Yesterday I did a cooking demo for a Tea Party at @newcanaan_ymca (for its Forever Well program). I prepared the essentials of Afternoon Tea: mini sandwiches and scones (some plain, some with blueberries). What fun we all had! And we feasted of course! Here’s the recipe for the scones: BLUEBERRY SCONES
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup blueberries
Turbinado sugar, optional
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the butter in chunks and work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix the egg and buttermilk together and add them to the dry ingredients. Mix until a soft dough forms. Add the blueberries and gently mix the dough to incorporate them, taking care not to crush the fruit. Break the dough in half and place on a floured surface. Press each half into a circle about 3/4” thick. Cut each circle into six wedges and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle with some turbinado sugar if desired. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the scones are browned and well risen. Makes 12 #afternoontea #afternoonteatime #scones #sconesrecipe #blurberryscones #teatime
Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits
Every once in a while I post a recipe that includes buttermilk and invariably someone tells me that they don’t want to buy it just for this one recipe. But really, I promise! — once you have buttermilk in the house, you’re going to use it again. Because it is SO SO wonderful for so many things like cold soups and cole slaw and most especially for baked goods.
Like these biscuits, baked especially because today is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. In case you hadn’t heard.
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour (or 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon zest, optional
8 tablespoons cold butter
2/3 cup buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Sift the flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a bowl. Stir in the lemon zest, if used. Cut the butter into chunks and add it to the bowl. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or use the pulse in a food processor). Pour in the buttermilk and mix until you can form a soft ball of dough. Try not to pound or overwork the dough (this makes the biscuits tough). Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead a couple of times. Roll or press the dough gently to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or the bottom of a drinking glass. Place the circles one inch apart (for darker biscuits) or close together (for fluffier biscuits) on the baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they have risen and are lightly browned. Makes about 10 #biscuits #buttermilkbiscuits #buttermilkbiscuitsfromscratch #buttermilk #nationalbuttermilkbiscuitday