My Favorite Scones

Right after pastry school, I apprenticed in an extremely popular gourmet shop in the Hampton's on Long Island's East End.  Summers in the Hampton's can be crazy, to put it mildly, for anyone in the food business.  I wasn't alone in this insanity, I worked alongside a bread baker who made the shops baguettes, breads and muffins in the wee hours of the morning.  It was here in Sagaponack that I had my first scone.

The bread baker made a mean french baguette, but he had a heavy hand with scones and biscuits.  While the scones were pretty good right out of the oven, you could play hockey with them by the time they cooled.  They went fast so there were never any complaints.  But they put me on the hunt to find the perfect scone.

It took me a little over ten years to find what I believe to be the perfect scone.  A crunchy outer crust with a tender interior, a scone of substance but not heavy.  A perfect basic recipe that can be altered with the addition of fruits, nuts, herbs and cheese.  And while the recipe is a winner, technique is what matters here--no overworking the dough.  See my rant on the mixing of Irish Soda Bread last month and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

The secret to the perfect scone is in the mixing.  I rub the butter into the flour with my fingers until it 'feels' right.  It should look like heavy corn meal which tells you that the butter has been incorporated into the flour.  I add whatever I'm adding to the scones--in this case chocolate chips, bananas and toasted walnuts--and then I slowly add in heavy cream.  That's right, cream, not buttermilk.  Cream, having a higher fat content helps to 'tenderize' the scones crumb.   If it's a dry day, you may need to add in a bit more cream.  You're looking for the dough to just come hold together, not be pourable.  It looks like pie dough before it's pulled together into a disc, or better yet, cookie dough just before dropping it onto cookie sheets.

Now my favorite scones have chocolate chips, fresh bananas and toasted walnuts in them.  All I can say is "yum"!  I use just ripe bananas, they're still a little firm and don't mush when mixing.  They stand up to baking, doing all the lovely things a baked banana does when baked; gets all sweet and tender.  A perfect bite of chocolate, banana and walnut is sigh worthy!

 Note the size of the flour and butter mixture in this photograph. 

When mixed, the dough looks a little 'raggedy'.  That's okay, it's perfect.  I use a half cup ice cream scoop or just a half cup measuring cup to scoop up the dough.  I give each scoop a light press, just to make sure that the dough will hold together, because it can blow apart when baking, meaning a side can slip and present a less than perfect baked scone.  It still tastes amazing, but may be the ugly duckling of the batch.

Scone dough ready to scoop

 Scoop of dough ready for sheeting

Ready for a brush of cream and sugaring

When the scones are sheeted, if you want, brush your scones with heavy cream and sprinkle a cap of sugar.  This extra step adds a lovely browned top and a bit of crisp sweetness to each bite. 

Bake the scones in a hot, preheated 425° F degree oven.  Bake them for 8-12 minutes, depending on the size of your scones.  When finished, let them cool as long as you can wait before serving them.  The scones will be golden brown, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.  Split and add more butter or strawberries and softly whipped cream--yes please--and enjoy!  If there are any leftover scones, store them in an airtight bag or container and refrigerate them.  Warm them slightly and enjoy them again!

Scones

• 3   cups all purpose flour

• 1   tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 cup cold, unsalted butter cut into small bits

• 2 just ripe bananas

• 1 cup chocolate chips

• 1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts

• 1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half (may need more if dough is dry)

• Additional cream for brushing tops of scones

• Sugar for sprinkling over cream brushed scones

Preheat the oven to 425° F.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Add the butter bits and rub the butter into the flour mixture.  The flour should look like cornmeal.  Add the bananas, chocolate chips and walnuts, toss to mix.  Add the cream and turn the dough over in the bowl to combine.  If there is too much dry flour at the bottom of the bowl, add a bit more cream, just to moisten.  Continue to turn the dough until it looks like chocolate chip cookie dough or pie dough--not too wet.  

Using a 1/2 cup ice cream scoop or 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop the dough and give each lump of scone dough a light squeeze, just to hold the dough together.  Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.  I line them up, about 6 to 8 per sheet, giving them plenty of room.  If desired, brush each scone with heavy cream and sprinkle with additional sugar.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, longer if necessary.  Remove and cool slightly.  Serve with butter or strawberries and cream.  These are wonderful eaten just as they are--no embellishment needed.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.   

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Pink Posies for Nicole: Big, Soft, Frosted Sugar Cookies

My son's girlfriend is a lovely young woman.  Smart, generous, funny, sweet, fashionable, fiercely loving and all packed into the teeniest of tiny ladies.  And let's not overlook that she's beautiful too!  Her birthday was this week (Happy Birthday, Nicole!) and I decided to make her cookies. 

I also have a confession to make:  I had an ulterior motive in making this recipe because I LOVE these cookies!  I cannot resist the grocery/big box store soft, frosted sugar cookies.  In making these, I got double the bang--pretty and tasty cookies for Nicole and pretty and tasty cookies for me!  It's good when that works out like that.

