Borgle Scones-Or The Isabel Revolt

Isabel Weighs In



In an incident my family calls The Isabel Rebellion, our dog protested because
so far, all my culinary efforts have been for the benefit of the family and not her.

In case I haven't mentioned her before, she is a Borgle: half beagle and half Border collie.
Half of her wants to run into the woods looking for rabbits and the other half scouts
around for a flock of sheep she can round up.

It can be very annoying.

The one benefit is that whenever Isabel hears us yell at the cat to get down off the
dining table, she gallops to the scene and herds said cat down and out of the room.
Then they start wrestling and mayhem ensues.

Or maybe I should say 'the fur flies'.

She also treats my teen-aged sons' friends like cattle and tries to move them out of
my kitchen (thanks, dog) into the family room where she thinks they should be. (And of course they all humor her).

That'll do, pig.



I've been scouting around the interweb and found this book which I promptly ordered.

Here is the first recipe I tried. I'd like to think Izzy has a cultured palate and
discriminating taste, but the reality is that she'd scarf pretty much whatever I make her
sit up and beg for. She considers it demeaning to beg but is willing to do it for the sake
of these scones.

Scrumptious Scottie Scones, aka Borgle Scones
adapted from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour (you could use a cup of white and wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup 2% milk*
1 clove garlic, minced

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking powder and honey in a bowl. Add oil, egg, milk and garlic, then stir until mixed thoroughly.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead.
Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness and cut into 2 inch squares;** place on greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Makes approx. 25 little squares.




* I used 2 % milk 'cause that's what we have on hand. Any strength milk will do.

**I love the traditional scone shape so I rolled the dough into two circles and cut them into pie-shaped wedges.

These scones stay soft; they're not crisp like some treats are.



These are great, according to my canine guinea pigs Isabel and Casey, but they do not keep well. In an airtight ziploc-type bag, the scones kept for about a week before growing fur of their own.

The cookbook also notes that garlic is a natural flea repellent so this is a good treat for summer months.

Maple Tea Scones

I first got curious about scones when I tried one in Chicago. We were staying at the Palmer House Hilton and Sunday morning found us wandering the neighborhood for something that looked breakfast-y and open. (Call me naive, but I hadn't realized that many restaurants in downtown Chicago would be closed on Sundays).

We finally found a bakery and I grabbed an orange scone and ate it on the fly.

For a few steps, that is.

The little bit of saliva that naturally resides in your mouth was not equal to the task of moistening this hunk of arid dough.
I found a drink and tried manfully to wash the floury wad down without spraying my brand new husband with a flurry of very dry crumbs.

It was pretty embarrassing. Here I was, trying to impress said husband that I was cosmopolitan, familiar with foreign pastries like scones that neither of us had grown up with. But this--this--thing should have been enough to teach me to avoid scones like The Plague, if not for the wonderful chain, Panera Bread Co.

"But that's not real--it's mass-produced schlock!" You cry.

I know. I'm a baker, remember? But they do make a mean orange scone: moist, more cake-like in crumb, with a tasty orange glaze over it. I've put a few of those puppies away in the past few years, I admit.
My point, however, is that Panera has shown me that it is possible to create something much more palatable.

(Cut to a shot of a computer with a wild-eyed woman feverishly scanning recipes on the internet.)

I'm happy to say that I now have a cache of favored scone recipes that are my go-to's every time I find myself with leftover cream from making, oh, let's say, ganache from something horridly high in calories and v-e-r-y satisfying.

All of the recipes preserve a natural moistness and flavor. The one I share today is especially cake-like, delectably maple-ish, although I did whip up a maple syrup/confectioner's sugar glaze for it because you can't have too much of a good thing.

So, for today, I give you--



Maple Tea Scones

3 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. pure maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. good vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet or use parchment paper to line it.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender or use a heavy duty electric mixer until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a 1 cup measure, combine the milk, syrup and vanilla. Add to the dry mixture and stir until a sticky dough is formed, adding a few more tablespoons milk if the dough is too stiff.

Turn out the shaggy dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently about 6 times, just until the dough holds together. Divide into three equal portions and pat each into a 1-inch thick round about 6 inches in diameter. With a knife, cut each round into quarters, making 4 wedges. The scones can also be formed by cutting out with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Place the scones about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.

Bake for 16-20 minutes until crusty and golden brown. Serve immediately with jam or Devonshire cream. Or whip together a glaze of maple syrup, confectioner's sugar and a bit of milk and drizzle over scones.

These are incredibly good just after they're cooled, but they also keep very well for 2-3 days in an airtight container.*





*found this recipe at thatsmyhome.com so thank Hannah when you see her!

Hello again.

I'm back rather quickly, but I have a reasonable if pathetic reason: since I finally found the key to my universe last night around 11:00pm (said key being the simplest way to get pictures onto my posts) I really need to repeat the process quickly, before my Swiss cheese brain has time to forget it.

So here it is: one of my favorite recipes for chocolate chip scones. Most of my scone recipes call for heavy cream, but this one uses buttermillk, which I never have on hand. However, I substitute regular milk with 2 teasp. of vinegar added to make it go sour. This works like a charm every time.
Being the chocolate fiend that I am, if I omit the fruit pieces, I usually double the amount of chocolate chips to compensate. I have also used mini chocolate chips but found them too small for the big chocolate taste I was looking for. Nestle's chocolate chip chunks work even better.
It's a sickness. I should be pitied, not scorned.

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 C. flour
1/4 C. white sugar
1 1/4 teasp. baking powder
1/4 teasp. baking soda
1/4 teasp. salt
1/2 C. unsalted butter, cold and cut into slivers
1/2 C. milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. dried cherries or cranberries (opt)
1 teasp. vanilla
2/3 C. buttermilk


Egg mixture for brushing tops of scones before baking:

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon milk

Cinnamon Sugar: (opt., I don't usually use this because I prefer the chocolate to be the primary taste focus)

2 T. sugar
1/4 teasp. cinnamon


Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, bakng powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into slivers and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips and dried cherries (if using). In a small measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until the dough comes together (add a bit more buttermilk if necessary). Do not over mix the dough.

Transfer to a ligihtly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 4 pie-shaped wedges. Place the scones on the baking sheet. Make an egg wash of 1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk and brush over the tops of the scones. To make the cinnamon sugar, mix sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a little of the
mixture.




Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Makes 8 scones.



(adapted from a recipe from The Joy of Cooking.com)