Over about a year or so i have been working to create the perfect date scone. Perfect for me, that is. It won't be to everyones taste. I have tried to strike a balance between a 'health conscious' but still totally drool inducing scone. I don't believe that the worse something is for you the better it will taste. But, at the same time, i'm not going to put tofu in it. I use fresh organic medjool dates. Organic mainly because they come from California (although there is a dude growing dates up in Alice Springs that i want to try) and i want to avoid weird sprays. I'm also a little but terrified of American grown food since Michael Pollen's "In Defence of Food" and all those horror story documentaries, but I'm told their run a really tight ship in terms of organic date production and It's California anyway. It's really important to use fresh, not dried dates. they are so much nicer; soft and sweet. The dried ones are way too intensely sweet, so if they are all you can get you will need to reduce the quantity by about half.
I have used a variety of different organic flours; stoneground wholemeal, barely and recently rye. They all work well so experiment a little (if you use white flour you will need less milk as the flour won't absorb as much liquid). At the moment i'm using hand churned unsalted butter from The Butter Factory in Myrtleford, Victoria, which is awesome. It is actually really hard to find decent unsalted butter in Sydney. I don't want to use Lurpak because it comes all the way from Denmark (i think) and quite a lot of the small producers only offer salted (no good for baking)*. I do spread the salted Myrtleford butter on my hot, split scone. yum. I like a fair amount of freshly grated nutmeg, but adjust to your taste. Scones are best eaten on the day you bake them, but they freeze superbly. When you want one just whack it in the microwave. I love mine with a coffee, made with my Italian stove top coffee thang (thanks Dani), but if you're traditional i guess you'll go for tea. So this is my ultimate scone, but keep in mind they are not super light nor do they rise as high as ordinary scones. They evolved from a recipe in Stephanie Alexander's, 'The Cook's Companion' with a few tips drawn from my Aunty's recipe and Delia Smith and then just experimentation and gradual alteration.
I have used a variety of different organic flours; stoneground wholemeal, barely and recently rye. They all work well so experiment a little (if you use white flour you will need less milk as the flour won't absorb as much liquid). At the moment i'm using hand churned unsalted butter from The Butter Factory in Myrtleford, Victoria, which is awesome. It is actually really hard to find decent unsalted butter in Sydney. I don't want to use Lurpak because it comes all the way from Denmark (i think) and quite a lot of the small producers only offer salted (no good for baking)*. I do spread the salted Myrtleford butter on my hot, split scone. yum. I like a fair amount of freshly grated nutmeg, but adjust to your taste. Scones are best eaten on the day you bake them, but they freeze superbly. When you want one just whack it in the microwave. I love mine with a coffee, made with my Italian stove top coffee thang (thanks Dani), but if you're traditional i guess you'll go for tea. So this is my ultimate scone, but keep in mind they are not super light nor do they rise as high as ordinary scones. They evolved from a recipe in Stephanie Alexander's, 'The Cook's Companion' with a few tips drawn from my Aunty's recipe and Delia Smith and then just experimentation and gradual alteration.
Makes about 7, often I'll double the recipe as they freeze so well.
*It makes the crumb tough
*It makes the crumb tough
Ingredients:
225g organic flour i.e. wholemeal, rye, barley
freshly ground nutmeg to taste (i use about a third of a whole nutmeg)
A pinch of salt
4 tsp baking powder (not if you are using self-raising flour)
4 tsp baking powder (not if you are using self-raising flour)
25g chilled (have it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you use it) unsalted butter chopped into smallish pieces
225g Organic fresh, Medjool dates, pitted and diced (into little fingernail sized pieces)
40g unrefined cane sugar
1 organic egg yolk (freeze the white)
1/2 cup of milk plus 2 tblsp (you may need a little more or a little less)
Method:
Preheat the Oven to 190 degrees Celcius. Line baking tray with baking.parchment paper. Place the flour in a large bowl, stir in baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers until its resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and then the dates. Make a well and add the egg yolk, start adding the milk and stir. You may not need all the milk or you may need a little more. You want the mixture to come together to form a dough, but not a wet one. gather together and tip onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for a second to form a ball. flatten into a disc about 2.5 cm high with a rolling pin. Cut into wedges with a knife or rounds with a cookie cutter. Gather together any offcuts, flatten and cut out more scones. Place onto the baking tray, if you wish, brush a little milk over the tops of the scones. Place in the oven and bake until lovely and golden, about 15 minutes, but oven vary so keep an eye on them. I like mine with slightly brown edges. Place on a cake rack to cool slightly but scones are best served warm.
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