Monday, May 12, 2014

Keep Digging: Beyond Images, a Faux Rhubarb Goat Yogurt Scone


Sometimes the presence of one thing amplifies the absence of another.

In this case, the shadow growing behind each new memory this Mother's Day was the absence of my father. He was my greatest scone-devouring fan, even offering to bankroll a bakery for me when I graduated from college in 1986. Hindsight….

Besides roasting a turkey and baking macaroni and cheese for Sunday's festivities, the wild mountain apple also made two appearances for brunch: as the previously posted lemonade and then as a coffee cake, which I'll post in a few days. Both were big hits. I'm choosing to share a new scone recipe today, in memory of you, Dad. 

Walking around my childhood neighborhood the week my dad died 
I found this ball in the gutter. I read it as a sign he'd arrived safely.
Rubber band bracelets were part of my father's daily attire.  













Moving on.
I can't post a goat on my site without waxing poetic for a moment about my Capricorn father, a goofy and exuberant influence on my love of all-things-kitchen. 

The muskiness of the homemade goat yogurt nuzzles into the heady perfume of the mountain apple with more grace than overt lust.

While I do not eat these apples raw, many do. Their super power for me is in their rhubarbishness. My Nova Scotia Nana made me rhubarb pie every summer when we'd visit her in Halifax. She'd serve it with both blend (half-n-half) and ice-cream. She grew the rhubarb in her garden and also near Grand Lake, where she and Grandpa had a cabin we referred to as "camp."




Faux Rhubarb Goat Yogurt Scone
The original recipe can be viewed here.


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Notes: I use a food processor, but it’s not mandatory. If you don’t have a processor, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it is the texture of gravel. They will still come out flaky and perfect.
I live in a hot climate so always use frozen butter.

Combine:
3 cups flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Add:
¾ cup frozen unsalted butter
Mix until gravelly.
Transfer from the food processor into a large bowl.
Add:
1 cup chopped mountain apple
1/2 cup chopped Madjool dates
1/2 cup golden raisins 
Fold in:
1 to 1 1/2 cups goat yogurt. 

Because I follow Yvette Van Boven's method for making yogurt, it's quite runny compared to store bought. This is the only liquid I use. I add enough to pull the dough together, that's why the measurement is not exact; it all depends on the humidity that day. There should be dry ingredients still visible in the bottom of the mixing bowl. If you are using thicker yogurt, I would add one cup of yogurt and drizzle in enough orange juice to pull the dough together.

Plop spoonfuls of dough on to an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Scones bake faster on the black cookie sheet. If using black, bake 18 minutes; if using aluminum, bake 22 minutes.

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