Last week I made these cupcakes [1] for a friend’s bridal shower and had some buttermilk leftover. Before learning I could freeze buttermilk (who knew?), I made the buttermilk cake squares (yum!), then this scone recipe showed up in my Google Reader (thanks The Food Librarian [2]!) and boom, leftover buttermilk be gone.
I followed the drop scone directions–scoop and bake–rather than shape into a circle and cut into wedges. The scooping was easy and the scones all came out around the same size. The end result was slightly crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. They weren’t as dense as the scones I’m used to, but they were definitely delicious and super easy to make.
Photos of the process here [3].
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon (packed) grated lemon peel (I omitted this)
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chilled buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze: Milk and 2 T sugar
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line with Silpat or parchment two baking sheets.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a small mixing bowl or your measuring cup, blend together buttermilk, egg yolk and vanilla. Set aside.
- Cut up cold butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. (If you are adding the lemon zest, add here). Using your fingertips, rub in butter until the mixture is sandy or like rice grains. (Mine looked like sand, not rice grains.)
- Mix in the mini chocolate chips
- Pour buttermilk mixture over the flour mixture and mix until dough comes together. Do not overmix. Dough will be moist and soft.
- If you want to make triangle scones, gather the dough and press out on floured surface into an 8-inch round. Cut into 6 wedges.
- If you want to make drop scones, use a scooper to scoop dough onto lined baking sheets.
- Brush tops of scones with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. (Mine took around 15 minutes.)
I got about 20 scones using a small cookie scoop.
Recipe from Bon Appétit [4] via The Food Librarian [5].