Recipe: Savory Scones

Encouraged by how easy the lemon scones were to make, I adapted the recipe so I could try savory ones (a bakery favorite of my manfriend.) They're super fatty, and equally delicious.

You'll need:

3 rashers bacon

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup onion, minced
2⅔ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
few shakes red pepper flakes
1 stick butter, frozen
4 oz. cheddar cheese
1 cup broccoli florets, finely chopped
¾ cup sour cream
1 egg
few tablespoons chicken or veggie stock

1. Fry the bacon until very crispy, then blot with a paper towel. Use the bacon fat to sautée the garlic and onion, and drain away the excess grease. Set all this aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375° and move the rack to the lower middle position.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper flakes, and stir. Grate frozen butter and cheese into the mixture with a box grater, using the largest holes. Add chopped broccoli. Blend using your hands, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

4. In a separate bowl, beat together sour cream and egg. Crumble or cut the crispy bacon into tiny bits.

5. With a fork, stir the liquid mixture, bacon crumbles, and garlic and onion into dry mixture until large clumps form. With your hands, knead dough until there's no extra floury stuff at the bottom of the bowl. Add stock as needed, one tablespoon at a time, if mixture is too dry to form dough.

6. Divide the dough into two equal balls, and flatten to ¾-inch rounds. Divide each ball into 6 wedges. You can bake them all now, or freeze any unneeded wedges for another day.

7. Place dough wedges on a cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 15–20 minutes. Let cool. These are best while they're still warm and steamy, and they pair nicely with tomato soup. Nom. You can imagine all the variations—chopped spinach instead of broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, basil… Nom nom nom.

Recipe: Lemon Scones

I can't believe I'd never made scones before! They're so easy and fast. I adapted this recipe from one for plain scones I found on allrecipes.com. I also plugged my version into my nutrition app, and can report that one scone (one-eighth of the recipe) is 274 calories and has about 15 grams of fat…but luckily they're as delicious as they are unhealthful.

Not a suggested serving size! Is teh fattehz!!

You'll need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, frozen
zest from 1 lemon
½ cup sour cream
1 egg
juice from ½ lemon

1. Preheat oven to 375° and move the rack to the lower middle position.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and stir. Grate frozen butter into the mixture with a box grater, using the largest holes. Grate lemon zest into the mixture using the grater's smallest holes, and blend using your hands, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together sour cream, egg, and lemon juice.

4. With a fork, stir the liquid mixture into dry mixture until large clumps form. With your hands, knead dough until there's no extra floury stuff at the bottom of the bowl.

5. You have a couple options, now. To use all the dough at once, make a big ball, flour it lightly, and flatten to a 7–8-inch circle, about ¾-inch thick. Or, divide the dough in half, freezing one portion and flouring and pressing the other half into a smaller, 4-inch round, still ¾-inch thick. Divide the dough into wedges with a knife; 8 wedges if you're using all the dough, 4 if you're using half.

6. Place dough wedges on a cookie sheet. You can line the sheet with parchment if you like, but don't use waxed paper like I did, or your oven will fill with smoke. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool before serving. They're best enjoyed the same day they're baked.