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This post is going to be a quickie.. No tales whatsover... Just pics and recipe of another tryst with the oven ...
I made these sconies to accompany our breakfast menu, when I had a ltr of curdled milk the day after I returned from Pondicherry!! Having seen many recipes on the internet which used buttermilk to make soda bread / scones, I knew I didn't want to waste the whey (of course, the curd was used to make paneer). In fact, I wanted to try making this, Irish Soda bread scones, but then settled for something more cookie like, which I found on Deeba's blog. Seriously, her blog has become a one stop reference point for me! She rocks!!
I agree with her when she says "What I like about them is the ease with which the recipe embraces different ingredients." Though I made it first time with ingredients I had on hand, I think these would come out great with variations too.. Walnuts, Choco chips, coffee, crushed wheat /corn flakes, dried apricots/cherries ... Am sure I will try these out soon!
Raisin and Pistachio Sconies (Scones+Cookies=Sconies)
Adapted from PAB, adaption of 101 Cookbooks adaptation from My Nepenthe by Romney Steele
Ingredients:
1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/6 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cups quick oats
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pistachios
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cups quick oats
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pistachios
a pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C degrees. Grease a baking sheet/mould.
Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a bowl.
Add the butter and rub in the mixture till it looks like sandy pearls. Alternatively, you may pulse the ingredients in a food processor. I don't own a food processor and so I just used my multi purpose hands to do the job for me :)
Add the oats, raisins and chopped pistachio and mix gently.
Add the buttermilk until just moistened. Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly or dry, add more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing.
After bringing the dough together, roll out about 1/2 inch thick and cut out shapes as you would for cookies. I found the dough to be a little sticky and just patted it down directly into a round baking tray. Cut into triangle shapes if you are patting the dough into a circle. Bake until the bottoms are deeply golden. (The original recipe said "bake for 15 mins" but these took around 20 mins at 180 degrees. After that time, as it was still too soft for my comfort, I reduced the temperature of the oven to 150 and allowed the sconies to stay in for another 5 mins.)
Add the buttermilk until just moistened. Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly or dry, add more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing.
After bringing the dough together, roll out about 1/2 inch thick and cut out shapes as you would for cookies. I found the dough to be a little sticky and just patted it down directly into a round baking tray. Cut into triangle shapes if you are patting the dough into a circle. Bake until the bottoms are deeply golden. (The original recipe said "bake for 15 mins" but these took around 20 mins at 180 degrees. After that time, as it was still too soft for my comfort, I reduced the temperature of the oven to 150 and allowed the sconies to stay in for another 5 mins.)
Cool completely on racks.
Serve warm topped with maple syrup / honey / butter / chocolate sauce / be as creative as you want to be!!
