Scones and Tea

It's no secret I have a British heritage. Both my grandparents (who raised me) were British and what I would call "old school." There was a great deal of tradition in my household when I was growing up. One thing I never experienced though, were scones and tea. So today I have some English Breakfast tea and scones I made.


The recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (I use Mexican vanilla)
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup topping
  

Directions

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Beat the egg with the vanilla. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg/vanilla mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Add topping of your choice.
   
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

Ruminations:

Obviously, these are not gluten free, something I realize my Tea Tuesday friends prefer.

Don't over knead the dough. I didn't knead very much because of my arthritis, and I think that was what kept the scones light and airy.

Before I began the kneading process, I divided the dough into two batches. I added orange peel and dried cranberries to one batch (because it was what I had) and toffee chips to the other batch. The recipe was supposed to make 12 total, but when I cut the wedges, I got eight scones from each batch.

Since I've never had scones before, I'm not sure what they are supposed to taste like. But I know I really love the taste of these.


I hope you'll join me today for a traditional English breakfast of scones and tea. Then hop over to Kimmie's for the links to the rest of the Tea Tuesday gang.