“Ooh, with a little luck — December will be magic again.”
Kate Bush
There’s something about scones. Quintessential, charming & endlessly enjoyable. A classic holiday platter ‘cookie’ of sorts that brings cheer to the table. I saw the recipe on my google reader a while ago & it was instantly love at first sight. What’s not to love about orange and oats in a scone? I made them recently, on my return from the FBC09, twice in fact, and both times they disappeared rather quickly.
One lot was with pistachio nuts & craisins with a demerera sugar topping, and the other a walnut & craisin batch with a vanilla sugar topping. Both delicious!
You might wonder what with this little sprig of holly, constantly floating around my blog. Actually this is a twig that I picked off a tree while walking down to Oxford Street while we were in London for the FBC09. Pam & me were walking by Hyde Park & I suddenly stopped short & stared at the tree in amazement, shrieking with delight. She thought I had lost it, but I was completely fascinated by the tree & the huge squirrels merrily chomping away on the berries! I had a carry a twig back… it connects me to the trip!
Reading about these scones from Romney Steels new cookbookMy Nepenthe on Heidi’s beautiful blog 101 Cookbookshad them gently calling my name with urgency. I could barely wait for these bright hybrid oranges to show up in the market. ‘Keenu‘ as they are locally called, make an appearance on the shelves in early November, but were delayed slightly this year due the late onset of winter. ‘Keenus’ are are a cross between an orange and a tangerine, and are very sweet & juicy.
I made much smaller portions of the scones after reading Heidi’s comments on her post, and find that did work really well. The house smelt wonderful & warm while the scones baked, and it was difficult to resist nibbling a corner as soon as they were done. Gorgeousness in every crumb, fresh exciting orange flavour, teemed with the depth of walnuts & the tang of craisins. I managed to let them cool for a bit. Half the portion was nibbled away warm by the family. As Heidi says, the taste does indeed mature as time goes by, and I am sure they keep well for 3-4 days in an air tight box. I still have to get there because both times I made them they disappeared far sooner than that. These are nice healthy cookies to leave out on the platter for a passing nibble, and you can easily play around with flavours.
You can pat them into rounds and cut them into triangles like plump pretty scones, or you can even lightly roll the dough out & cut 2 inch circles … either which way a pretty wholesome scone! I might make these again with fresh ginger, orange and chocolate chips … just saying!Even ginger cranberries and white chocolate chips might work some magic into them! Immense possibilities…. The scone is a small British quickbread of Scottish origin. Scones are especially popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Canada, but are eaten in many other countries. They are usually made of wheat, barley or oatmealwith baking powder as a leavening agent. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea or Devonshire tea. The original scone was round and flat, usually the size of a small plate. It was made with unleavened oats and baked on a griddle (or girdle, in the Scots language), then cut into triangle-like quadrants for serving. Today, many would call the large round cake a bannock, and call the quadrants scones.
Orange and Oat Scones Adapted from101 Cookbooksadaptation from My Nepentheby Romney Steele ( This is half the quantity of the original recipe) Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (or whole wheat pastry flour if available)
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cups rolled oats
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/8 cup coarse turbinado, vanilla or demerara sugar, for sprinkling
1/2 cup dried craisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, 1/2 cup of vanilla sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 15-20 times or until it looks like sandy pearls. Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir in the oats, craisins, walnuts and zest. Stir in the buttermilk until just moistened.Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly, stir in more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing. After bringing the dough together, gently pat it into an 8-inch round. Cut into triangle shapes (see photo) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet with some room between each scone. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minute or until the bottoms are deeply golden.
Makes 12 to 16 medium scones, or 8 extra-large ones.
