Apparently I should get up at 6:30 every Saturday morning. I sure seem to get a whole lot more done than I would normally. It’s just going on 11:00am and I’ve already been to the airport, ran to the farmer’s market and grocery stores respectively and had time to make a Scone recipe from my beloved Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.
It isn’t often I get up early, but I find that I always appreciate it when I do. Getting up when it’s still cool outside and you need a jacket (even though it will be scorching hot later in the day), a cup of coffee to get you going (though I’m doing a diet cleanse right now and am not supposed to have caffeine) and there is no one on the road to get in your way as you speed down the highway of life (or while taking Brian to the airport). Maybe sleep deprivation is getting to me and I’m entirely too excited for my own good, but I might as well enjoy it while it lasts. I’m certainly convinced that Martha Stewart never sleeps.
What’s great about being up so early is the first choice at the farmer’s market. They officially open at 8:00am and I was there by 7:55 watching the last of the stalls being set up. It was my first time to the Ossining farmer’s market this year and I always feel so proud when I go and support the local farmers. There is nothing better than getting food freshly picked that hasn’t traveled miles and lost its vital substance.
All the berries were looking absolutely beautiful. The scone recipe I found calls for strawberries, which are in season, but having so recently made strawberry shortcake I thought I would let the market dictate what kind of scones I should make. There were a variety of gorgeous cherries at one particular stand. Cherries had been on my mind anyway because we got a really delicious batch of sweet ones from Fresh Direct this week at work. Ding! We have a winner. I only bought a pint because the scone recipe calls for 3/4 cup of cut up berries and a pint was about twice as much as I needed.
The vegetable produce was also looking really good. There were bright, fresh spring carrots, beets and radishes that will fit perfectly into my current eating regimen, and everything just looked so healthy. No one had been along to pick over anything yet and I had all the best goodies to myself…mwah, ha, ha, ha….
After that I stopped by to the grocery store to get a few missing items I needed for the scones like eggs and good old-fashioned heavy cream. These scones are really straightforward to make, especially if you have a Kitchen Aid glistening on your countertop waiting to go for a spin. You could probably use a food processor too, but you would need one that would hold a decent amount of ingredients because there are 4 cups of flour and 3 sticks of butter in this recipe!
What’s nice is it’s a one-bowl process. Just combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in your mixing bowl. Cut your chilled butter into a small dice, add it to the dry ingredients, and mix on low until the butter breaks down into pea-sized pieces. Mix together your cream and eggs in a separate bowl, then add them to the mixing bowl while the paddle is still on low speed. That’s it for the mixing.
Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and using a well-floured rolling pin (because the dough is fairly sticky), roll out to 3/4 inch thick and cut into 4-inch squares. These squares get cut in half on the diagonal leaving you with about 16 scones. Lightly brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes and you have a lovely brunch snack for friends if they drop by, or if you are feeling neighborly and decide to go “a callin’”. Light, buttery and with a sweet/tart cherry taste, these are a “not to be missed” portion of a well balanced diet.
It’s good to get the baking done early on these hot pre-summer days. In fact, it will be summer next week! I can’t wait for the cobblers and crumbles, fruit pies and refreshing glasses of lemonade or a mojito out on the veranda. If only I had a proper Southern veranda I would be set!
No comments:
Post a Comment