Baking for the Soul

March 15, 2011

I remember at the beginning when we arrived here in New Zealand, it was one of my little pleasure to have a coffee and nibble on a scone. In fact, coffee was an excuse to have a scone. I would never eat the butter they would serve with. Just plain. I guess I was so keen on eating scone because of the novelty. You can't find it so commonly in France. Oddly now, I'd rather have a freshly baked croissant, as it's not so widespread to get a good one here...

However, it was like a scone frenzy at home for the past couple of days.

At first I felt like baking -maybe unconsciously to distract me from the sad news in Japan. The initial plan didn't look good when I saw there was no more egg in the fridge. I was going to postpone the baking session, but at the last minute, I recalled a scone recipe I bookmarked in one of the old issue of Donna Hay magazine. I've never made scone myself and that was an additional reason to give it a go.

After the first attempt, I tried other versions, more or less successful, with different milks and flours. The coconut scones were interesting yet too crumbly and not so fluffy. I need to tweak the recipe. The chocolate ones got our preference. Hazelnut meal, rolled oat, wholemeal, kamut flour and brown sugar gave not only a good combination of flavours, but the right texture too.

To enjoy at any time of the day...

Chocolate Scones (makes 6)

50g hazelnut meal (ground hazelnut) 50g rolled oat 60g kamut flour (can be replaced by all purpose flour) 65g wholemeal flour 40g brown sugar 40g unsalted butter chopped 40g dark chocolate roughly chopped 125ml milk 1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl mix together flours, hazelnut meal, sugar and baking powder. Add butter and mix with your finger tips to get a fine crumbly texture. Make a well in the center and add milk. With the blade of a table knife mix the dough until just combined. With a table spoon, scoop a piece of dough and roll it lightly and shape it like a small patty on the lined baking tray. Repeat until the whole dough is used. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. </em>

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Je me souviens au début lorsque nous sommes arrivés ici en Nouvelle-Zélande, c'était un de mes petits plaisirs de boire un café et de grignoter un scone. En fait, le café était une excuse pour avoir un scone. Je ne le mangeais jamais avec le beurre qui était servi avec. Juste nature. Je suppose que j'étais aussi fan de scone en raison de la nouveauté. On ne le trouve pas si communément en France. Bizarrement, à présent je préfèrerais un croissant tout chaud, parce que ce n'est pas si répandu d'en obtenir un bon par ici...

Néanmoins, il y a eu comme une frénésie de scones à la maison ces derniers jours.

Au départ il y avait l'envie de pâtisser -sans doute inconsciemment pour me distraire des tristes nouvelles du Japon. L'idée initiale semblait compromise lorsque j'ai vu qu'il n'y avait plus d'oeuf dans le réfrigérateur. J'étais sur le point de remettre le tout à plus tard quand je me suis souvenu à la dernière minute d'une recette de scone que j'avais marqué dans une des anciennes parutions du magazine Donna Hay. Je n'ai jamais fait de scone moi-même alors c'était une raison supplémentaire pour essayer.

Après la première fournée, j'ai tenté d'autres versions, avec plus ou moins de succès, utilisant différents laits et farines. Les scones au coco étaient intéressants, mais trop friables et trop denses. Je dois améliorer la recette. Ceux au chocolat ont eu notre préférence. Poudre de noisette, flocons d'avoine, farines complète de blé et de kamut et sucre roux, donnent non seulement une bonne combinaison de saveurs mais également une bonne texture.

A savourer à n'importe quel moment de la journée...

Scones au Chocolat ( 6)

50g poudre de noisette 50g flocon d’avoine 60g farine de kamut (peut être remplacée par la farine de blé ordinaire T55) 65g farine complète de blé 40g sucre roux 40g beurre doux, en morceaux 40g chocolat noir concassé 125ml lait 1 c.à.c de levure

Préchauffer le four à 180°C. Doubler une plaque de cuisson avec du papier sulfurisé. Dans une jatte, mélanger les farines, la poudre de noisette, le sucre et la levure. Ajouter le beurre et mélanger du bout des doigts pour obtenir une texture sableuse. Faire un puits au centre et verser le lait. Avec la lame d'un couteau de table mélanger jusqu'à ce que les ingrédients soient tout juste combinés. Avec une cueillère à soupe, prendre un peu de pâte, rouler et former legèrement un petit pâté sur la plaque de cuisson. Répéter jusqu'à ce que la pâte soit entièrement consommée. Cuire pendant 20 minutes ou jusqu'à ce que le dessus soit légèrement doré. Retirer du four et laisser refroidir sur une grille.

