Thank you Thank you Thank you to all for the texts and phone calls and emails and cards you sent for my birthday! I feel loved and older and wiser and impossibly more full of joy!
It was a wonderful day, the highlight came after dinner—we had made an appointment at the hotel bowling alley and they let us bring Izzy! It was fun until she tried to chase the ball down the lanes and barked at the balls spat out by the ball return machine, pushing them around the carousel with her nose. Hilarious.
Well, we are stranded in Iowa until this afternoon on account of ice! While we slept, freezing rain coated the streets and the top of our Mazda with a thick layer that we hope will thaw by lunchtime. Meanwhile, I am SO glad I brought some scones along to munch on while we enjoy coffee and watch the replay of the Australian Open finals!
Glazed Cream Scones with Ginger
From Baking Illustrated
Ingredients:
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour,
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup heavy cream
Instructions:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Whisk together or process with six 1-second pulses.
3. If making by hand, use two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingertips and quickly cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps. If using a food processor, remove the cover and distribute the butter evenly over the dry ingredients. Cover and process with twelve 1-second pulses. Add the currants and quickly mix in or pulse one more time. Transfer the dough to a large bowl.
4. Stir in the heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.
5. Transfer the dough and all dry flour bits to a countertop and knead the dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Press the dough into an 8-inch cake pan, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface. With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet. (The baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.)
6. Bake until the scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield: Makes 8
These are wonderful, 5 stars! I went for their “cakey’ variation by which you use only 4 tbsp of butter and add an egg which works to give the scones a little bit longer of a shelf life (since I planned to bring these on the road). The glaze is made by mixing a tablespoon of heavy cream with a tablespoon of sugar and painting the tops of the scones with the mix right before you put them in the oven. I’m still working to perfect my cutting technique. I think using a sharper knife would make nice edges (just like having a biscuit cutter would have improved my biscuit shape). If they are cut poorly, they don’t rise as well. So mine were not the fluffiest, but still tasted great!
Great pictures, great birthday. I hope you got my card. It was so perfect if I say so myself. In fact, I think you should take a picture of it and send it to your mother. Your dog is a riot; you must be pretty persuasive to get the hotel to allow her in their bowling alley. Have a safe drive home. Love you, Grammie
Thank you Grammie, and YES! I loved the Hallelujah Birthday chorus. We thankfully did have a safe, but slow, ride home. Wow the ice was the worst I’ve ever seen. Cars in the ditch left and right! I left fingernail marks in the interior while Izzy snored loudly in the backseat. It seems it was she who had the sixth sense about our endangerment after all. Love you!