This isn't any fancy pastry chef recipe, it's one I like as a basic, soft sugar cookie that's easy to work with.  It's been on the internet for quite some time and has made the round of food blogs.  Its staying power points to just how tasty these cookies are, and even better in my eyes, how reliable the recipe is when made by a multitude of bakers. 

There are some tips when working with a rolled cookie dough.  Chill it!  Chill it really well!  I divide the dough, form it into discs, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for several hours or overnight.  Why?  First, it's too sticky to work with when just made (but actually makes a nice base for bar cookies when pressed into a sheet pan) and secondly, all that mixing creates gluten which makes baked good tough.  I won't get crazy (See Alton Brown of the Food Network for the definitive explanation of gluten) about the ills (and benefits) of gluten other than to say that gluten in bread is good, gluten in soft cookies is not so desirable. 

Chilling your dough helps to relax the gluten strands that were formed when mixing the dough.  When the dough is relaxed, the resulting product is tender.  Another trick to to use as little flour as possible when rolling out the dough, turning your dough so you're not rolling over the same spot and finally, planning your cutting of the dough to minimize re-rolling scrapes.  I only re-roll my dough once, any more than that results in tough cookies.  

I use a floured cutter and line these babies up on a Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake them in a pre-heated 350° F oven for 12-15 minutes.  They should only be the palest of pale golden on the bottom when they're ready to be removed from the oven.  Let them cool on the sheets before moving them to a rack to completely cool for finishing.  

I made the frosting a little stiffer (less cream) than usual because I wanted the sharp edges when piped.  If yours is softer, you can add a bit more powdered sugar or just spread it on with a spatula.  Either way, these cookies will taste delicious.  I also added just a light sprinkle of pink sugar crystals, just for a bit of bling.  All for Nicole!

Big, Soft, Frosted Sugar Cookies

Cookies:

• 4 1/2  cups           all purpose flour
• 4 1/2  teaspoons   baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon        salt
• 1 1/2 cups            unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups            sugar
• 5 teaspoons         vanilla
• 3 large                 eggs

Measure flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Whisk to incorporate and set aside.  

In the bowl of your mixer, add butter and sugar.  Mix until well combined and fluffy.  Add vanilla and mix to incorporate.  Scrape down the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating to mix well.  Mixture may look curdled at this time--it's okay.

Slowly add flour mixture, mixing after each addition.  I generally add mine in three additions, mixing after each until the flour is just incorporated.  Mix just until final all flour has been incorporated, using large spatula to finish mixing if any flour remains.  Divide dough in half, form each into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to  350° F.  Remove one dough disc from refrigerator.  Lightly dust table with as little flour as possible (too much flour can make your cookies tough).  Unwrap your disc and lightly sprinkle flour on top of dough and begin to roll out your dough.  I roll in one direction, from the center out, turning the dough a quarter turn so as not to rollover the dough too much.  Roll the dough a true 1/4 inch (thick) and using a floured cutter (I just dip mine in flour) cut the dough, spacing to reduce the need to re-roll as little of the dough as possible.  Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets, carefully gather remaining dough and re-roll.  If any dough remains after this rolling, I throw it out--the resulting cookies will be tough and taste of flour.  Repeat with remaining disc of dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the bottoms are a very pale golden brown.  Do not over bake.  Let cookies cool on the sheets before moving them to a rack.  Make the frosting.

Frosting:

• 5  cups                powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup                unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon        vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon        salt
• 8-10 tablespoons  heavy cream (you can use milk if desired)

Place powdered sugar in the bowl of mixer.  Add butter and vanilla and salt.  Mix together, keep mixing until incorporated--it will look like powdered sugar pebbles.  Add the heavy cream a tablespoon at a time until you have a spreadable frosting.  If you make it too thin, add more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time.  I stop adding cream when I lift the beater and the frosting remains standing.  It is spreadable at this point. 

I used a Wilton star tip, #21 to make the frosting rosettes.  Fill your piping bag or baggie, and frost.  Let the frosting crust and store in an airtight container.

I like these cookies best the day after they've been made; the cookie is soft, the icing is just right--crusty on the outside and creamy on the inside.   

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Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

I absolutely adore the National Cherry Blossom Festival held in Washington D.C.  Love it!  My husband and I made the journey to D.C. several years ago and were lucky enough to see the trees at peak bloom.  They truly are stunning!  And to back up that claim, I personally took pictures of nearly each and every cherry tree around the Tidal Basin.  Seriously.  

Photo by Laura

So when spring rolls around, I get myself to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website and check the progress of the blooms.  I become obsessed with all things cherry blossom.  My desktop sports the blossoms, my iEverythings are the same.

Photo by Laura

And while I am confessing my complete and utter fascination with all things cherry blossom, I have to tell you that I personally find many cherry recipes to be bland. 

If I do happen across a really good batch of cherries, they find themselves promptly baked in a pie.  But that can be hit or miss at the market.  And when you want to feed an obsession, boring, bland or out of season cherries just don't make the grade.

