Lily's Scones

Last weekend I took a mini trip to North Carolina. I think I may have mentioned that I have been accepted into a few schools, Appalachian State University being one. And because of the four –day weekend (we also got Tuesday because of a teacher in-service day – gotta love those in-service days) I decided it would be best to utilize my time wisely and visit an out of state college. It was nice, but I’m not ready to commit just yet.

Anywho. I feel like I haven’t baked in forever, so as soon as I got back from my trip, I did a little look through some of the blogs I follow to see what I could quickly whip together. That’s where these scones come into play.

I like scones. They are like biscuits, but somehow more… sophisticated shall I say? I saw these on Paris Pastry (an amazing blog filled with delicate-looking sweets and pastries) and I thought, aww, those are super cute. Yes, that’s how I base my decisions sometimes: their cuteness factor, haha.

These were real simply to whip together. Seriously, it probably took me less than 10 minutes from sifting the flour to kneading the dough, to punching out portions.

My scones aren’t as dainty as Danielle’s, but that’s because I decided to mix it up with some whole wheat flour (I can’t seem to finish off that bag no matter what!). Adding the whole wheat flour made it taste more like a biscuit, but that’s ok because they were pretty good. I polished off three in one sitting. I think next time though, I’m going to stick with the plain all-purpose flour, and maybe add some sugar on top to make it a little sweeter, a little daintier.

Lily’s Scones

Slightly adapted from Paris Pastry
Makes 6 (2 ½ inch) scones

Ingredients
1 cup + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat 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 beaten egg (for egg wash)

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 the beaten egg on the tops. 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.