Picnic scones

Let me share my favourite scone recipe with you. My dad loves scones and I first made it for him when I was still a student a couple of years back. Since then, these scones have made their way to various picnic baskets, numerous teas and even as a door gift for one of my mom’s teachers’ events. This recipe belongs to Grandma Johnson and was tested thru 3 generations of kids. I got this recipe from www.allrecipe.com and it is one of their top rated recipes. I love this recipe, Its the combination of sour cream, butter and 3 rising ingredients: baking soda, baking powder AND cream of tartar that makes it so deliciously light, buttery and crumbly. Have you had those horrible dry scones that taste a little bready yet hard and sticks to your throat? Bet you have. And I bet you’ve had those delicious warm melt in your mouth kinds too. This is definitely the latter. And its so versatile. These scones were made one nice afernoon by my kind mummy while I was catching some stolen snooze in her bed in her pyjamas. Mother in law was in the neighbourhood and dropped in with some stinky fruit (read: durian, which by the way mama, my car still smeeelllllsss and its been twoooo loooo000ooonngg days…) and glamourous aunty-in-law, so we had a little tea party with scones and fig jam. I wonder how it would have been with some durian smeared on. I digress. These were lightly scented with grated lemon zest and plump with raisins from Uzbekistan. Here’s the recipe and I’m so sure you’ll love it too!

Grandma Johnson’s Scones

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup raisins (optional)

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in the raisins.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

 

I will be away for a while, I’m tired and I am flying off to Kerala on Saturday night.. I’ll be back in a week, so catch up then.. We are going to stay with H’s family and I have not planned a single thing on the trip save for booking 3 nights at The Leela during the last few days of the trip. We’ll be breaking away from the rest of the family for some couple time.

 

By the way, the price was really low compared to peak rates, they called it their “monsoon special” which made me freaking nervous. “Monsoon”?? And the fact that they were still not fully booked though I booked online only a week from arrival..

Catch up soon..