Buttermilk Scones

This is a recipe I owe Petunia..

I have been hoping to try it out again before giving it to her.. (my feeble attempt at being responsible with every recipe I hand out)..

I really struggled with finding buttermilk in the supermarkets near my place. I think I went to about 4 supermarkets.. In the 4th supermarket, I managed to find what I am looking for.. except that box of buttermilk was really too big. There was no way I would use it without wasting half of the box!

So at the 4th supermarket, I decided to do away with the buttermilk and just use a substitute instead.

Hmph.

Excuses aside.. very sorry Petunia, for sharing this recipe so late. It's been more than a month.. almost two, I think! Anyway, I really love this recipe. Hope you'd like it too.

This recipe came from the book Baking with Julia, the contributing baker is Marion Cunningham. I adjusted the steps to make it a little easier.

Ingredients
Dry ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients
1 1/2 stick (6 ounces, or 170g) cold unsalted butter (cut into cubes - make sure it is very cold)
1 cup buttermilk (I'd share my replacement recipe in a separate post)
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

4 tablespoon dried fruits (I used raisins)


What I did
1. Preheat the oven to 220 deg C
2. Stir all the dry ingredients together
3. Add the cold butter (make sure it is very cold) to the dry ingredients and use a pastry blender, 2 knives, or fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, until the mixture resembles cornmeal
4. Add the buttermilk and lemon zest to the mixture and mix gently with a fork until the flour mixture is just moistened. Add the raisins
5. Roll the dough into a ball and knead it briefly. (At this point, because of my warm hands, I put the mixture into the fridge for about 10 minutes)
6. Then roll out the dough out and use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into a desired size.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 mins, or even longer, depending on the size and thickness of your scones.

My over-sized and rustic-looking scone - Not so pretty 

but the raisins and lemon zest makes it pretty good..

The Husband's scones, made from the same recipe 

(except he used buttermilk, and not a substitute..) 

Now, why can't my scones look so good?

Simple scones

I forgot where I got this recipe from.. But it really is a simple recipe.

I wanted to make some scones to eat recently because of the disappointing scones I had at a restaurant at Bishan Park.

Somehow, I never managed to get my scone mixture "dry" enough to be able to roll it out and cut it. Instead, I spoon it into a small blop and place it on the baking sheet.

Ingredients
Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
1/2 cup butter - about 110g
2/3 cup milk
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Others
1 cup raisins
Some beaten egg yolk - for brushing

What I did
1. Combine all dry ingredients
2. Add in butter and mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
3. Mix in the rest of the wet ingredients
4. Add in raisins
5. Spoon mixture into small blops and place on prepared baking sheet
6. Brush top with egg yolk
7. Bake in preheated oven at 200 deg C for 15 to 20 mins

Tastes best warm and serve with homemade jam and cream. And also a cup of strong English Breakfast tea.

Scones and Tea at Covent Garden

This trip to London, I had one weekend to do a bit of sight-seeing and a whole lot of shopping.

I don't remember when I last shopped so much! I basically spent the entire Saturday shopping. It was a classic "shop til you drop" kind of day - I hit the shops really earlier at around 10am and staggered back to the apartment with extremely sore legs at around 6pm.

So I decided to spend the Sunday in a leisurely manner. I went down to London bridge to visit to famous food market - the Borough market. Alas, it was closed when I got there. The Borough Market is closed on Sunday and I should have known better and checked before I went. The closed market looked so interesting that I promised myself I would be back!

There are stalls selling truffles, homemade jams, handmade breakfast cereals, artisan breads, homemade fudge, coffee, fruits and vegetables. Honestly, just walking around the market made me hungry. Their website is also beautiful and I've already narrowed down on all the shops I want to visit when I'm there! I was kicking myself for missing out on visiting this market for something as commonplace as shopping..

But then I decided to visit a place I know was open on Sunday - Covent Garden. I have always liked the festive feel of Covent Garden, and was certainly not disappointed when I got there. There were interest shops and stalls selling different kinds of knick knacks and I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday morning. 

I ended my very pleasant morning in true English style - scones with clotted cream and blueberry jam.. with English Breakfast tea! The bakes at Le Pain Quotidien is really good and I'd highly recommend you to visit it if you go to Covent Garden. I wished I've brought home a dozen bottles of their jam with me.

There's always lots to see at Covent garden - quirky street performances, 

street opera (the lady singing in the top right picture) and lots of interesting handmade crafts

The shops at Covent Garden had beautiful window displays

A huge scone.. with the loveliest clotted jam and blueberry jam

I don't usually like jam - but this one was especially good. 

Fruity and not too sweet!

The tea was very good as well - and it came with a small pot and 

a HUGE bowl that you are supposed to use as a cup.