Spinster in the Kitchen: Scones and sweet, sweet butter

I’ve been promising another Spinster in the Kitchen post for months now.   Well, hoot, holler and hurrah I’m finally getting around to actually posting it.

Anyone who has been reading my blog of late knows that right now I am in the midst of an extremely busy time.  My evenings have been particularly busy with school, work and rehearsals and so my social life has been nearly nonexistent.  What does this have to do with food?  Well the only time I seem to have free at all is in the early mornings and so I’ve been having friends over for breakfast with some amount of regularity. 

I love my friends dearly but one of the problems has been finding foods to cook that, if any is leftover, will not only keep but I’ll actually want to eat it.  This recipe proved a great solution for the problem.  Not only is this is just about the easiest scone recipe you will ever make, any leftovers will keep very well.  I put a couple in the freezer and ate the rest over the next few days.  I also made a very simple honey and herb butter to go with them.

Unlike a lot of scone recipes this one uses melted instead of chilled butter so one doesn’t need a pastry cutter (though being the prepared spinster that I am I have one) and it can be easily modified by changing out the raisins for other dried fruit and you could also use nuts or other seeds in place of the flax seed. 

Spinster Jane’s Golden Raisin Oatmeal Scones

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and have ready a large ungreased cookie sheet.

Wisk together:

1 ½ cups all purpose unbleached white flour

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

Stir in:

1 ¼ rolled oats

¾ cup golden raisins

½ cup flax seed

 In a separate bowl whisk together:

1 egg

10 (yup TEN) warm melted butter

1/3 cup milk (I used low fat to make me feel better about the butter)

Finally, add this to the dry ingredients and mix only until everything is just blended.   It should stick together quite well. 

Next flour your hands and form the dough into a large ball.  Set it on a floured surface and using your hands (no rolling pins allowed and you shouldn’t need it anyway) flatten the dough into in an 8 inch round.  It should be about ¾ of an inch thick.  With a sharp knife cut the dough into 8 wedges. 

Transfer to the cookie sheet (if they stick use a spatula) and bake until just turning golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Allow to cool on a rack or serve warm.  

Honey Thyme Butter

This should be done the night before to give the flavor of the herb time (oh ha ha) to blend with the honey and butter. 

Blend until smooth:

1 stick of butter at room temperature

3 table spoons of honey

Add:

One tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or herb of choice (if using dried use about ¾ of a tablespoon)

Mix until well blended that put into a butter mold or small dish and chill in the fridge over night.  Allow about 15 minutes for it to sit out to soften before serving.  This will keep for a long time in the fridge so if you have some left over, you can eat on toast, or English muffins or well, on just about anything. 

And that is it.  The scones could be made fresh or, as I did, the night before.  I warmed them for about five minutes in the preheated oven at 350 degrees before serving.   They were a hit with my friends and with me over the next few days.  I’m planning to make them again this weekend!

Enjoy!