12:44:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-18T19:44:50","slug":"sassenach-scones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=258","title":{"rendered":"Sassenach Scones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An iced pumpkin ginger scone.<\/p><\/div>\n

With a family name of \u201cDouglass\u201d on my mother\u2019s side and my married name of \u201cMcKinnon\u201d, being enamored of scones is almost mandatory; with shortbread coming in a close second. I think my obsession with all things Scottish stems from the frustration of being denied a bagpipe in my youth, though in all fairness, my folks did try to get me lessons\u2013but were refused because I was a girl<\/em>. That\u2019s okay…I probably would have ended up with even chubbier cheeks and been the dork bringing up the rear in the high school band.<\/p>\n

If your only exposure to scones comes from a booth at the fair or a trip through Starbucks, you\u2019re missing a whole sensory experience of combined flavors and textures. Fair scones are wonderful; basic biscuit-like pastries that melt in your mouth. I have nothing bad to say about fair scones, except that you can only indulge in them once or twice a year. The Starbucks scones I’ve tried, however, aren\u2019t worth the exorbitant price they charge. They come in a variety of flavors, but are crumbly, cold, and taste like leavening. Bleh.<\/p>\n

Most store-bought scones are made with the American taste bud in mind: too sweet and sometimes too salty. We expect to bite into a pastry and have it scream \u201csugar!\u201d This is fine if you\u2019re eating a cupcake (don\u2019t even get me started on Costco muffins) but is really not what a scone is all about.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite scone recipes is from an old Pillsbury cookbook. I refrained from playing with the recipe, faithfully presenting it here in all its glory. OK, a few teeny tiny changes. Somewhere along the line small cans of evaporated milk switched from 5.33-oz. to 5oz., so I changed that. And I bumped the oven temperature from 400 F to 425 F. Oh, and sometimes I leave out the currants, and I changed the instructions a little…but those are the only changes I made, honest! This recipe makes a lovely basic scone, perfect with butter and jam, and would also be ideal for strawberry shortcake. I love crunch, so I bake mine at least 20 minutes, and sprinkle the scones with lots of sugar before they go in the oven.<\/p>\n

CURRANT SCONES<\/p>\n

2 cups all-purpose flour
\n1\/4 cup sugar
\n3 teaspoons baking powder
\n1\/4 teaspoon salt
\n1\/4 cup cold butter
\n2\/3 cup dried currants (optional)
\n5-oz. can evaporated milk (chilled)
\n1 egg<\/p>\n