Monday 26 March 2012

Cream And Apple Scones

They are Dream Scones, actually...


Yes, I am so true that you have to try it. You must make them for breakfast tomorrow morning, and you will be dreamy all through the day. Scones, to me, are so English and classy. Warm scones slathered with butter (as if they do not have enough butter in them!) or jam or both...mmm...that's luxury for the morning. I love scones, and though they might not look pretty enough, they can make me swoon! But scones can be tricky. They can disappoint you heavily by coming out drier or rather bland or harder. And then, they would taste terrible, turning all your dreams into nightmares. 

Fortunately, after many experiments, I have this foolproof awesome recipe by the effervescent Deb of Smitten Kitchen. She has hers with cranberries but I used chopped apples instead, the first time...and ever since, I have been using only apples. The taste is so perfect for me with apples in them that although I imagine the use of lemons, orange zest, cheese and scallions, and so much more, I am always tempted to make these with apples, and I give in. They are that good! Mohan (that's my husband) had his first bite (the first time I made these) and was literally surprised at how dreamy and airy they were, yet retaining that ever so slight crispiness on the outside. Now that's a perfect scone. It will remain as one of our favourite breakfasts forever. And the flavour so rich with cream and butter.... Oh, yes, this recipe has a good amount of cream. But you cannot be that weight conscious as to avoid these scones, can you?!!!

Cream And Apple Scones

Very slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 cups All-purpose flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
5 Tbsp Butter (unsalted), chilled
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Apples chopped into 1/4 inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius.

Sift the flour and mix in the salt, sugar and baking powder until well combined.

Cut butter into 1/4 inch cubes. Note that the butter needs to be chill enough. Cut the butter into the flour quickly either by hand or a pastry blender (I do this by hand) so as to resemble a coarse meal. Slightly larger lumps here and there are fine. Mix in the chopped apples until evenly distributed.

Now, mix in the cream (It is better if cream is chilled, too) and combine everything so as to form a dough. This has to be done real quick. The dough needs to go into the oven while considerable chill enough. Next, take dough and any bits left on to the counter and knead for 5 to 10 seconds, to form a sticky ball. Deb says that we can from this point, either press the dough onto an 8 inch cake pan and cut into wedges, or pat the dough into 3/4 inch circle roughly, and use a biscuit cutter to cut the scones. I use the previous method so that I would not have problem with scraps (they are not going to be as good as the first batch), but I use a 7 inch pan to form the circle, and I get slightly taller scones, which I like.

Place the wedges on a baking tray, and bake them in the middle rack for 12 - 15 minutes. Mine takes 15 minutes always. 

And there you have...your dream breakfast.


 
 

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