such a dark and dreary day.  cold and icy and snowy.  who isn’t over this winter thing yet?  this weeks tuesdays with dorie baking challenge was buttermilk scones.  they were the perfect treat to pair with a steaming hot cup of tea on such a cold and damp day.

scones recipes call for cold butter to be cut into the dry ingredients.  this recipe was no exception.  to get the job done, i used my vintage piano wire dough cutter.

the recipe instructs you to cut the butter into the dry mix until it resembles coarse meal.  i left some small lumps of butter because that will add to the flaky texture i prefer in a scone or biscuit.

after the butter is cut in, buttermilk is added and the dough is kneaded about a dozen times.  in my opinion, the kneading is not necessary.  mix it up and pat it out.  game over.  the recipe gave us two options;  classic wedges or filled, rolled up and sliced.  since i have made more wedge shaped scones than i could ever count, i opted to make the rolled scones.  the dough was patted out into a 12″ x 4″ rectangle that was about a half inch thick.  first, a brush of melted butter, then a sprinkle of sugar before topping the dough with some candied lemon peel and candied citron that were left over from holiday baking.

there wasn’t much to work with as far as rolling up the dough.  i didn’t get much of a spiral and they looked more like a donut with a clump of dried fruit in the middle.  with a final brush of melted butter and sprinkle of sanding sugar over the top of each spiral, they were ready to be baked.

my work table.  i love being able to work with dough on the tabletop.  it is next to a large window and i get lots of natural light on my workspace.  the bench knife is one of my favorite tools.   it is one of those tools that once you have one, you cannot go without it.  first i used it to cut the butter up into little cubes.  then i used it to slice the spirals.  finally, a quick scrape across the tabletop removed all of the dough and flour.

the rolls took several minutes longer than the 10-12 minutes that the recipe called for.  in my oven, it was more like 15-16 minutes.

a quick and easy treat to make, scones are always a favorite of mine.  however, i was not impressed with this recipe.  it was not buttery enough for me-the recipe could have used a couple more tablespoons of cold butter cut into the dough.  it also could have used a little more buttermilk-i only used the amount called for since i had no experience with the recipe, i did not want to add too much.  then, there was the kneading which was totally unnecessary.  next time, i will stick to my own recipe but i may try the spiral slices again.

to see the recipe, visit this site.  but as a cookbook author, i ask that you consider buying the book, baking with julia.  it is a wonderful book to add to your cookbook collection!  to see what the other tuesdays with dorie bakers came up with, visit the website.