Lemon Scones, Revisited

As a lovely weekend draws to a close, I'm taking a few minutes to share a slightly-revised recipe for lemon-filled scones. This batch was the prize for Sarah, the winner of a recent monthly comment contest on this blog (details to the right!). The basics are all the same as the scones I've previously posted (a great foundational recipe for every scone I make) but I did make a few adjustments. To make these scones even more lemony, I grated lemon peel for both the dough and also the glaze. To make them a little less decadent, I reduced the butter by one third (not even noticeable). To sour the milk to make my own buttermilk, I switched acids from vinegar to fresh lemon juice, to be consistent with the flavor theme.

The tried and true steps of my scone making remain consistent and simple. Butter is cut into a mixture of flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, but this time I added about a tablespoon of freshly grated lemon peel.To that is added the soured milk mixed with beaten eggs as well as some vanilla and lemon extract. It's tossed together lightly with a fork to create what I think of as a "shaggy mess" and then the dough spends a few minutes in the freezer to make sure the butter pieces stay whole and cold when the dough is shaped into scones.

This is a wonderful and very adaptable recipe, and can be customized for whatever flavors and additions inspire you. If you want to make a savory dinner scone, just leave out the sugar and add cheese, or crumbled bacon, or fresh herbs -- whatever you think of that will make it your own.

Here's the recipe, followed by step-by-step photos illustrating the process. It may seem long and complicated, but it is neither. Once you try this scone recipe, you'll make it again and again!  I was able to make it with these little wise-guys hanging around...

My grandsons Henry and Peter, happy little dudes!

LEMON-FILLED SCONES
Preheated 375-degree F oven

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1/2 cup buttermilk or a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice with enough milk added to equal 1/2 cup
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Lemon curd - about 2 generous tablespoons (I like Dickinson's)

Additional beaten egg for egg wash

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
enough water to make a thick but drizzle-able glaze (it might be a word!), a few drops at a time

Directions in pictures:

Grate some lemon peel, a generous tablespoon plus a little more...

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add butter and lemon rind.

Found this at an annual antique sale in Warren County!
It's one of my favorite things (for another blog post!)

Cut butter into flour mixture until butter particles are pea-sized.

Like this...

Mix buttermilk or soured milk with two beaten eggs and extracts.

Mix buttermilk mixture into flour mixture, tossing lightly with a fork until it's a "shaggy mess" like this...
Put in freezer for 10 minutes.  Take out and form into a loaf on a lightly floured surface.

Flatten the loaf and knead, gently folding it over itself and pressing into new "loaf" about 8-10 times.
Add more flour as necessary to keep from sticking to your surface.
Divide into 2 portions and flatten each into an 8-inch disk.

Like this...

Drop a generous tablespoon of lemon curd on top of each disk.

Spread to within 1/2-inch of the edges.

Roll up jelly roll style, and...

Tuck ends under and flatten into new disks.

Cut disks into 6 wedges each.

Place triangles on parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and brush with egg wash
(if you don't have a pastry brush, mop the egg wash on with a wadded up paper towel). 

Bake at 375 degrees Farenheit for 20 minutes or until the scones look like this,
with a gentle browning to the tops.

Mix glaze ingredients adding enough water, just a few drops at a time, until it flows off the fork like this...
Drizzle over hot scones.  Glaze will dry as scones cool.

Your scones are done!

 Well, that's it! Try this recipe, and follow the photos to get it just right!

Thank you for reading. I look forward to your comments (perhaps prize-winning comments!).

Have a great week!

Rounding Out June 2012 and Lemon Scones

There's less than an hour left to June 2012, and I am looking forward to July.  One week from today, my  nephew Jack marries his love, Kristin, and I can't wait to be there to witness their marriage.  In less than four months, my daughter Tricia will marry her fiance Jeff, and it's so exciting to realize that these happy celebrations are almost upon us.  What seemed to be far in the future is suddenly here!  There is so much eventful life happening in our families these days, with the birth of three great-nephews in the last three weeks (Drew Ryan Britten, Breccan Robert Eddy, and Daniel Gordon Eddy) and now the marriages of my nephew and later this year, my daughter.

With the demands of work life and after-work life, sometimes I don't take time to smell the roses.  Days begin and proceed and end with barely a moment for reflection.  Over the next few months, I will be sure to stop and be conscious of all that is around me, all that is taking place in a specific moment in time, and reflect on those things that matter most:  family, friends, and time spent together.

When I'm taking my final breaths, I'm sure I won't be patting myself on the back for all those extra hours I stayed at the office.  I hope, if I can't remember anything, that my grandsons will be reading these blog posts back to me and once again sharing all the precious moments that really mattered.  That's what I hope to capture here now and then, not just recipes but moments worth remembering.

Happy July everyone!  To greet the month, here's a collage of tonight's baking project: lemon-filled scones.  I posted the recipe back in March, so this is nothing new, but I made them tonight, they're pretty, and they deserve one evening's spotlight!

Lemon-filled Scones!