I have to admit that I wasn't overly excited at the thought of making and then eating potato scones; the potato aspect put me off! However, I love trying new ideas and recipes, so couldn't help but be intrigued. Mary's recipe is for a sweet scone but she does offer a savoury alternative. I am sure it comes as no surprise that I opted for the sweet version!
There seemed little sense in peeling and cooking a potato or two just for some scones, so I decided we'd have pie and mash for our evening meal. The idea was that I could make the scones with the left over mash. I peeled lots of potatoes and put a pie in the oven. Just before it was time to dish up, I made up some gravy and laid the plates out on the worktop. I opened the oven door to find that the pie was still anaemically pale. I hadn't turned the oven on! I could have cried! The potato and veggies were all ready to go but would have to wait another half an hour. I decided I might as well make the scones whilst I waited.
I resisted the urge to add lots of butter and milk to the potatoes as I imagined it would alter Mary's recipe. I weighed out the mashed potato and was very surprised by how little I actually needed. I left it to cool down whilst I added the plain flour and 3 tsps of baking powder to a mixing bowl. Yes, I really did say 3 tsps!! I rubbed some butter into the flour until it looked similar to a bowl of fine breadcrumbs. As I was making the sweet version, I stirred in a surprisingly small amount of sugar. Now came the exciting part of adding the mashed potato. Mary says to mix it in using a fork to prevent the potato forming lumps. It was hard to avoid lumps and, after a lot of mixing, I gave up caring! The mixture looked a little dry, but this was solved with the addition of some milk. This created a soft dough. It was so easy to knead it on the worktop as it wasn't sticky at all. As it also behaved when I rolled it out, I began to wonder if perhaps potato scones are not so bad after all! I didn't manage to cut out the 12 recommend scones. I barely had enough dough to make eleven and they looked a bit on the thin side. I placed the scones onto several baking trays and then popped them in the oven.
By the time the scones were in the oven, the pie was cooked and ready to come out. I quickly reheated everything else and it was soon dished up and on the table. It was almost as if no drama had occurred!! As the scones only needed 15 minutes in the oven, I had to scoff my dinner which, to be fair, was no real hardship.
I have to admit that I wasn't that happy with the appearance of my potato scones. They weren't exactly pretty. They had risen a little and were a nice even shape. However, they did look very plain! I left them to cool a little. I then sliced one in half and spread a large helping of butter over it. They tasted all right but were rather bland. Mary mentions in the recipe header that they are particularly moist, but I found them to be a little dry. I think a savoury scone might work better, perhaps with some cheese on top. I am pleased to report that I couldn't taste the potato; however Neil said that he could! Overall these scones were a lovely easy bake and a great way of using up left over mashed potato. The flavor wasn't particularly exciting but maybe they could be 'jazzed' up with a tasty jam or marmalade!
Not very exciting!!
