Lily's Scones v 2.0

Happy Leap Day everyone!

To me, Leap Day is like a holiday. And although it may not seem like it on account of my lack of festive treats, I’m a HUGE Holidayaholic.

I love celebrating holidays and when I’m older and have my own place, I plan to be that crazy woman that has decorations up for every season and holiday. Yup, that’s definitely going to be me.

So, in honor of Leap Day, I did something that I don’t normally do. I made scones. Well, it’s not really unusual per say, but I used the same recipe from the same source.

A little while ago I posted a recipe for Lily’s scones. I told you that I had adapted the recipe to include whole wheat. I liked them ok enough, but I don’t think I’ll be making them with whole wheat flour anytime soon. However, I did mention that next time I would try them using the initial ingredients called for.

So, on the one day of the school week when I can sleep in until 6:15, I woke up at my usual time (5:15) in order to make these scones. Again, they were really simple to put together, but they took me a little longer since I was moving slowly so as not to wake the sleeping family.

These are much, much daintier than the whole wheat version, and I think I like them a little better. With this recipe there was a slight twang that I didn’t notice before, but I think that’s because of the cream of tartar used. The sugar that I sprinkled on top before baking offsets the twang with a little sweeter, more delicate note.

These were a great little breakfast treat on a seriously unexpected gorgeous day. (Yes, Colorado has been having awful weather. Someone needs to turn off the giant fan that’s positioned over us. We’ve been getting 100 mph winds, and fences are broken, two of our trees are at 45 degree angles. It is not pretty my friends.)

Lily’s Scones v 2.0

from Paris Pastry

makes 6 (2 1/2 in scones)

Ingredients
1 ½ cup + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 ¼ tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup + 2 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp milk, for brushing
1 tbsp sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Sift the flours, salt, baking powder, and cream of tartar into a medium-sized bowl. Rub in the chilled butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. All the milk all at once, and mix gently, just until the dough becomes moist. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough a few times until it becomes a ball.
3. Roll or pat the dough so that it becomes one inch thick. Using a 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter, stamp out 4 scones. Re-knead the dough and repeat until you get a total of 6 scones. When stamping out the scones, make sure you do not twist the biscuit cutter, just stamp it straight down. If you twist, the edges will seal and you will not the amazing rise you want.
4. Place scones very close to each other on the baking tray. Brush a little bit of milk on the tops. Sprinkle with sugar Place the scones in the oven for about 8-10 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden. These scones are best eaten right out of the oven. Also they taste great with a bit of butter, jam, and/or honey.