Cookin' With Leo

By Leocthasme

Well now, my dear Irish Grandmother didn’t know how to boil water much less bake an Irish Scone, but since she claimed to be a long lost relative of Paddy himself, she often informed me of Paddy’s recipes, which she claimed came from Caesar’s top notch kitchen cooks, brought back to Rome from all over the known world of the time, wherever. Seems he made slaves of everybody he could find while making war on everybody he could conquer, whoever. As the story goes, or as it was passed on to me, when Paddy was a young boy before his daddy got the job of an emissary to Ireland, he used to hob nob with one of the good lookin’ chief chef’s daughters while snatchin’ goodies out of the kitchen. Thus he learned all about good food and drink. And he took it all to Ireland when he finally got there to convert all the pagans, whoever. In any event, my dear Irish Grandmother, who knowing that I would grow up to be a very smart young man, and relying on me to keep these treasures in my sole possession for posterity, whenever, she passed them on to me. Thus I have the knowledge of the ages, or at least a few Irish recipes, that I can pass on to the world of today for their enjoyment. whatever.

Here is a recipe for a half dozen Irish Scones.

What you need:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (or a mixture of whole wheat flour and white all purpose flour)
• 1 tablespoon granulated, white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

And here is how you do it:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 425 F degrees and place rack in center of oven. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add most of the buttermilk. Use a wooden spoon to mix and add more buttermilk if necessary, until you have a soft, moist dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough into about an 8 inch round about 1 inch thick. Cut the circle into 6 triangular sections. Place on prepared baking sheet and brush tops with a little buttermilk and then dust with a little extra flour. This gives the baked scones a floury brown crust. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove from oven and serve warm with butter and jam.