A friend of mine invited me over for brunch a couple of weeks ago, and I decided it would be a great opportunity to try out some scone recipes I’ve had my eye on. I made two types of scones: blueberry lemon with a buttery lemon glaze and cheddar rosemary. I used two different recipes for bases, and tweaked them a bit with the fillings and toppings that I used.
For the savory scones, I used Ina Garten’s Cheddar and Dill scones as a base. I really don’t like dill though, so I replaced it with fresh rosemary. Ina’s recipe can be found here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_119789,00.html
My scones didn’t look quite as puffy as hers, but I still thought they looked pretty. :-)
For the sweet scones, I used Alton Brown’s basic recipe to start with. Recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_147,00.html
Instead of dried fruit, I used frozen blueberries from Trader Joe’s. I also used more than just a “handful” of the fruit; then again, my handfuls are smaller than most. I just tossed in enough blueberries until the dough loo
ked ‘berried’ enough. I also added the zest of one medium lemon to the cream/egg mixture before adding it to the batter.
For the glaze, I combined about 1/4 cup of melted butter, a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and enough powdered sugar to get the consistency I wanted - probably about a cup and a half or so. I also threw in about 1/4 cup of granulated sugar to add a bit of texture to the glaze, but of course, that’s totally optional.
l made the mistake of trying to thin it out with a little milk, which I’m guessing reacted w/ the lemon juice and made for a slightly grainy texture. Luckily I didn’t add enough milk to do any real damage, but will definitely remember not to use any milk or cream next time around.
So which recipe won the day? Alton’s, hands down. His scones were delicious and moist and soft - practically melted in my mouth! - but still substantial and bread-like enough to be considered scones. I’m sure glazing them w/ melted butter and lemon juice helped a bit, but I could tell that even naked, these scones would have been fabulous. Meanwhile, Ina’s scones were a bit on the dry side. I reheated one in the microwave and that did help some, but overall I would say that her recipe just did not deliver. I did like the cheddar/rosemary combination, and will definitely be using that in the future.
Ina’s method of using the paddle attachment on the Kitchenaid mixer to “cut in” the butter was very useful. Also, I think it’s worth noting that Ina’s dough was a lot easier to work with; Alton’s was sticky and messy, while Ina’s rolled and cut beautifully. But I’d rather have sticky hands and yummy scones than the alternative, so I declare Alton the winner in this round.
