I LOVE scones. I love all things bread, really, and today in class we made scones and biscuits! I was so happy, and now, I am soo stuffed.

The first thing we did was head to one of the classrooms to listen to a brief lecture with PowerPoint from Chef Mary Helen. We learned about the “rubbed dough method” for making pie dough, biscuits, and scones. This method results in flaky and tender products. The texture of the finished product is determined by the size of the butter in the dough. Large pieces of butter result in a flaky dough; while small pieces result in a mealy dough. The fat (butter, lard, or shortening) should be as cold as possible when combining in the dough and when baking so that it does not become overworked. Large pieces of fat and flaky dough are GOOD. For this method, the fat should be COLD and cut into cubes. The fat should then be incorporated into the flour. For flaky dough, the fat should not be worked beyond the size of a walnut.Carefully incorporate any other ingredients so that the fat doesn’t become too small. Chill dough before using to allow the dough and fat to firm back up. This keeps the dough flaky and prevents the far from being overworked.

Biscuits and scones differ because scones usually have eggs while biscuits do not! Therefore, biscuits are a bit lighter than scones.

After learning all of this useful information, I was very excited to get a recipe packet with several biscuit and scone recipes inside. I selected a Mother’s Day inspired, Paula Deen scone recipe – Vanilla Bean Scones with Orange Butter. I had only made scones once before, during my summer internship at Culinary Kids Camp, and I had absolutely never had orange butter. So I thought it would be a fun combination and an occasion to try out something I had never had before!

I ended up really loving these scones! I even liked the orange butter with them. At first I was hesitant about the combination, but I thought they worked perfectly together (as long as you like a fairly strong orange flavor)! Everyone else seemed to really enjoy the scones as well. I do believe that I should have spread my scones out a bit further while baking them. They were touching each other while cooking, and this resulted in the inside cooking slower than the outside which caused the outside to get a little too brown. However, they were still delicious, and I will definitely be making these again.

Today was a very fun and informative first day in the kitchen. Everyone produced yummy, carb loaded biscuits and scones, and we all sat around the big table in the student lounge and pigged out on our delicious creations. I must have gained 5 pounds this morning alone. I will definitely need to put in more gym time if this class keeps making such tasty recipes! I am very eager for next week – we will be testing bread pudding recipes, and I have made up my own

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