Book of Yum

I’ve been intending to participate in the Ratio Rally ever since I first heard about it at the Gluten-free Girl’s blog. I haven’t had a chance to participate until this month. Lauren McMillan the Celiac Teen is hosting the ratio rally, and our theme is gluten-free scones. Lovely!

When I heard that our theme was scones, I started daydreaming about certain royal weddings and the English Channel and Lady Grey Tea. Be skeptical if you like, but ever since I was a little girl reading Jane Eyre I’ve had a thing for that part of the world. Sign me up for Bath, Somerset in June, and regency gowns, and castles with the changing of the guard and most of all, sign me up for an afternoon low tea with cups of black tea and gluten-free scones and gobs of clotted cream and jam. Please? I know the latter afternoon tea would cost an arm, leg, and probably an ear and nose too, but I really would love to have the experience at least once in my life. Since that trip to London is not, unfortunately, in the cards at the moment, it seems to me the least I can do is leap into this ratio event and put my own version of a British spin on it. I decided to make a classic British scone, spiced with nutmeg and sweetened with darling baby currants. I made it rice-free, and used Authentic Foods White Corn Flourbecause corn flour is popular in gluten-free baked products in the UK. And further, I decided to make it dairy-free, not only because I know many of my readers are dairy-free but because, well, we were out of butter and all I had was Earth Balance Margarine and palm oil shortening. I love the flavor of the former- and I love the allergy-friendly personality of the latter. Sometimes palm oil can be bland, so I used up all the margarine I had for taste, and filled in my ratio with palm shortening.
I based the scone on the ratio found in Wayne Gissler’s Professional Baking. To my astonishment, the recipe turned out quite well the first time out (and a good thing, too, because of course I ended up making my scone at the last minute). They were tender, faintly sweet and delicious fresh out of the oven, and I could really see how they would lend themselves to gobs of creamy topping, jam and a nice traditional tea. The next day we had an all-day gardening class scheduled at Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz, so we took several in our lunchbox and gobbled them up with an appetite sharpened by the beautiful surroundings of an organic farm and the relief of shade after standing in the heat of the sun. The class and the scones were both quite good. You may find the dough to be a bit messier than you like. With more work, I might find a recipe that is easier to handle. But, I found the finished result to be quite delightful, and something I’ll be making again. Next time I just might go all out and make a dairy-free (or dairy) clotted cream recipe and serve it on sweet antique china plates and make a pot of tea in my great-grandmother’s tea pot to accompany it. I’ll just have to watch out for the Cat Burglar Baby Yum and her sly, scone-stealing (and probably teacup-breaking) moves.

I couldn’t resist taking my scones out on our patio for a morning treat. I even got out a lovely jar of Jeanie’s Organic Plum Cherry Jam for accompaniment, recently purchased at the Love Apple Farm Retail Location. Jeanie sells homemade organic tomato jams and even Indian chutneys that are really something special, as I found out a few years ago on a heirloom tomato hunt.

It occurs to me that this (and the other gluten-free scone recipes for the Ratio Rally) would make a lovely breakfast in bed for a gluten-free mother on Mother’s Day. That would be a lovely occasion to get out the china teacups and cream. Maybe follow it up with a promenade around the neighborhood, a bouquet of classic English roses, and spend the afternoon in with some Jane Austin movies… Sounds like heaven to me!

