When I offer to make something for a bake sale, I always want to bring something that is unforgettable, or at least so delicious that folks will ask for my recipe. With that in mind, I thought long and hard about what to bring to our fundraiser bake sale Heidi told you about yesterday.
I came across a recipe for Gingered Lemon Scones with a lemon curd filling, which sounded wonderful to me--so wonderful that I tried it for our friends up at the cabin last weekend. The result was a scone that was tougher and drier than I like. So I changed the buttermilk to whipping cream, added a little fresh lemon juice, and increased the butter. I definitely liked the results.
In case you are wondering, lemon curd is a thick lemon pudding made with lemon juice, sugar, butter and egg yolks. It's easy to make and you can make it yourself in almost no time. However, since I planned to make a couple of batches of scones before work, I decided to buy lemon curd instead of make it. At a local gourmet supermarket I found four or five different brands of lemon curd in the jams and jellies aisle. I purchased two different brands: Robertson's, which was the most yellow, and Stonewall Kitchen which was the most expensive--around $8.00 for an 11.5-oz jar.
The first five ingredients on the Robertson's label are: sugar, corn syrup, water, vegetable oil and egg. The Stonewall Kitchen brand lists ingredients in the following order: sugar, eggs, butter, water, lemon juice. Need I say more?
At 6:00 am, I whipped up my first batch of scones using the Robertson's product. It oozed out from the center on my dough and onto the cookie sheet. The second batch was much better when I used the Stonewall Kitchen lemon curd. In fact, the result was delicious if I do say so myself. I didn't put out my first batch for the bake sale--we ate them in the kitchens instead.
Here is the recipe I used:
Fresh Ginger Scones with Lemon Curd Filling
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot
1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup lemon curd (from a jar)
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon coarse sugar
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In 1-cup glass measuring cup, mix cream and lemon juice; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. With fork or pastry blender, cut butter into dry mixture until it looks like fine bread crumbs. Stir in gingerroot.
3. Add egg to cream mixture; stir to combine. Pour cream mixture over dry mixture. Stir with wooden spoon until soft dough starts to form (some of the mixture will remain a little dry and crumbly). Pour mixture onto floured surface. Knead lightly to combine ingredients, handling gently. Roll dough into a ball; divide in half.
4. On lightly floured surface, pat or roll 1 half of dough into a 7 1/2-inch round; place on cookie sheet. Spread dough round with lemon curd, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edge. Pat or roll remaining half of dough to an 8-inch round. Place over lemon curd-topped dough round. Tuck edge of top dough round over lower round; pinch edge to seal.
5. Brush top of dough with milk; sprinkle sugar over top. With sharp knife, score top of dough into 8 wedges, cutting 1/4 inch deep (but not down to lemon curd).
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes. Place on serving plate. Cut into wedges. Serve warm.
8 scones
