Cian's Scones

 

A replica of the Stone of Scone outside Scone Palace. A recent cold, foggy morning inspired me to dig through my recipe box for the yellowed and tattered newspaper clipping that has a recipe for Traditional Irish Scones. I have no idea how long I've had this clipping, but if I had to guess, it's 20 years old.  Scones themselves are much older. They probably originated in Scotland in the earth 16th century. The first scones were most likely made with oats and baked on a griddle (or, as the Scots say, a girdle.)  How they acquired their name has been lost in the fog of time. Some have suggested that their name it comes from the Dutch word ‘schoonbrot’, which means beautiful bread. Others believe the name is related to The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny,. This is a rock that Kings of Scotland were seated on when they were crowned, and it has an interesting history of its own. Perhaps both the food and the rock were both named after the town of Scone, which is close to Perth. Anna, the Duchess of Bedford (1788 – 1861) is credited with making scones a part of the English tradition of Afternoon Tea when she ordered the servants to bring tea and some sweet breads one afternoon. The treats included scones, and they became popular throughout the United Kingdom and, eventually, the world. The tattered and yellow clipping calls this variation Traditional Irish Scones. I have no idea how authentic the recipe is, but when I pulled it out, it occurred to me that the main character in my next novel, The Worst Enemy, is Irish. Would Cian's mam, I wondered, have made something similar to these for his breakfast? Cian learned to cook from his Mam, and this skill helped ingratiate himself to his fellow prospectors in Colorado's gold mining frenzy and his fellow soldiers in the Union Army. If Cian cooked scones in either place, it likely would have been in a dry, floured pan over a medium-low heat, turning once to brown both sides. You can try it this way, too! If you don't have buttermilk, you can make an acceptable substitute by adding 3 TBS of Vinegar to 3/4 cup of milk and waiting for it to clabber, a fancy word for develop lumps. Traditional Irish Scones ​ 3 cups all purpose flour 3 TBS sugar 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 6 TBS chilled unsalted butter 1 egg, beaten to blend ¾ cup plus 3 TBS buttermilk 1/3 cup dried currants (raisins, dried cranberries or dried blueberries can take the place of the currants.)   Preheat oven to 425   Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.   Slice butter into pats and drop them all over the flour mixture. Use a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers to blend in the butter until the mixture resembles a fine meal.   Mix in fruit pieces. Mix in egg and enough buttermilk to form a soft dough.   Turn the dough out onto a flour surface.  Pat the dough into three ¾ thick rounds. Cut each round into quarters. Or you can use a round cookie cutter to cut out the scones.   Transfer scones to a lightly floured baking sheet. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown and cooked through, between 18-20 minutes.   Makes 1 dozen scones. Cian is a character in The Worst Enemy, book 2 of Rebels Along the Rio Grande, a trilogy of middle grade historical novels set in New Mexico during the American Civil War. Book 1, Where Duty Calls, came out in 2022. The third book, The Famished Country, will come out in 2024.