Sunday, September 20, 2009

Orange Scented Scones


This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised by her selection this week. You see, she is a personal trainer and this recipe has to be the most fattening one in the entire book. I am not kidding when I say this recipe has no redeeming qualities (unless you add some chopped up fruit to them). These scones are literally fat and flour mixed together to create something called breakfast, or tea depending on where you live.

I absolutely love scones. There used to be this little British tea shop near us that sold scones, and I absolutely loved them. Every couple months, I would stop by and pick up a half dozen of them and a package of fruit pastilles (my roommate in college was from South Africa and she turned me on to them). Delicious! Unfortunately, they have since closed. And talk about timing on their part- I went to buy scones the last weekend they were open only to find a burned out building when I turn into the parking lot. Evidently the restaurant next to them caught fire the night before and it literally burned down to the ground. So they only really lost one day of business and I'm sure there was not that much left in the shop at that point. Lucky for them, not so lucky for me!

Since the tea shop has closed, I have been on a quest to find scones that could match up. There is a little shop in our town called Talula's Table that has pretty decent ones, but they aren't quite as good. Maybe I'm just biased because scones seem to taste a little different when you buy them from someone with a British accent. Then I made this recipe... and I can report with great satisfaction that I think I have finally found something to fill the dark sconeless void I had been previously left with.

I first made the recipe a couple months back when I initially bought the book. I had a brunch after my brother-in-law's wedding and made all these different kinds of scones based on the recipe. I was so anxious the first time I made them, hoping they might possibly hold up to their British counterparts. Thankfully, they did. Everyone at the brunch loved them, including me. Though I felt a little guilty when my mother-in-law's best friend started raving over them as she was telling me how she had just been to the doctor and he told her her cholesterol was too high. But it was a little late at that point!

As for the recipe itself, it is super easy to throw together. I only have one of those mini prep food processors so I had to cut the butter in to half of the flour and then mix in the rest. This time around, I opted to use lemon zest in the first batch instead of orange since lemon scones are my absolute favorite. Some other flavor combinations I have made in the past are lemon-blueberry (my daughter's favorite), orange-cranberry-pistachio (one of my favorites), and apple cinnamon with a cinnamon glaze.

For the second batch, I tried experimenting a little. Remember how I said the recipe is fattening? If you make it as written, there is over a tablespoon of butter in each scone AND it uses cream instead of milk. When I was taking yoga before, someone had told me you can sub-in flax meal for butter at a one to one ratio so I decided to give it a try. I also subbed buttermilk, my wonder ingredient, for the cream. My "healthy" scones rose beautifully in the oven and smelled great, but I was a little dismayed when at first glance, they looked a little dry. I grabbed one off the tray and anxiously broke off a piece to try. I was really hoping they would taste incredibly good, but I am sad to report, I prefer the full fat version much better. However, the flax meal version still passes as a decent weekday breakfast. I had one this morning toasted with honey and enjoyed it. Next time, maybe I will do half butter and half flax meal to see if their turn out any better. I am determined to make them better for me!


Thank you so much Robin for picking this recipe! Hands down, it is one of my favorite recipes from the Sweet Melissa Baking book so far. If you would like to try the recipe for yourself, check our Robin's page or buy the book for yourself. It will not disappoint you.

13 comments:

Nina said...

wow. that is very creative of you. Hopefully the half half will work for you next time

But I agree, this was super fattening but it's all good. I like super fattening stuff...once in a while.

Sarah said...

I love scones too, and just try not to think about all of the butter and cream in them...

Flourchild said...

It's my favorite so far too! I loved this recipe and will make them again soon! I thought it was simple and the finished product was out of this world good!

Melissa said...

Good for you for trying to make them a bit healthier! I made mine fattier with cheese!!!! :-O

k.a.r.e.n said...

Glad you liked the scones -- they look great!

margot said...

I'm glad you've been able to find a scone recipe you love, they look great! I'm disappointed to hear that the super low-fat version wasn't as good (I guess you can't cut back too much), because they are such a decadent breakfast, so yummy, though.

Katiecakes said...

Check you out making them healthy! Wish I had that idea :p

Katie xox

Eliana said...

Your scones look fantastic!

Fit Chick said...

Ha Ha Ha, making my scones healthy will you, LOL. Great idea with the substitutions, but since I only get two cheat meals a week I make sure whatever I eat is "full fat, with a sugar chaser" of course. Just kidding, glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for baking along with me this week.

Michele said...

Your scones look lovely, and thank you for making ound cake with me!!

Michele

Michele said...

Sorry! For some reason I thought you made pound cake. But, no matter. Thank you for visiting my blog. I love your zucchini bundt cake. I love zucchini. Yum!

HanaĆ¢ said...

Love how you experimented with different flavors. They were really good. I tell myself there's oatmeal in them so it's OK :o)

Unknown said...

They look great Karin!! I love that you tried to make them healthier. I'd never heard of that flax meal substitution so that's a great tip. I'm so glad you found a scone recipe to fill the void left by your scone shop :)

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