Comments

Beautiful photos. I love scones but haven’t made too many myself. I am going to have to try these. Thanks! Melissa

Having English roots I love scones. Yours look delicious! Cheers, Rosa Rosa

It is almost a mini cake! I only eat plain scones, with jam and cream when there is a proper Devonshire tea offered, or cheese scones when I am traveling and desperate because they don’t have any other vegetarian stuff in the cafe. For the rest I never make them, but I would certainly try one with chocolate and hazelnut meal! And please tell me: where did you buy the hazelnut meal? Is it like a fine ground hazelnut flour? Alessandra

Alessandra, I grind myself hazelnuts -as I usually do for any kind of nuts. So the hazelnut meal is different than the fine texture of the flour. Vanille

The combination of flours (and hazelnut meal!?! where do you get that?) sounds all nutty and textural, or am I just imagining things and are these light and fluffy? Either way, they sound delicious. I love scones, but to get a freshly baked croissant… I’d probably prefer that too ;) milliemirepoix

voilà encore une belle recette et des photos magnigfiques on va tester cela pour le gouter des loulous bisous bisous Delphine delphcotecuisine

Cet article me rappelle mon arrivee sur Wellington : Toute seule, ne connaissant personne, un peu deprimee, sous une tempete de pluie et de vent (que je ne qualifie plus de tempete depuis que j’ai compris qu’ici, c’etait un temps “normal”)et me demandant ce qu’il m’avait pris de venir m’installer si loin. Et la decouverte des scones. Mon prefere etant le Sultana qu’on trouve chez New World Te Papa. Pendant les premiers jours, et accompagnes d’un Earl Grey pour ma part, ces scones ont constitue ma seule et unique base d’alimentation. Mon seul reconfort. Desormais, je ne peux m’empecher d’associer les scones a mes premiers pas au long pays du nuage blanc et a la multitude d’emotions que je ressentais a ce moment-la. Un peu ma madeleine de Proust… Merci Vanille pour ces recettes et ce merveilleux blog qui me permet de garder un oeil nouveau sur ma ville d’adoption. Annabelle

My grandmother was famous for her scones. She made plain scones (served warm with jam and thick, fresh cream, or with butter and honey) and date scones, which we kids called squashed fly scones – the date fibres were like little fly legs you see ) I’ve never had chocolate or coconut scones. Pumpkin ones are delicious. The secret of a good scone is not to handle the dough very much – don’t knead it like bread or even pastry – mix just as much as it takes to put it together. And all the ingredients should be cold. Some people even mix with a knife to keep the mix cool. Delia Smith has a reliable recipe for scone . And there is a cheat’s recipe for quick and easy scones made with what we in Australia call lemonade but what is really plain sweet soda – there’s no lemon taste.  http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Lemonade-Scones-L325.html I love your blog, by the way. Just beautiful. anne gracie

Millie, as I said to Alessandra I grind whole hazelnuts to get the nut meal. The scones were honestly fluffy, nutty and simply good. Delphine, merci. Et bon quatre heures ! Anne Gracie, that’s the good thing with homemade food you can always adapt it to your taste. I’ll check out the lemonade scone. Thanks for sharing. Annabelle, les premières impressions sont souvent les plus fortes… Et le temps wellingtonien, ah, il faut le voir pour le croire ! Sylvie, I also tend to behave like this by cycle, to become besotted with something for a while and then gone… Shaz, yes I’ve reintroduced flour in my diet. The consequences are still very random though… Anne Gracie mentioned the lemonade scone too, I should give it a try. Vanille

I was entranced by scones as well for some time, I made countless batches but never with hazelnut meal or kamut flour, that sounds quite nice. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen

Are you eating flour again Vanille? Chocolate scones sound so delightful. I prefer savoury scones but there is a recipe I’ve yet to try out and sounds very interesting: lemonade scones.(Belinda Jeffery). I’ve been spending a little more time in the kitchen too, I think it’s a comfort thing. shaz

They look so fluffy! And so comforting. Jun

I would never have thought to add ground nuts to a scone mix. Sounds interesting. I love dates in my scones. My mother makes her scones with a recipe containing lemonade and cream. They are always nice and fluffy. barbara

merci pour cette recette, et les photos sont si alléchantes ! bizzz argone

sublime! Je n’ai jamais essayé de faire des scones, je laisse ca aux pros mais c’est un vrai petit plaisir. Vos photos sont super belles, ca donne très envie! Lindsey

My idea of heaven would be if you combined the chocolate/hazelnuts scones AND the coconut scones into one! Kathryn

looks very delicious and would be great with a cup of tea!! mycookinghut

These looks so pretty. Would almond meal work instead of hazelnut meal? Don’t get hazelnuts where I live. Aparna

Aparna, thank you. I suppose almond meal should work fine too. Let me know how it turns out for you. Vanille

Hi Vanille. Thanks for this daily slice of hapiness! I added you to my blogroll. www.sleep.eat.meet.wordpress.com JulieB.

Ooops sorry THIS is my blog : http://sleepeatmeet.wordpress.com Merci Vanille! JulieB.

I love scones they remind me of my Mum back home, I never understood why she chose them over a bit cream cake when out for tea but as I got older I completely understand. Like the croissant it’s not easy to find a really good one so best make your own. I love the sweet ones but hubby loves me to make bacon and cheese. peasepudding

I love your take on scones - like you living in NZ I would rather have a croissant than a scone - BUT every now and then there is nothing quite like a scone to hit the spot. Thanks for an interesting post :) Lisa

The kind I am, I would rather have a scone than a croissant. And I love my scones plain, may be with a teeny bit of jam. no butter. These looks so fabulous and it has beautiful texture. Soma

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