All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Friday, February 6, 2015

Drop Buttermilk Scones with currants - and a fabulous caramel sauce





The snow just keeps coming here in New Hampshire.  Buckets and buckets, one foot of snow after another - and now I hear on the news, another foot expected.  What to do, what to do?  

As long as the power holds out, I am perfectly happy baking - cakes, breads - and these delicious scones.  I plump the currants with fresh orange juice for that zing of citrus, and fold them into a batter with butter, buttermilk, and orange zest.  

I use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to form these - much easier than the original plopping of dough with a large tablespoon.

Preheat oven to 375F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment pater or foil.

6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
1/4 cup sifted King Arthur whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 T. sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of nutmeg
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup buttermilk
pinch of kosher salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup dried currants

Sparkling sugar for the tops of the scones, optional

Place flours, the tablespoon of sugar, and the cold butter in your mixer bowl and mix until butter is incorporated with the flour.  Add the baking powder, nutmeg, and orange zest and briefly mix.

Squeeze the 1 tablespoon of orange juice into a bowl, then add the currants.  Microwave for a minute, or warm in a little saucepan.  Set aside to plump for five minutes.

Add the buttermilk and the plumped currants and orange juice to the dry mixture and mix until the dough just comes together.  It should not be a dry dough - so add a little water, a tablespoon at a time, if you think it's too dry.  Do not overly beat the dough.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter onto baking sheet.  This should make 8 scones.

Sprinkle the tops of the scones with sparkling sugar, if desired.  Bake 25 to 28 minutes, or until they are slightly golden.  Remove scones to cooling rack, then serve.

I came across a small batch recipe for the most wonderful caramel sauce, which takes all of 15 minutes.  I am in heaven!  You can find it here.

Happy February!




The path to the birdfeeder gets deeper and deeper........

2 comments:

La Table De Nana said...

You know me and scones..:) Will Pin so I don't forget..love the scoop idea..
OUr paths look like yours now..
Katrina..just to mention..when I read your blog through Bloglovin..I cannot leave a comment..Only though blogger..Thought I should tell you:)

katrina said...

Oh, Nana - I have just peeked at your pretty, pretty Valentine-y post, so festive! I don't know anything about Bloglovin, so can't give you advice. There was a foodblogger site (can't remember which) that I had installed ages ago, but when I clicked on it, it didn't do anything, so I deleted it. I am so low tech ! Would love to have a blog designer, but that would be expensive, so I noodle around. Another foot of snow on the way, you too?