Bread Week: Scones

Next week is finals, so you may not hear much from me until that craziness is all over.  In one last little fit of procrastination, here is your final Bread Week recipe:  scones!!  I've been reading Mr. P's blog Delicious Delicious Delicious for some time now, and his recipe for English Scones made my mouth water - I knew I had to try them for myself.  When I mixed these up and had them on the cookie sheet ready to go into the oven, I realized that they looked very familiar to me.  They looked like a tray of biscuits.  Which led me into the age old debate:  what's the difference between a scone and a biscuit?  

Scone?  Biscuit?  English muffin? Delicious.

 I could easily launch into a discussion of what the international (non-American) English speaking community calls "biscuits" and "scones" and "digestives" and whatever other names we have for the same 6 ingredients, but honestly I would have no idea what I'm talking about, so let's not even try.  Instead, my take on the "biscuit or scone" issue is this:  these little guys are definitely not biscuits.  Biscuits, to me, are a little salty, a little crumbly and a little greasy.  They taste amazing drizzled with honey.  These little guys are more cakey, dessert-like and taste amazing with cream cheese and jam.  English Scones they are.  Even if I did eat them with coffee instead of tea...

True English Scones
(converted from Delicious Delicious Delicious)
*For my fellow spoiled Americans, I converted the metric into household measurements*
4-1/4 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
4-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup cold butter, sliced and quartered
1-1/4 cup cold milk, plus 2 tablespoons

Butter rubbed into flour should be soft and slightly sticky.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar.  Add the cold butter, and mix with your hands by rubbing the butter into the flour mixture, until it becomes a little crumbly and there are no more small pats of butter left.  Add the 1-1/4 cup milk, stir with a fork until incorporated.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have a dough ball.  Roll the dough to about 1 inch think, then cut into 3-4" circles.   Place onto a cookie sheet, brush the tops with the reserved milk, and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cut in half and top with some fruity preserved goodness.  I also toasted them slightly the next day to warm them up again.

Enjoy the finer things in life.