An Invitation to a VERY Large Tea Time Treats Table! Scones & the March Recipe Round-Up

Tea Time Treats

An Invitation to a VERY Large Tea Time Treats Table!

Scones & the March Recipe Round-Up

SCONES!

Well, you have all OUTDONE yourselves this month, I mean you have all baked like crazy and subsequently we had a STAGGERING FIFTY SIX entries! I had to uncork a bottle of wine whilst writing this round-up, and as there are so many entries, I have had to post them in two “sittings”. THANKS so much to ALL of you super scone bakers; scones obviously resonated with so many of you, and amongst the experienced bakers I was surprised to see how many of you had never made scones before…….it was all fascinating stuff. So, without further ado, and because I may be here all night “avec vin”, here is March’s Tea Time Treats SCONES round-up, courtesy of all of you wonderful bakers out there!

Tea Time Treats – Scones – March 2012

The First  Sitting  

My wonderful friend and fellow Fish Fanatic Karen, from Mum is Last was the first to enter into the scone challenge and with not one batch of scones, but TWO batches of scones; Karen said that she was a bit of  a scone virgin, but was inspired by The Great British Bake Off  and set about making her tea time treats entries which were some delectable Cheese Scones

as well as some lovely classic Plain Scones. Thank you Karen for your two entries, especially as I know you were in the middle of moving! And, I LOVE your photo of the “stacked” scones too…..

The next entry was from my lovely friend and fellow Tapas food fanatic, Fiona from London Unattached; Fiona’s post about her memories of scones was very poignant as she remembers her mum, as the doctor’s wife in a small town, was ‘volunteered’ to cater for the local tennis tournament each year; the event ran for two weeks in July or August and was a qualifying tournament for Junior Wimbledon. Fiona was often sent home to make flapjacks, victoria sponges or scones, when the donations for the lunch and teas that Fiona’s mum organised for around a hundred hungry tennis players and their families ran out!  Fiona’s entry this month are the delicious sounding Lemon and Yoghurt Scones and she also shares her Mum’s scones recipe in her post, which originates from  the New World Radiation Cookery book, published in 1954.

Dawn from the lovely Wild about Baking blog, was next to arrive with her scones – and her scone offering sounded totally divine, Vanilla and Almond Scones. Dawn’s scones are made with cream and yogurt, flavoured with vanilla, and topped with some flaked almonds (or chopped up hazelnuts in this case as she mistakenly found her store cupboard bare of almonds midway through the bake, but shhhhh don’t tell anyone she says!) Never mind Dawn, they still look amazing!

Somebody else who had been inspired by the  BBC series The Great British Bake Off  was Helen (Nell) from the lovely baking, crafting and gardening blog, Living is a Great Adventure…….after looking through lots of her cookbooks she finally decided to bake an ’Apple Scone Round‘ from The Great British Book of Baking which accompanied the series the Great British Bake Off. She also chose to make apple scones, as apples had been on her mind recently, having just moved the two apples trees from her Grandma’s house into hers and her parents’ gardens just a few weeks beforehand. LOVELY entry thanks Nell!

Next to arrive with a plate of freshly baked scones was Angela from Garden, Tea, Cakes and Me. And, Angela arrived with some of my favourites, real old-fashioned classics, Cherry Scones; Angela had yet to find a favourite recipe for scones and thought that these were not a perfect scone by any means, not enough rise for her liking, but tasty none the less…..and I have to say they look delicious!

Next we have a special TRIPLE entry from Eira and her lovely blog COOKBOOKS GALORE; poor Eira’s last two entries into Tea Time Treats somehow got lost, and Kate and I never received her emails, so,  I am showing her last two entries for January and February as well as March’s entry too…..so, enjoy a sweet pastry, a Valentine’s treat and some scones of course!  Her first entry for  January’s Sweet Pastries are the delectable Maple syrup and pecan buns

Then came her romantic and pretty entry for February, Nigella’s custard cream hearts

and finally we have Eira’s lovely scone entry, Cranberry and Orange Scones, and I have to say that the combination sounds delicious. Scones are something that Eira makes regularly as her family loves them, especially the grandchildren. So she was delighted to see that this month’s challenge was scones, and she wanted to make something different, a bit luxurious – and these scones were the result of excess cranberries and looking through some recipe folders……I LOVE the idea and they do look and sound a real treat, especially when served with some unusual cranberry and raspberry butter . Thanks for entering again Eira!

