Cornmeal Scones
Flour is a gift from above, the driving force behind joys of life that include bread, alfredo sauce, pasta, cakes and cookies. And need I mention breakfast pastries? The scone, the doughnut, the croissant?
At the Gourmen house we certainly adore flour, but we have an almost equal love affair with the South’s traditionally preferred milled grain: cornmeal.
Cornbread, cornmeal-breaded catfish, you name it: we love the golden grain.
I have a weakness for scones and a love for the New York Times (on many mornings, you can find me enjoying one or the other, sitting cross-legged in loafers, on our couch, with my housemates likely mocking me in the background), and this weekend, when a sweet toothed fit of hangriness collided with running into a cornmeal scone recipe by Melissa Clark, the stage was set for this Gourmen post.
I wanted those cornmeal scones, but I wanted them fast. The innovation that need spurred ended up being perfect for the blog. The ingredients cost around $2 or so for 4 scones, and the time it took: just under 30 minutes. The recipes fits right into the Gourmen archive.
Also, they were delicious. Here’s how they worked:
Clark’s recipe was sweetened by plums that were boiled in spices and honey, then chilled for an hour. My aching stomach, though, had an immediate demand that wouldn’t wait for that. By switching the plum addition to a generous dollop of raspberry jam, and also adjusting for a higher ratio of cornmeal to flour in order to really bring out the grainier texture and flavor of the ingredient, I had a recipe I was ready to work with.
The only real work in this recipe is cutting the butter into the dry ingredients. Cubing the butter beforehand and letting it reach room temperature is key, but you don’t want it too warm or it will melt into the dry ingredients. By using your fingers to squeeze the butter into the dry ingredients, almost as if you were sifting through the dough with pinches, it should be relatively easy to form the desired “coarse crumbs.”
Be sure that you don’t forget to heed the suggestion of not using all the half and half-egg mixture in the dough. You want to start by adding two-thirds of the amount, then checking if you have a moist—but not wet—dough that just sticks together. Too much moisture won’t result in flaky scones, and trust me, you want to have flakiness—otherwise you might as well be making a cake.
These scones are like cornbread, only better, and go great with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Well, not really, but they are more pastry-like, at least…
Cornmeal Scones
Serves: 4
(Adapted from The New York Times)
½ c cornmeal
½ c all-purpose flour
1 ½ T sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 T butter at room temperature, cubed
1 egg yolk
3/8 c half and half
Raspberry jam
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Sift dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients to form coarse crumbs.
Mix egg yolk and half and half. Add to the mixing bowl until you have a dough that is moist—but not wet—and sticks together enough to form a 1 ¼ in. thick round.
Cut wedge into quarters and put on a baking sheet. Using your thumb, create a thumbprint in the center of each of the scones and add a generous tablespoon-ish scoop of raspberry jam. Brush remaining half and half and egg mixture onto scones.
Bake for 15-17 minutes until scones are golden brown on edges.
Enjoy.