Sunday Morning Scones

My last full day at Kitchen at Camont in Gascony was a Sunday. Kate declared this meant scones for breakfast (as opposed to our usual yummy yogurt every day). I'd made scones maybe once in my life, and not properly I'm sure, and am frankly not that good at biscuits. But I learned in my time at Camont that I can do remarkable things with my own two hands under Kate's tutelage, so I jumped off my cozy perch in front of the fire at this chance.

There are a few keys to tender yet rich scones. One of course is a great egg. I know I'm on a soapbox lately about eggs, but after cooking with eggs from Kate's chickens for a week and a half I'm even a stronger advocate than before for super fresh eggs from free-ranging chickens. Kate's chickens eat her kitchen scraps in addition to their grains and foraged food, so you can imagine their diet. Just while I was there they enjoyed oyster shells, vegetable soup, fruits, bread and untold other goodies. An egg from a factory chicken, I don't care what marketing gimmick is on the carton, will never approach the goodness of a farm egg.

Ok, back to the scones. So a good egg is one key. Another is to not overwork the dough. I learned a technique from Kate when working with any flour mixture, which is to work with your hands palms up. Dip your hands into the mixture and work it with your thumbs, letting the mixed dough cascade back into the bowl. She swears by this and it certainly worked for me. Use butter, of course, not any sort of substitute, and just a bit of sugar.

I plan to make these on Valentine's morning when I arrive back home from France and think they would be a lovely start to any Sunday.

2 cups flour
1 stick butter
3/4 cup milk or cream or mixture of the two
2 eggs (one is for the egg wash and you don't use it all -- you could also use a bit of milk instead)
1 tbsp sugar plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 375

Add flour and to a large mixing bowl and chop butter into small pieces. Palms up, work butter into flour. You don't need to completely work it in - the little chunks will be delicious in the finished scone.

Stir in baking powder and sugar. Make a well and drop in the egg. With a fork whisk just the egg, not the flour. Add the milk/cream to the egg and stir, again not mixing with the flour any more than you have to.

Now stir gently until just mixed, turn onto a floured cutting board and form a ball. Pat it out into a circle with your hands, working from the inside. It should be about as thick as your thumb. Now with a knife or pastry cutter, slice it into eight sections (like pizza). Pull each piece a bit away from the center -- this gives them room to grow as they bake.

Brush each top with beaten egg, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake about 12-15 minutes until just golden.

They're just slightly sweet and perfect with jam or butter and honey.