Friday Brunch and a Scone Recipe

My friend and I cooked brunch this morning, which was a much nicer than going to Genetics. He asked for Eggs Benedict, which I never made before (and now that I have, I don't know why I didn't). English muffin (toasted BOTH sides), Canadian Bacon (or black forest ham in our case), poached egg (yolks runny please), topped with lemony-buttery Hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce
2 servings
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup melted butter, kept warm
lemon juice
salt
cayenne pepper

In a double boiler over simmering water, whisk egg yolks and lemon juice until thick and doubled in volume, about 3-4 minutes. Slowly drizzle in warm melted butter, whisking the entire time to prevent the sauce from breaking. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Keep warm until serving.



I also made raspberry scones so we would have something to eat if the Eggs Benedict failed. I toyed with the idea of trying a new recipe. I like the one from Tyler Florence too much and I've had enough bad experiences with scone recipes. But I modified this one from Allrecipes and it turned out quite well.

The trick to good scones is cold butter and cold cream. Don't skimp on either- I've made scones with margarine and milk and it just isn't the same. I added fresh raspberries to mine, but these would be great with all sorts of add-ins. For sweet, try ginger-cinnamon, lemon-blueberry, fresh peach, fig-walnut, chocolate, etc. For savory, add in shredded cheese, ham, and different herbs.


Raspberry Almond Scones
Makes 10 large scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1/2 cup cream
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
handful slivered or sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in cold butter so that the mixture resemble coarse meal. In a separate bowl, beat together egg, cream, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Press the dough into a ball with your hands. There may be some dry spots, but just press until everything comes together.

Add in almonds. Gently fold in raspberries, taking care to not break them up too much. Form 1 1/2 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Brush the top of the scones with cream or beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

lunch from jamie oliver, snack from tyler florence....

Blueberry Scones
Makes 8 (very large) scones

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
a pinch salt
5 tbsp cold butter, in small pieces
1 cup cold heavy cream
3/4 cup blueberries

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or simply a fork or 2, cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture should look like coarse meal. Make a well in the center and pour in the cold cream. Stir until the dough just comes together, be sure to not overmix. There will be some dry spots at the bottom of the bowl, but they should come together when you pinch them. The dough should not be sticky. Gently fold in the blueberries. It's best to use your hands for this to prevent breaking the berries (unless you like a blue scone).

Turn the dough out onto a slightly floured board, and pat into about a 12 x 3 x 1 1/4 inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half and then half again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares. Cut each of these squares diagonally into the traditional triangular shape. Place the scones onto an ungreased cookie sheet and brush with cream. Sprinkle the top with sugar for decorative purposes.

Bake the scones in a preheated 400 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.


These scones are delicious, moist and tender, with a nice crunchy top. They're not very sweet, so you might want to consider a glaze on top (Tyler suggested lemon). I also found it too troublesome to roll these out because the berries are so fragile, so I usually just form round, drop scones. I made about 12 good-sized ones with this recipe; making 8 would result in rather large ones. You can substitute blueberries for other fruit (i.e. raspberries are quite nice) or use this recipe as a base for other flavors. I added almond extract and chopped almonds to some, then sprinkled the top with slivered almonds. Try stirring in some chocolate bits for a sweeter treat.