[Inez] Scones, my love

I woke up this morning wanting scones. I said to Ruby, "I really want to make scones. But I also want to eat something before the scones are done. Something yummy. Like scones." 

"That's a catch-22," she said. I made the scones.

In my house, we have two Joys of Cooking (Joy of Cookings?), an old one and a new one. I took the old one with me to college, on account of Ruby tried to throw it out when I was 12 or so and I wouldn't let her. The new Joy is good, but the old Joy is best. Of course, by the time it was time for me to head to Haverford, she had realized that, but it was too late. The Old Joy was mine. 

That said, the New Joy offers a variation on the "Classic Currant Scone" (the only one that matters, as far as I'm concerned) that I've never noticed in the Old Joy. It might be there, but I've never seen it. Anyway, it says that if you want flakier scones, you can omit the egg and instead put in 1 cup (rather than 1/2 cup) of cream. Keep the egg and you get cakier scones. Cakey is what I don't like about bakery scones, and flaky is what I love about homemade scones, so obviously I went with more cream, no egg. Plus, since I was doubling the recipe, I got to put in TWO CUPS OF CREAM. Whoa.

Yeah, baby. 

I should mention, before I go any farther (further?) that what you saw in the second picture were actually chopped dried cherries, because we don't have any currants, and I wasn't about to walk to Rainbow to get some at 8 am. 

The New Joy's scone recipe also says the knead the dough 5-10 times before rolling out. While it's entirely possible the Old Joy says the same thing and I've just never paid enough attention to notice, I have never kneaded my scones. Although I recently learned that puff pastry is made by repeatedly rolling dough out and folding it over and rolling it out again (why doesn't that just make it hard as a rock??), I found kneading my scone dough suspect. So I did an experiment. I split the dough in half (the double recipe was too big to knead in one bowl anyway), and I kneaded half of it. The other half I just kind of clumped together and rolled out, same as I always do.

Above you see my classic scone. Looks yummy, doesn't it?

Holy crap! The kneaded out scones are so much taller!

Check it out.

Obviously a taste test was in order. (Also, this was my breakfast. So of course I was going to have a couple. At least.)

I had the non-kneaded kind first. It was amazing. Toasty on the outside, soft and incredibly flaky on the inside. And Ruby was right, cherries are good in scones. Especially since I cut them up to sort of currant-size.

The kneaded scones were also delicious. There was noticeably more crunch (the good kind) to the outside, I think simply because there was more surface area to get toasty. That said, I think I preferred them slightly less than the non-kneaded kind. The butter was more overwhelming in this scone. Of course, that might be because this was my third scone in 10 minutes. The inside was also little bit less flaky and a little bit more doughy. I'm thinking I should have left these ones in for a couple more minutes. They looked done, but they also spent most of the time on the top rack of the oven, so that may have browned them quicker than the other scones. 

The differences were really very slight, but I think my conclusion is this: for aesthetics, I prefer the kneaded scones. They really are prettier and more impressive-looking. But for a balance of toasty outside and perfectly flaky inside, even though they're a little bit uglier, I like my non-kneaded scones.

Recipe (from The Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition -- with some slight modifications)

I'm giving you a single recipe. I doubled the recipe, but it's easier to manage a single recipe in terms of smushing together (and kneading, if you prefer) and also rolling out the scones.

Preheat oven to 425.

• 2 cups flour
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 tblspn baking powder (Can we just agree that T means tablespoon and t means teaspoon? Okay, great.)
  
• 1/2 t salt
• 6 T cold unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (or more) currants or chopped dried cherries (unsweetened!)
• 1 cup heavy cream

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. (If in a climate with high humidity, please be extra sure to sift the baking powder and salt. Crunching into a clump of baking powder is a real downer.)

Drop in butter, cut into chunks. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour until the butter bits are quite small. (or if you don't have a pastry cutter I recommend freezing the butter and then grating it into the flour mixture). Stir in the fruit.

Add the cream, and stir just enough that the dry ingredients are moistened. Then:

• Gather dough into a ball in the bowl and form a disc on a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough until it is about 3/4 inch thick.

OR

• Gather dough into a ball in the bowl. Knead it gently 5-10 times, incorporating any loose pieces of dough. Put on a lightly floured surface and pat or roll to 3/4 in thick.
  

Cut into triangles (or whatever) and put on an ungreased baking sheet. The Joy says to brush with milk or cream, but I prefer egg white. Separate an egg, and feed the yolk to your dog. Whisk the white until it's a little bit frothy (it will be easier to spread if it's a lightened up a bit). Using a pastry brush, put a thin coat on top of all the scones.

Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.