Sunday, February 7, 2010

Buttermilk Scones with Garlic Chives

The first time I had ever tasted scones were at Miri's place years ago...I remember they tasted really nice, but she doesnt remember ever making them !
Incidentally, Miri was in town for a training last week and managed to squeeze in few hours to meet up, almost everyday, which was so great for me, considering I barely have any friends here in Ahmedabad.
She was here when the scones were made and she liked them, so I am guessing I got it right !

I couldn't remember if the ones I had tasted earlier were flaky, crisp, bread-like, biscuit-like, but I liked what I finally came up with...

scones and tea

Looked up a whole lot of recipes in the blogging world and in my books...
I have this book called 'Baking' by Martha Day, that had this recipe for scones, using buttermilk. The idea of using chives was from Parita's sping onion scones

I had a few garlic chives ('hara lasan'/greens from fresh garlic), and here again its the first time I've ever used them. Its available here in winter and is used in the famous Gujarati 'undhiyu'.
Most scone recipes used cheese for the savoury ones, but I intended keeping them as low fat as I could, so skipped the cheese.
The buttermilk (from the churned out home made butter) was buttery enough, so cut down on the additional butter and these turned out to be a nice, light snack.
I got some really helpful tips from JoyOfBaking one of which said that if you used buttermilk, it took slightly longer to bake, gave a more light bread-like scone, with a crisp crust and tender inside...

scones

The chives gave it a mild garlic flavour, and the pepper and chilli powder added to the spice factor...The crust was crisp and inside, it was soft and tasted absolutely great when eaten hot !
I'm sure they would taste good with a nice hot soup too, but couldn't wait till dinner time, so had this with a cup of hot tea instead.

What you need -

2 cups wheat flour
2-3 stalks of garlic chives
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
1 tbsp cold butter
upto 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp salt

What you do with it -

Preheat the oven to 220 deg C. Grease a baking sheet / pan
Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda
Rub in butter using your fingertips till it resembles breadcrumbs
Now add in the chopped garlic chives and salt to taste
Gradually, pour in the buttermilk as required and make a soft dough (softer than the one used to make rotis)
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick
Sprinkle chilli powder and crushed pepper powder on the rolled out dough
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges, like a pizza or use cookie cutters to make little rounds
Bake this at 220 deg C, for about 30 mins

11 comments:

Sayantani said...

very good recipe. can we also use thin curd (or curd mixed in water)for buttermilk?

Sharmila said...

I love anything savoury. Good idea of skipping the cheese. These are a must try ... they look so good. :-)

Sonia said...

Garlic chives in scones? then it must be tasty and yummy! :)

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

looks yummy! Never tried it...

Miri said...

This was absolutely delicious!!!
and so was the patra you made - I served it as snacks for a dinner we had with A and her husband (upstairs) and they really relished it! Thank you!

SJ said...

Abandon yenu illa! Hopelessly lazy! You should try the scone from Mahanandi site- strawberry sometg. it comes out really good.

Usha said...

This looks delicious ! And I love how you have used less butter and more of buttermilk, so much healthier too , definitely a must try recipe :-)

20123 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Archana said...

@Sayantani - you would need more butter, since this would not be the real 'butter'milk...you could also use milk with butter, or you could add a tsp of vinegar / lemon juice in 1 cup of milk, let it stand for 10 mins and then use it (thats a tip i found on joyofbaking.com)

FH said...

Beautiful Scones, I prefer savory ones for sweet ones anytime! :)

nazarina said...

I love your very delicious pictures of these very fabulous scones.Growing chives is our pride and joy and you made these beauties extra special by adding them!

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