Raspberry Mega Scones
Servings: One gigantic slab
It’s been my mission to learn how to airily make scones after tasting the beautiful bits in De Bakkerswinkel Amsterdam. I know they’re in abundance in London too but I do not have a good reference yet so my reference is always the one in Amsterdam.
Anyway, making scones is one of the hardest challenges. How to make it crispy yet soft? How to make it light and fluffy? I did it once but was somehow traumatized by the soft, messy dough and didn’t find the whole experience to be pleasant.
I tried again with this recipe, a combination of Chubby Hubby’s and 101 Cookbooks’, and made one gigantic, jam-filled slab. I love it. The idea from 101 Cookbooks was practical and, as always, CH’s taste is one I can trust.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
75 g cold butter (Mine was straight from the freezer)
1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
Zest from one lime
Raspberry jam to taste. (I used the one obtained from the above-mentioned bakery and it was delicious!)
Directions:
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into small 1cmx1cm cubes and drop them into the flour mix. Mash the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles little pebbles in a beach of sandy flour (to use the term in 101 Cookbooks) or use two knives to cut the butter into the flour. Add the cold cream, vanilla, and lemon zest. Mix slowly (to allow the liquid to be absorbed by the flour) until the dough just comes together - don’t over mix. Gather into a ball. I didn’t really knead the dough but just round it into a ball for ease of transport from the bowl to the parchment paper.
Press the dough ball on a piece of floured parchment paper into 20x20 cm square, approx. 1 cm thick. Sprinkle with more flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking onto the paper. Slather the slab of dough with the jam and fold the left side of the dough in toward the center. To discourage the dough from breaking, fold it in by folding the paper and then peeling the paper back. Fold the other side in using the same technique. Slide onto a baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden at the edges.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