I was very pleased to see some traditional potato scones entered into the challenge, and Becky from Mint Custard made these fabulous Potato scones for her entry. Becky made these on an old griddle, or girdle as they are sometimes called, and I love anything that is made this way, especially as I have a griddle almost the same…..Becky loves scones, she loves huge fluffy buttermilk ones with far too much clotted cream and jam, rich cheesy ones with a smear of Marmite and plenty of butter and most recently American biscuits with sausage gravy, but it’s her potato scones that she made just for this event, and I’m so glad she did.

My lovely friend Kate from Turquoise Lemons was next, and she managed to make TWO batches for the challenge, and TWO really lovely recipes – Kate made her Tea and Mincemeat Scones first, and I really LOVED the idea behind this recipe – she used the leftovers up from a jar of mincemeat and added some tea, almost like a fruit tea cake recipe but for scones…..

Kate’s next recipe was equally as delicious, she made some Treacle and Apple Scones, another great combination and so inventive too. Kate had some slightly sad-looking apples and so she decided to try some treacle and apple scone. Kate said the flavours are very subtle but they worked nicely, she also so some of these every morning to work for a breakfast snack. LOVE this idea too Kate, thanks for your duo of scones!

I just LOVED this next entry from Nazima and Working London Mummy – she made Cheese and Apple Scones with Chilli and Bay, and I think they sound extremely tasty.  Nazima says if you can imagine a scone could be light and fluffy, then this is what you get with this recipe. She says the apple gives a moisture to the dough that makes these a truly delicious recipe and it is super quick. Recipes for Cheddar and Apple scones abound, but this is her version which includes a hint of freshly chopped red chilli and a crumbled bayleaf……I LOVE this recipe, thanks so much for making these for Tea Time Treats…..

Who doesn’t love a Poacher, especially when it’s a Lincolnshire Poacher and that Poacher is a LOVELY regional British cheese…..and the person who is engaging in these illicit activities is of course Dashing Dom from Belleau Cottage……who made some VERY tasty Lincolnshire Poacher Red Cheese Scones with his Poacher’s cheese…….I JUST have to post Dom’s quote from his scones entry, it made me laugh and I also DO SO agree……..”i do love a cheese scone… if you think of the normal, everyday sweet scone as a relatively dull vehicle for fabulous things such as jam and cream… the cheese scone is its tarted up younger sister… oh she’s no toasted teacake, don’t get me wrong… but she is a little more fancy and allows many a topping to be carried on her lofty cut-side”……YES, I want this “tarted up younger sister” please!

Look who’s next? Tis’ moi, Karen from Lavender and Lovage!! I could have entered any one of my dozen or so scone recipes, but I really fancied developing a new recipe, and so my Wensleydale Cheese, Leek and Walnut Scones were born.  I got my idea having   surveyed a couple of lone leeks lounging in the pantry with a jar of walnut halves on the shelf above, I thought why not a cheese scone with leeks? And walnuts too…..a savoury feast in a small package, rather lush I thought….so, I had a little experiment with a basic plain rich scone dough, and it worked! These were JUST fabulous, quite moist due to the sautéed leeks and yet with a nutty texture due to the walnuts, and all bound up in a Yorkshire cheesy heaven.

The next entry was a fragrant and exotic one, Sarah from Sweet Craftiness came armed with the magical sounding  Saffron Scones with Rose Petal Jam –  saffron and rose petals are two of my favourite ingredients to use in baking and cooking, so I was in scone heaven with these!  When thinking about what to make for this challenge, Sarah remembered an important factor in deciding was that she had just ordered a secret ingredient from the internet, Rose Petal Preserve……..she then found a recipe for Saffron Scones, so there was her challenge recipe on a plate!