 

That's why I like to bake with dried cherries.  They're available year round and are quite versatile.  And best of all, they're packed with bright cherry flavor.  They can be a little pricey, but thankfully this recipe calls for a half cup of chopped, dried cherries.  And since cherries pair well with chocolate, I'm pulling out deep, dark chocolate.  I love the sweet-tart taste of cherries paired with the intense flavor of dark, nearly bitter chocolate.  And just to warm things up, I spice these cookies with pepper.  Pepper has not only that bit of heat, but paired with chocolate and cherries, pepper shows off a lovely spicy note; not sweet, but one that will leave you guessing what it is.  I use white pepper, but only because I like the aesthetics of it, but don't feel you have to run out and buy white pepper if you don't have it, just use finely ground black pepper.

This cookie is a based on a classic shortbread recipe.  Butter, sugar, flour--that's shortbread.  Shortbread is a workhorse in a baker's recipe box because you can take the basic recipe and change it with an addition of this zest or candied ginger, add chocolate, spice, fruits or nuts and no one would know it came from the same butter, sugar and flour shortbread recipe.  Feel free to experiment--and best of all, you get to eat all of your cookie trials.

A few tips about adding chocolate to a recipe where you want to see the chunks and not color the dough.  I add the chocolate chips--in this case Ghiradelli 60% Intense Dark chocolate bars cut into pieces--just before the final turn or two in the mixer.  This mixes the chocolate into the dough without breaking the it and keeps the chocolate from coloring the cookies.  I also add the cherries at the same time.

At this point you can form the dough into a ball, wrap and chill it for an hour or so before rolling it out.  I prefer to form the dough into a cylinder, wrap it in some parchment, mark it and chill it.  You can also wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for future use.  When I worked summers in the Hamptons on Long Island, I always had cookie doughs in the freezer, ready to use at a moments notice. 

A trick bakers use to get the dough into a nice, tight roll is to place the dough on parchment.  Form it into the shape you need, fold the parchment over the dough and with the edge of your cookie sheet, spatula or even the flat of your hand, press against base of the dough, forcing the paper to tighten against the dough, smoothing it and shaping it into a lovely cylindar.  Wrap the ends, mark the dough and chill, or cover and freeze.  Cookies at hand whenever you need them!

 Place dough on parchment.

 Form into log with hands.

 Fold parchment over dough and push against the dough at the base.  Dough will form into log, smoothing and lengthening as you press.

 Smooth log ready to wrap and chill.

 Roll dough in parchment and twist ends. 

Write name of dough and date if you intend to freeze. 

When the dough is chilled, usually within a couple of hours, I cut the dough in half and score the dough before I cut it into discs to bake.  No rolling, no loss of cookie dough, no mess--I love this recipe!

I like my shortbread thick, you can cut yours half the size I have here.  Just shave some time off when you bake them.  These are cut approximately 1/2 inch thick and they take 20 minutes to bake.  If you cut yours 1/4 inch thick, they should be ready between 12 and 15 minutes.  Watch the bottom for color.  Shortbread should never really get a deep brown color, but they will get a lovely golden edge to them.

Should the edges of the disk break because you've cut through a chunk of chocolate, just push it back into shape and place it on the cookie sheet.  Bake these in the oven at 325° for 20 minutes, 12 to 15 for thinner cookies.  Let cool on sheet and store them in an airtight container. 

If you'd like to dip these when they're cool, melt 1 cup of dark chocolate chips with 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream, stirring to combine.  Dip edge of cookie, lightly wiping bottom across rim of bowl to wipe excess from the cookie.  Let the chocolate firm up before serving--if you can restrain yourself!  If you'd like give the chocolate a helping hand, put the tray of cookies in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes.  

I like these with a nice cup of coffee to play off the dark chocolate and cherry flavor.  Mix up a batch, enjoy my obsession with all things cherry blossom.

Chocolate Cherry Shortbread 

• 1        cup   unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2     cup   white sugar
• 1        teaspoon  pure vanilla extract    
• 1 3/4  cups  all purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4     teaspoon white pepper (if desired)
• 1/2     cup   coarsely chopped dried cherries 
• 1/2     cup   coarsely chopped dark chocolate (I used Ghiradelli 60% Intense Dark Chocolate

Preheat oven to 325°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat Mat.

Place room temperature butter and sugar in bowl of a mixer.  Beat until well combined.  Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Add flour, salt and white pepper (if desired) and mix just until nearly combined.  At this point, add the chopped cherries and chocolate and mix on low just until combined.  This should only be a couple of turns of the beater.

Scrap dough onto parchment and form into log, or shape into disc, wrap and refrigerate.  Chill until dough is firm, about 2 hours.

Cut into discs and place on lined cookie sheets.  If rolling dough, roll with using a little flour as possible to keep the cookies from absorbing the extra flour and becoming tough.  Cut with cookie cutter and place on sheet.  Continue to roll until all dough is cut.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes if making thicker cookies.  If you have cut your cookies thinner, bake 12-15 minutes, just until bottoms are a pale golden color.  Allow cookies to cool and dip in chocolate if desired.

16 1/2 inch cookies or 32 1/4 inch cookies.

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