INSPIRED BY MONSIEUR MCFRUGAL LEBOVITZ, I MADE SCONES!

I’m awfully sorry Mr Lebovitz, but the name Monsieur McFrugal still pops up in my mind each time I see your tweets, or read your posts. David Lebovitzs’ books are on my wishlist, and I was thrilled to find a recipe from another favourite author, Alice Medrich, on his blog. The White Chocolate & Sour Cherry Scones were inspired by an Alice Medrich recipe, an author I have come to love because of her innovative approach to drawing flavour & texture out of food beautifully. I find her recipes refreshing and inspirational, as I do Davids’, though sadly I don’t own either of their books. My first exposure to Alice Medrich was when I baked this Orange & Olive Oil Cake from Cafe Fernando quite a while ago.Back to the Lebovitz post. 3 things stuck in my mind about the it when I read it. The first was a handful (not very pretty at all) of milk solids. The second, David referring to himself as being Monsieur McFrugal while using a bottle of low-fat organic milk which added to his morning café au lait, curdled into a zillion tiny little bits. Ugh! The 3rd was, of course, him using that milk to make delicious looking scones. (I really enjoyed reading his post here). I made these scones on a day I was clearing the fridge. I had plenty of bits & bobs of leftover everything that occupy shelf space in this horrid heat. David posted these deliciously moreish & rustic scones way back in May 2009, and I’ve had them on my mind since.

Being pretty much frugal myself, I tend to use pantry items & clear shelves before I set off to buy more stuff. Baking is a passion for me, & I like to make the most of what I have on hand. This morning was no different. Being king on my castle, I had buttermilk on hand and the picture of scones in my mind. If he could make them with ‘claberred’ organic milk, the buttermilk would surely work too!

I substituted things as usual, with his basic recipe as my benchmark. My Ghirardeli dark chocolate chips had reached the bottom of the bag, so they weren’t enough for cookies. They needed a befitting destination, & these scones made for the likely answer. In went some dried craisins, & to make the scones merrier,some chopped walnuts too! Of course, the minute I popped the scones into the oven, I suffered a cringe of regret. Maybe I should have put in candied ginger (made from a Lebovitz recipe) instead of the walnuts. They might have tasted good in there too. However, the result with dark chocolate, craisins & walnuts was outstanding! The buttermilk worked well in there, and the scones were light & just right.

I had a field day substituting. Out of sour dried cherries, I tossed some chopped dried craisins with citric salt that I have from Ukraine. It added just the right sourness to the craisins, but if anyone has ideas of how better to use citric salt, I would be more than thankful to hear from you. I have quite a few sachets of those! I used rolled oats instead of buckwheat, which I was out of. I also did an egg white wash on top instead of an egg yolk one, & sprinkled the top generously with vanilla sugar. The sugar added a wickedly delicious taste to the scones. I have to add that they tasted best warm out of the oven. No need for clotted cream here, but that again would add luxury to these rustic bites! I might use candied ginger & white chocolate chunks next time, because next time will be here soon!

DARK CHOCOLATE, DRIED CRAISIN & WALNUT SCONES
adapted from David Lebovitz’s post here
adapted by him from Pure Dessert (Artisan) by Alice Medrich
See the Notes at the end of the recipe for tips on handling the dough.
Ingredients:
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup rolled oats (the recipe has buckwheat, which I didn’t have)
1/3 cup cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup / 100gms unsalted butter, frozen
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely-chopped dried craisins (I tossed mine in citric salt)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon milk
Vanilla sugar (or granulated) sugar for dredging the scones

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400F (200C) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, stir together the egg with the buttermilk.
• In the food processor, briefly pulse the flour, oats, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Grate in frozen butter directly into the bowl & briefly pulse again till a breadcrumb like texture is achieved. Stir in the chocolate chips, craisins & walnuts.
• Add the wet ingredients, stirring with a spatula, until the dough is moistened.
• On a lightly-floured surface, pat the dough into an 8-inch (20 cm) round. If it’s too wet and is very sticky, knead in a spoonful or two of flour on the countertop. (I patted it directly on the cookie sheet). In David’s words, The originally recipe called for 3/4 cup (180 ml) milk and cream, and my dough was very sticky, which may be the original intent, but I found it hard to work with. Slightly less than 1/2 cup, (115 ml) seemed right. Good thing making scones isn’t rocket science!
• Use a pastry scraper to divide the dough into twelve wedges. Brush the tops of each wedge with the beaten egg white & generously sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
• Bake the scones for 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Re cut the slices immediately with a pastry cutter if need be. (I needed to do it).
• Makes 12

Notes from David Lebovitz: There’s two theories about making biscuits and scones; one says the batter should be firm enough the cut, the other says it should be wet and spoonable. If your dough is very soft, or you don’t want to get the counter dirty, you can certainly spoon it onto the prepared baking sheet in 8 mounds.
For firm, neater-looking scones, the dough should be not too sticky and you can knead a bit more flour into the dough. I’m happy to sacrifice picture-perfect scones for ones that are light and tender. If you’re looking for a sturdier scone, you might want to check out my Chocolate Cherry Scone recipe in my book, The Great Book of Chocolate.
Since the scone dough is on the soft side, this is the time to get out your metal pastry scraper. If you don’t have one, a metal spatula will make lifting the dough, and the cut scones, a little easier.

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