Reviews & Comments

This is maybe the third scone recipe I have tried, in attempt to get something palatable. I really would have settled for that after the many dry, hard, unappetizing scones I had had. But THESE scones were AMAZING! Like many other reviewers, I made a few modifications. So, perhaps, take my review with a grain of salt (or sugar, as you wish). Here's what I did. First of all, there's only one of me, so I certainly didn't need 16 servings. So I halved almost everything. I used a previous reviewer's suggestion to add baking powder and salt to the flour (3/4T and 1/2t, respectively), as I don't keep self-rising flour on hand. Secondly, I used apple cider vinegar to make my faux-buttermilk mixture, then whipped an ENTIRE egg into it when the time came. I was aiming for a slightly cakier, held-together scone than what seems to be popular today. When I mixed everything up and noticed I wasn't able to incorporate all of the flour into the dough, I used another suggestion to add some juice from half the tangerine I had just zested -- so maybe 2 Tablespoons total. Now the dough held together nicely, so I turned it out on the lightly floured counter to shape it before transferring it to a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. I spread some whipping cream on the top of each slice, and dusted the top with some granulated sugar. Baked them for 20 minutes, and they came out perfectly brown, slightly crisp on the outside, and delectably soft and tasty on the inside. This scone recipe I am actually going to save to make again and again!

I first ate a scone in New Orleans at my niece's bridal tea held at the Windsor Hotel. This recipe was found while looking for recipes for cranberry bread. The photo made me want to make them! So, I made these at Christmas for neighbor and family gifts. They looked better than the photo at this website on my great-grandmother's green plate made early in the last century! My first batch was a little dry, so I added enough fresh squeezed orange juice to the second batch to make the dough look and feel more like homemade biscuit dough. They were more moist, fluffier and flakier than the first batch. We do not keep self-rising flour in the pantry, but you can make your own with 3 cups flour, 1.5 Tbsp baking powder, and 1 tsp. salt. Be sure that the baking powder or self-rising flour "use by" dates have not expired. The recipe gives substitutions for buttermilk. Fresh orange zest is much better in these than the dried, but the dried is okay. I am giving the recipe 5 spoons because without extra liquid, these were better than those we had at the Windsor. Making the adjustment was not hard, but those new to cooking would probably not know that a little more liquid may help.

This is a dandy recipe! Even if you omit the lemon and add dried apples instead!