[Photograph: Carrie Vasios Mullins]
Before this past week, I hadn’t made scones in a while. I’d had some recipe flops that committed the cardinal sins of sconedom: heavy, dense, dry. Blech. I don’t want to call out Americans here, but when it comes to scones, sometimes I think we put too much emphasis on sweetness over texture. In fact sometimes I think that scones weren’t meant to have add-ins at all. When you drop heavy things like candied ginger or big pieces of dried fruit into the dough, they mess with the pockets of air that make a good scone so tender and airy.
But sometimes you want something with a little extra flavor.
The answer, I believe, is adding flavor without texture, which can be achieved through lemon juice and herbs.* These scones have a light, tender, moist crumb and are mildly sweet. The bright citrus notes are a nice balance to the pine-y rosemary, and I like them equally plain or served warm with some raspberry jam.
*Of course like with all scones, using cold butter and not overworking the dough is essential to great results!
So put the chocolate chip-pumpkin-ginger-cranberry recipes away for a time, and give these a try.
About the author: Carrie Vasios Mullins is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios