But then again, I'm used to Utah scones. They're FAR superior to the . . . muffins that everyone else eats.
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Utah "scones" are what they call Fry Bread on the Reservation. The other things are shortbread. If it makes crumbs it's not a scone.
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Meh, The Sconecutter is good enough for me. The only time I really like scones is when I am camping and we make them in a pit of coals early on a cold morning.
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I don't make scones. I make my fiance make me scones. And man, they are always delicious! They need to be eaten either with creme fraiche or clotted cream, and jam (homemade, if possible).
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quote:Originally posted by Artemisia Tridentata: Utah "scones" are what they call Fry Bread on the Reservation. The other things are shortbread. If it makes crumbs it's not a scone.
It's not just Utah. Deep fried scones are common in Idaho, Montana and parts of Arizona as well. They may be a Mormon pioneer thing, I can't really say but they definitely are not just a Utah thing. They also aren't the same thing as fry bread. Scones are yeast leavened, fry bread (at least among the Indian tribes of the Plaines and Mountain West) is usually baking powder leavened. It makes a big difference. They are both fairly similar to sopapillas.
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It's got to be a Mormon thing, because I've never met a non-Mormon in AZ who thought scones were fried pastry rather than a shortbread-like biscuit. (I have lots of family and friends there.) Sopapillas is a good description.
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I've never seen a scone recipe that called for yeast. They always call for baking powder and/or soda.
Or is it "Utah scones" that are yeast leavened? Because I'd never heard of those before this thread.
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Mom always baked her own bread, still does. She usually bakes once a week. It is exceptional stuff. She used to do demonstrations for the 4H all over the Mountain West. Her recipe for "bread in a bag" had some kind of national distribution by 4H. When I was a kid, we always had scones for lunch on baking day. It was the same dough just fried not baked. Honey and jam were great. But, my favorite was tuna salad filled scones with fresh tomatos during the late summer.
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I will see if I can get my sister's scone recipe. I don't know if she'll give it up, though. She's in Ohio and very busy with her last semester of graduate school so it may be a while. Come to think of it I bet my mom has it. But she may not know where it is...
My dad makes decent scones-- English style, not too sweet, usually with currants, eat with clotted cream and strawberries (or jam.) My sister's are incredible, though.
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: It's got to be a Mormon thing, because I've never met a non-Mormon in AZ who thought scones were fried pastry rather than a shortbread-like biscuit. (I have lots of family and friends there.) Sopapillas is a good description.
I have in fact known non-Mormon Arizonans who thought scones were fried bread. You have to remember that very few people who live in Arizona are real Arizonans. They are people who moved there from northern climates after air conditioning became common. I bet if you found people whose grandparents lived in Arizona prior to WWII, you'd find fried scone eaters.
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I wonder if these are the same things as the "Indian Tacos" that we used to eat. I don't remember them as being light and sweet like a sopapilla. They were fairly dense and we would put refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, etc on them. We also put honey butter on the extras for desert though...
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lobo, What you are talking about is fry bread and it is related but not the same. Scones are much lighter than fry bread and often a bit sweat.
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Indian Tacos (we have them here, too-- usually at the fair) or Navajo Tacos, depending on where you are, are traditional Fry Bread stuffed with meat, beans, veggies, cheese, etc. "Scones" (the fried kind) are generally little round bits of sweetened (either before or after cooking) fried bread, while fry bread is generally larger and unsweetened, I believe (from my experience making and eating it.) Very closely related but not identical.
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Thanks! They both sound good. I think my kids have lived long enough without eating Indian Tacos. I never had them stuffed though...
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By "stuffed" I mean you fill it. Some people fold them, some eat them with a fork like a tostada. I didn't mean literally stuffed-- more topped or filled.
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This recipe is very close to (if not the same as) the one I've used with success before for fry bread.
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Its interesting to note the differences between this and the fry bread recipe. The scone recipe is much richer containing butter, eggs, sugar and yeast. Its like a recipe for dinner rolls except they are fried rather than baked.
Fry bread is much more basic, flour, water, salt, baking soda.
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Me too. My sister has a recipe for cranberry orange scones that is delectable.
Trader Joe's aren't bad, either.
OMG when I started this thread I was eating cranberry scones! (we had to do something with all the excess cranberry sauce...)
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So wait, if a scone isn't like a sopapilla.. then what the heck is it? Because that's what it was in my house...
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A scone, the English baked kind, is a biscuit-like shortbread. It's a dense, flaky cross between a cookie and a cake. Let me see if I can find some pictures.
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Traditionally scones are not too sweet (though they may have currants, raisins, or other dried fruit, and may have a sweetened glaze or topping.) Some, like this recipe, are savory. They are traditionally cut either in circles or triangles (like these) though they sometimes are cut in squares, rectangles, sticks, or other shapes.
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Oh, also, scones are a traditional food served with tea both for the family and for guests in many countries that have English heritage and a tradition of tea time. They can also be a breakfast food. Less traditionally the savory ones are served with soups or stews sometimes.
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: A scone, the English baked kind, is a biscuit-like shortbread. It's a dense, flaky cross between a cookie and a cake. Let me see if I can find some pictures.
NooOOOOoooo, not shortbread! Made with butter, but not crispy or crunchy in any way! More like a southern biscuit than shortbread. And delicious. Very delicious.
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Yeah, I would call it a cross between a muffin and a biscuit. (What Americans call biscuits, that is.)
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I have never had a proper "scone" then, but the more grease or butter something has the better it tastes. So I imagine that a sopapilla is better than a scone.
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I am using shortbread in the sense of "a dense, rich quickbread leavened without yeast and cut into small pieces before baking" that I just looked up in one of my cookbooks. It is not shortbread like shortbread cookies, it is a shortbread.
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quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: I have never had a proper "scone" then, but the more grease or butter something has the better it tastes. So I imagine that a sopapilla is better than a scone.
Um, no. In a proper scone you can taste the butter but there's a... sconiness... to it that is just wonderful.
I guess you have to taste it to understand it.
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At least everyone here can agree (I hope) that whether scones are fried bred or some sort of pastry, they are not lugnuts. Unlike some people: http://xkcd.com/452/ (warning: some (relatively minor) profanity in the above link, you've been warned)
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To add confusion to the English / German scone dichotomy, there's also quite a bit of variation amongst the scones of the English tea pastry type. The typical scone you'll find in a Starbucks or similar commercial venture is dense, heavy, and brick-like. They're not bad, but nothing I'd go out of my way for. The scones I prefer are lighter, butterier, and flakier. The ones I make are from Staff Meals from Chanterelle.
My other favorite scones are the candied ginger scones from Seven Stars Bakery, just a few blocks from where I grew up. If you're ever in Providence, it's well worth stopping in. (Plus, one of the scenes from Dan in Real Life was shot there!)
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: I am using shortbread in the sense of "a dense, rich quickbread leavened without yeast and cut into small pieces before baking" that I just looked up in one of my cookbooks. It is not shortbread like shortbread cookies, it is a shortbread.
Oh. I've never seen "shortbread" used that way before. I've only ever seen it in reference to cookies (the butter, sugar, and flour sort). But scones definitely fit that description.
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We had a baker in my family, I occasionally slip into weird terms when talking about baking. (I also pronounce "kiln" "kill", which is apparently the "proper" way to say it but no one says; my grandfather had a ceramics factory.) Sorry!
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Yeah, it's something I've never heard from anyone who was not heavily involved in ceramics. But it's how I grew up hearing it so that's how I read it.
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