Scones Scones Scones & English Tea Party Roundup!

Time to warm up our ovens now that fall is almost officially here. Today friends joined me in a Scones adventure where we made a base scone dough and added various ingredients to customize them. There are some wonderful scones made given the ingredients available.

For add in ingredients, I offered:
nuts: walnuts, pecans, almonds
fruit: raspberries, blueberries, lemon zest
chips: chocolate chips, cappuccino chips
sprinkles: caramel sprinkles, cinnamon sprinkles

Here is the base recipe we made for our scone dough, an ATK recipe that I previously highlighted in my blog:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together.

3. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, quickly cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

4. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of additional DRY ingredients until thoroughly incorporated.

5. Stir in the heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

6. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of additional WET ingredients (such as fruit, preserves, speciality butters) and gently fold into the dough so that everything is evenly distributed throughout.

7. Gather the dough and all dry flour bits and press the dough into an 8 inch cake pan, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into 8 wedges.

8 Bake until the scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Here are pictures of our event and final scones, which we swapped:

The parade of scones!

Chocolate chip, cappuccino chip & walnut:Chocolate chip & caramel sprinkle: Chocolate chip, almond & caramel sprinkle: Cappuccino chip & caramel sprinkle: Raspberry Chocolate Chip: Blueberry & Rasperry:

While our scones were baking, we enjoyed lunch and great conversation. Here are pics of the dishes I served for our English tea party inspired lunch:

English inspired lunch: Corn & avocado salad: Tea sandwiches: Caprese stuffed portabello caps:Crudite platter w/dill & garlic dip:

Cheese & crackers:Bruschetta bites:

Peanut butter cookie cups:

(purchased)

To join in the fun, my fellow bloggers have submitted English tea party-inspired recipes! As I do with each blogging event I host, a lucky blogger receives a giveaway related to the food theme. This event's winner is Kristina of About a Bit of Everything! Kristina has won an Easy Entertaining cookbook compliments of Tone's spices. Congrats Kristina an hope you enjoy the cookbook, especially with the upcoming holiday entertaining season around the corner!

Kristina of About a Bit of Everything

from Chicago, IL
Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Kristina isn't a big fan of tea so she created these chocolate chip biscotti which she would prefer pairing up with a skinny vanilla latte. These biscotti look so delicious and you'll need to check out Kristina's blog for the recipe!

Niki of Big City Cooking
from Chicago, IL
English Peach Scones
Niki joins us to share these beautiful peach scones. What a great flavor to enjoy with a cup of tea. To find out what inspired Niki to make these and the recipe, check out her blog!