Suelle from Mainly Baking Blogspot was next to take her scones out of the oven. ….some Parsley Cheese Scones to be exact….Suelle has nothing against a good scone, but they are not something that she bakes regularly, however when I set the challenge this month for scones she decided to look for something a little different from the usual sweet scones with jam and cream, and I LOVE what she chose to bring to the Tea Time Table, as I am also a lover of savoury scones too…..especially as she suggested serving these with smoked salmon.

My lovely partner in crime was next, Kate from What Kate Baked came with one of my ALL TIME  Tea Time favourites, Rock Cakes and they totally rock for me, I just love them….BUT, they are a murder weapon as Kate points out….”Yep, Ernie (aka the Fastest Milkman In the West), featured on The Benny Hill Show in 1970 sadly met his maker during a (bun) fight with the breadman as they both tried to win the affections of Sue at Number 22. Ernie is killed when Two-Ton Ted from Teddington, the evil breadman, aims a Rock Cake at Ernie’s heart. And Ernie heads to make deliveries in the great milk round in the sky“……thanks Kate, I shall remember to arm myself with a stale cheese sarnie next time rock cakes are served at my tea time table.

We had a VERY posh entry next, terribly terribly darlinks! Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery came armed with some decadent sounding Eton Mess Scones….now I love a good Eton Mess and a glass of Pimms, but in a scone? These I had to see……and Hannah was waxing lyrical about Eton Mess weather too……“Strawberries, barbeques, ice cream vans, running for the ice cream van with no shoes on, watermelon, Pimms o’clock, driving with the windows open and playing The Beach Boys, the smell of tomatoes growing in the garden, sunglasses, festivals (although sadly no Glastonbury this year), garden parties, holidaying, sun tan strap lines, al fresco dining, pear cider”…….BUT, the day she made these scones is was cold and windy…..OH well, your scones really cheered me up thanks!

I LOVE bacon, I love it in butties as well as in a classic English Breakfast……but when Linda from Lemon Drop came by with her Bacon, Cheddar & Chive Scones, I was HOOKED on a new bacon recipe! She had me hooked as soon as I read her opening paragraph…..”A rich and flaky scone filled to the brim with bacon, cheddar and chopped chives. A good dose of freshly ground pepper added to the batter really kicks these into high gear”……I wouldn’t mind being kicked into a higher gear with these thanks Linda!

Have you had your daily dose of oats? Forget the porridge for now, how about some lovely Oaty Scones? I love oats and add them to all sorts of recipes; I also have a recipe for oat scones, but these  oaty scones from Helen of Fuss Free Flavours looked absolutely delicious, especially as she cut them into star shapes and served them with  butter and homemade damson jelly……Helen substituted  the sugar for oats in this recipe, thus ensuring that butter and jam/jelly were allowed, as the scones were already healthier than usual! Pass me over one of those oaty stars please Helen!

We have TRIPLETS next! My lovely fellow Fish Fanatic Jo, from  Mummysknee’s Blog made THREE batches of scones for the challenge, that’s what I call PURE TEA TIME devotion!  Jo also admitted to being a scones virgin, which, really surprised me as she makes and bakes so many amazing and tasty dishes….she asked around for people to pass their scone recipes and their tips, on to her and it’s then that she decided to showcase three of them, I am IMPRESSED Jo! Jo’s first scone recipe was for Lemonade Scones….and her verdict was: ….”Well these were really tasty but the recipe I was given had too much fluid in it. So I’m still to find one that works, this one as it was so wet was more like a batter than a dough but they came out well! The only ingredients here were lemonade, single cream and flour”…..

Next Jo made a batch of Standard Scones.……and her verdict again: …“These ones didn’t rise, I guess Buddy helping me wasn’t such a good idea. I thought they were quite dense too and I prefer them to be lighter”…..

and finally she found a scone recipe that worked for her, Julie Smith’s adapted scone recipe – Jo says that Julie Smith is a friend of a friend on Facebook gave her this recipe and it is definitely the recipe for her……Julia’s scone recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe. THANKS so much for your three entries Jo!

That’s it for the FIRST SCONE SITTING!

The second part of the round-up will be posted later…….but for now, I leave you with these baked beauties.

Karen