I am a real scone lover. Who doesn't love scones! People have a tendency to think that they are the same thing as baking powder biscuits, but they couldn't be further from the truth! They are not at all the same thing.
Baking Powder Biscuits are light as air, fluffy and flaky, or at least they should be. If your biscuits are like rocks, I hate to tell you but you're doing something wrong! They are also on the more savoury side.
Scones are sweeter and denser, and much crumblier than biscuits . . . Biscuits tend to use shortening, although some modern versions use butter. Scones always use butter. The fat in biscuits is cut in until you have a variety of bits, some the size of small peas. In scones, the flour is "rubbed" in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
So you can see, they really aren't the same at all. Both are beautifully delicious and wonderful in their own unique ways!
The recipe I am sharing with you today comes from one of those Grocery Store Til Booklets entitled Fall Baking by Gold Medal flour from the year 2000, so not as old as some of the ones I have.
Its filled with tasty recipes using some of our favorite autumn ingredients like apples and pumpkin, sweet potatoes and plenty of warm baking spices! Muffins, cakes, pies, breads, you name it!
I can't believe that it has taken me nineteen years to bake these! Wow! So long and now that I have baked them, I wish that I had baked them earlier!
They are actually called Golden Carrot Spice Scones in the booklet, but I thought Carrot Cake Drop Scones sounded so much tastier and believe me . . . these are plenty tasty!
They are everything a great drop scone should be. Dense, buttery, flavourful . . .
Flecked with sweet bits of carrot and studded with sweet sticky raisins . . .
Lightly flavoured with warm baking spices . . .
Glazed with a sweet and spicy glaze . . .
Altogether, all of these things create a scone that is so purely autumnal and delicious . . .
Put the kettle on and grab your tea pot, coz you are going to want to sit right down with one of these hot out of the oven and enjoy with a nice hot cuppa!
Yield: 8 large scones
Author: Marie Rayner
Carrot Cake Drop Scones
If you want you can shape this into one large round and cut into 8 wedges. I like to just drop them onto the baking sheet, in large dollops. They have lots of character that way and are, as always, delicious no matter what!ingredients:
For the Scones:- 280g plain flour (2 cups all purpose)
- 45g sugar (1/4 cup)
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 80g cold butter (1/3 cup)
- 80ml double cream (heavy cream)
- 90g finely grated carrot (1 cup, about 1 1/2 medium carrots)
- 45g sultana raisins (1/2 cup golden raisins)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 65g icing sugar (1/2 cup powdered sugar)
- 2 TBS milk
- 1/8 tsp mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
instructions:
How to cook Carrot Cake Drop Scones
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder and spice. Stir in the salt and sugar. Cut the butter into bits and drop it into the bowl. Rub or cut in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the carrots and the raisins. Mix together the cream and egg. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into that. Mix together with a fork to make a soft dough that leaves the side of the bowl, adding a bit of milk if it seems too dry. Drop by heaped spoons, 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown.
- While they are baking make the glaze by whisking together all of the ingredients until you have a drizzle icing. Remove the hot scones from the baking sheet to a wire rack and drizzle the glaze over top. Enjoy warm!
The are just wonderful! Not just for tea times either, they go fabulously at an autumnal lunch with the ladies served warm with a tasty salad. Yum Yum!
Up Tomorrow: Best Ever Steak Rub