There were too many great entries to include them all, but I thought I would share the entries that I found the most intriguing:

Lisa of With Style and Grace with Lavender Earl Grey Lemon Scones
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten-Free with Savory Jalapeno Cheese Scones
Amie of The Healthy Apple with Rice Crispy Scones
Marla of Family Fresh Cooking with Vegan Avocado Scones
Mrs. R of Honey from Flinty Rocks with Almond Fig Scones
Peter and Kelli of No Gluten No Problem with Mesquite Scones
Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie with Red Velvet Scones
Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen with Pecan Streusel Scones

Gluten-free Dairy-free Classic British Scone Recipe with Currants Dessert  Alternative Grains  European

Ingredients 150 g sorghum flour 150 g white corn flour (fine) 150 g tapioca starch 150 g arrowroot starch 90 g sugar 7.5 g salt 45 g baking powder 220 g Earth Balance margarine 30 g palm oil shortening 114 g eggs (i used 2 large, which was slightly more. oh well) 300 g soy milk (or your favorite dairy-free milk) 6 g nutmeg 7 g liquid vanilla (GF; I use Costco’s vanilla) 160 g dried currants more corn flour for dusting 1 egg, whisked together, for an egg wash Directions Prepare a large baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper (or a silicon sheet). Preheat oven to 400f. 1. Use a scale to measure your ingredients. I generally use a light volume measuring cup with pour spout, press the tare button to deduct the weight of the measuring cup and then start weighing my ingredients. If any get stuck to the bottom of your measuring cup you will want to tare the weight of the cup again. 2. Carefully sift the dry ingredients together (including nutmeg) into a large mixing bowl. Use a standing mixer bowl if you have it. My sifter is a metal wire strainer, and really does not do a good job. But, it is better than nothing. Use what you have on hand. 3. To cut in the margarine and shortening, I start the process by cutting the fats into the flour mixture with my fingers, but you can use a pastry blender if you prefer. Once it is halfway cut in, you can use the paddle attachment on your standing mixer to complete the job. Some people like to use their food processor to mix in fats, and that would probably work too. You want the dough to become like a coarse cornmeal in the end. Fold your currants into the dry mixture after it is a good texture. 4. Whisk the liquid ingredients together. 5. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry mixture until the ingredients are combined and you have a soft dough. Be careful not to mix too much, as this will result in a tough scone. 6. I had dough that was a little too soft, so perhaps I should have chilled it for 30 minutes. But, it was late at night, Baby Yum needed to go to bed, and I was tired, so I threw the dough onto a large sheet of wax paper and used the paper to fold the dough in half over itself multiple times, rotating the dough 90 degrees each time. Do this at least five times until you have a nice, soft dough. The dough may stick to the wax paper. Just peel off the wax paper as needed. I added a new sheet of wax paper to the top and even turned the dough over once or twice, never touching the dough itself but just manipulating the dough with the wax paper. 7. When you are satisfied with the dough, sprinkle the top generously with white corn flour (or sorghum), cover it with a fresh sheet of wax paper, flip it over CAREFULLY (a flat cookie sheet underneath or a pizza scoop will help do this without mishap), press the dough with your hand lightly (or you can use a rolling pin) through the wax paper to get it to be an even 1/2 in. thick. Then peel off the wax paper on the top of the dough and sprinkle the dough with more of your corn or sorghum flour. 8. To make my “British” style scones I used a small 2″ biscuit cutter. Flour the inside of the biscuit cutter and then use it to cut out round biscuits. You can wipe off the cutter and sprinkle more flour on the biscuit cutter if it starts to get sticky. You can also flour the biscuit dough as needed. Place each scone on your parchment paper covered cookie sheet with at least 2″ between each scone. They spread like mad, so beware! This recipe will make several sheets of scones. 9. Whisk together one additional egg and use a pastry brush to lightly baste the top of each scone with this egg wash before baking. 10. Bake at 400f for 10-12 minutes or until scone is lightly browned on top. Notes Best the first day they are made. The second day they are still good cold, but slightly dry. By the third day you will probably want to lightly microwave them before serving to compensate for any dryness. I experimented by freezing the final batch after it was cut into biscuit shapes. This may help with the spreading problem and with any graininess in the gluten-free flours. I’ll report back on this after I bake them.

Rating:  7 Original Source:  Based on Gisslen Ratio in the GF Ratio Rally ratios, but my original creation. Do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1551 Added:  May 1, 2011 Last Modified:  May 2, 2011

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