Mother's Day tradition: Fresh thyme and lemon scones

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching and I cannot let this day pass without saluting the great woman who has made me the kitchen adventurer I am today.

While I grew up in an era where it was OK, if not encouraged, to eat prepared foods, my mom stuck to the basics and gave us a home-cooked dinner almost every night. On rare occasions we would have take-out fried chicken, but other than that what we ate was something that mom made.

We had the old staples like lasagna and shepherd’s pie, pot roast and mashed potatoes.

Our lunches were always filled with homemade treats like her infamous pumpkin cookies, and peanut butter cookies. My Mom made her own jams, jarred her own pickles and sometimes baked her own bread.

We never ordered pizza because what mom made was not only better for us, but it tasted better too. We didn’t do drive-thru, instead we made fries at home.

Mom is modest and will tell you it was cheaper that way, which might be true, but I’m still grateful.

She encouraged us to be independent in the kitchen. I remember cooking my own pancakes at nine or 10 years old. We were part of the dinner making process, whether it was peeling potatoes, or rinsing and breaking up the lettuce for a salad.

One of my fondest memories as a young adult was when two of my aunts, my Mom and myself would spend an entire afternoon in the kitchen trying our hands at Chinese food. It turned out great, although one dish got a little too much spice (too many cooks in the kitchen).

When I moved out on my own, hundreds of miles away from my mom, she was the person I called to find out how long to cook a roast, or what to put in cannelloni filling. And even though we both share kitchen tips and recipes now, it’s her stamp of approval that pushes me to be even better.

Last Mother’s Day, mom fell in love with my scones.

I use a basic scone dough and modify it to my needs. Two of my favorite combinations are lemon and thyme, and hazelnut and dried cherry.

Lemon and Thyme scones

3 cups of all purpose flour

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of baking soda

½ tsp of salt

1/3 cup of sugar

1 heaping tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves

zest of one lemon

1 ½ sticks of butter (frozen)

1 cup buttermilk (plus 2 tbs to brush on top)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Add in thyme leaves and lemon zest.

With a box grater, grate the sticks of butter on the coarse grate.

Add to flour mixture and incorporate briefly with fingers, squishing dough until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Add in buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon. Turn out onto flat surface and knead dough briefly. Separate into two, and create two discs, about 6 inches in diameter. Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest for an hour in the refrigerator, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425F

Take scones out of refrigerator. Cut each disc into 4 or 6 pieces depending on desired size of scone. Brush tops with reserved buttermilk.

Cook 12 to 15 minutes until edges are golden brown.

• For the dried cherry and hazelnut recipe, toast 1/2 cup of hazelnuts. Chop coarsely, chop 1/2 cup of dried cherries.  Incorporate into mixture before adding butter and buttermilk

Source: A Kitchen Vixen Creation

Comments

[gluten free]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this post online. Impressed

Thanks,
Cygnus