Build your foundations.

I have a particular attitude about life. I owe this philosophy to the way my parents and grandparents raised me. You start from the bottom and you work hard and earn your way to the top. Nothing should ever be given to you and you should never expect the high seat of honor. Be humble and serve others with absolute dedication, love, and respect. These are the foundations that I live my life by.

In the culinary world, there are foundations as well. I, like many others call them “base recipes.” These are my favorite things on the planet. Once you have the base recipe memorized or down pat you can make countless of variations! One of my all time favorite base recipes is for my scones. I’m going to be up front. My scones are not for the faint of heart. They are not delicate, they are not cakey, they are not overly sweet, and they are not apologetic for it. If  you desire those traits in your scone, Starbucks will get you taken care of. My scones are sturdy, rough around the edges, have a cracking sweet crust, a soft interior, full of natural yet pronounced flavor, all while still maintaining a rustic elegance.

So today I was feeling like I wanted to try something I hadn’t before. I typically make scones with honey macerated nectarines or cinnamon spice and even oatmeal raisin (recipes that will be making an appearance eventually!). On this particular day I was missing my mom, as usual when I’m not in her presence, and I was remembering how much she loves warm Blondie Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream. Then it dawned on me, I haven’t ever encountered a Blondie Scone, and I just so happened to have butterscotch chips in my pantry so I decided to go for it!

The secret to a good scone, much like a good pie crust, is in the working of the dough. It isn’t always the recipes fault. So I will do my best to walk you through the process!

Butterscotch Blonde Scones (Yield 6 scones)

• 5 ounces cold, unsalted butter or Earth Balance (buy the sticks, trust me)
• 3/4 cup low fat buttermilk (Recipe follows for Vegan Buttermilk)
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• Egg (Vegans: Non-dairy milk)
• Turbinado Raw Sugar
• Take the cold butter and quickly slice into thin pieces and place in your mixing bowl. Take the bowl and put it in your freezer for at least 10 minutes, just the right amount of time to gather your ingredients!

• Measure out your buttermilk (or if you’re my Veg friends, this is where you will make your buttermilk), and place in the refrigerator. The key is to keep everything as cold as possible!
• In a medium size bowl combine your flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Whisk to combine and until the ingredients are well aerated.
• Pull the mixing bowl from the freezer and add the dry ingredients all at once. Using the paddle attachment (or if you are doing this by hand, a pastry knife, or if you are really desperate work the butter with your fingers, but you will have to work double time to keep the dough cold), mix the flour and cold butter until balls form about the size of your thumb knuckle to the tip of your finger (most recipes call for pea sized butter balls, but we’re walking on the wild side!), quickly toss in the butterscotch chips, then stop mixing after 1 or 2 turns of the paddle. There should even be flour still in the bowl, we are not mixing all the way through, the rest of that will come on the table.

• Immediately dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and using light quick movements, press and shape the dough into a rough rectangle and trifold the dough like a letter. Repeat this step once more.

• Roll the dough into a long, rectangular log and flatten out to 1″-1 1/2″ thickness. Using a knife or a bench knife cut the dough into equal sized triangles.

• Place on a sheet pan and wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour.
• Preheat your oven to 425F and place your scones on a new pan, the cold one is of no use to us any more. In a small bowl whisk your egg with a teaspoon amount of water. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
• Place the scones in the oven an bake for 15 minutes. The scones will need to go for 2-5 minutes longer than this, but at this point you want to watch them closely. The look we want to achieve are dark golden bottoms, dark brown edges, and a soft interior.
• Remove the scones from the oven and cool on a wire rack…but not for too long these are meant to be eaten warm and fresh!
• Bon appetite!

Vegan Buttermilk 

• 3/4 cup Soy Milk, unsweetened plain
• 1 scant tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

1. In a bowl add the vinegar and the soy milk. Take a balloon whisk and whisk the ever loving daylights out of the milk mixture. You want this frothy and light and creamy. In other words, we want a buttermilk consistency!
2. Set aside for 5 minutes, then re-whisk and you are ready to go!

Quick Tips:

• The true secret to soft scones is all in your handiwork. The less you hand and mix the dough the more tender the crumb will be. The more you work wet flour, the more a protein called gluten forms, which results in dense chewy products (Good for bread, not for scones)
• It is very important that you work quickly and keep the butter cold. If the butter warms up it will melt into the flour and we will lose the layers and wind up with…cakey scones.
• Make sure your oven is fully preheated. If you put the scones in at too low a temperature, the butter will melt out of them and fry the bottoms, which will result in an overcooked, tough base.
• Scones are best enjoyed within 8 hours of being made. Unfortunately they are not long lifers like cookies or cakes. So don’t be shy about gobbling them down!