Thursday, May 3, 2012

I'll Never Learn

Welsh Batch NOT Scone
You know that definition of insanity about doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome?
Hm. That's me and baking.

Now repeat after me:
Baking. Takes. Time.
Baking. Takes. Care.

This morning, a few friends were coming over, and I decided to make a Welsh Batch Scone, which I have made a GAZILLION times before. By hand.

Today, clever me thought I would cut the butter in using the food processor, because that does such a nice job of cutting butter into flour for a short pastry.

I did that.

Should have stopped at that point, turned the mixture into a bowl and finished gently by hand. But NO. I just tossed the few remaining ingredients into the mixer and proceeded to process the shit out of it.

This, apparently, cannot be done. Well, not if you expect a light, crumbly scone. However, if you would like a dense, greasy with butter scone, well then, I'm your girl.

Two friends tasted it and persuaded me to cut it and serve it anyway and leave out the part about it being a scone. They are very kind and loving friends.

Do as I say, not as I do: do not EVER overmix a short batter or crust.  Ever.

Here's a link to the recipe. Done right, this is truly simple and simply delicious.

Next time I'll remember. No, I really will!!
(If you are prone to kitchen disasters, you should check out Charmian Christie's Kitchen Disasters and Fixes, a new app... )

6 comments:

Marijke Vroomen-Durning said...

oops!

I know what you mean. I wanted to bring scones somewhere once but I had limited time. I rushed it. You can't rush scones. They were awful.

Of course, there was the time when one of my friends brought home one of my bagels to make a keychain. I used to make them and they were fabulous. But, a bit time consuming. So, one day I decided to cut the boiling time and didn't wait for the bagels to float to the top of the water.

Who knew that was such an important step?

Ah, live and learn. Or, live, do it again, and remember that it didn't work the first time...

The Messy Baker said...

Oh, please! Your scones were at least edible. I've botched so many recipes from rushing I'm the Kitchen Disaster Queen. You? A mere henchman.

Thanks for sharing. It makes me feel better.

Anjuli said...

great lessons to learn about not overmixing and rushing etc-- I can tell though- even if you make a mess of something, it probably tastes wonderful....unlike my messes which turn out to be not worthy of passing a person's lips.

Unknown said...

I try not to cook or bake anything that I can mess up, which means I've never ever attempted to make scones in my life! But your picture didn't make yours look so bad. How'd they taste?

Babette said...

Jackie, they taste...OKAY. Flavor, I mean. I am big into texture too, and they are a buttery mess...which, of course, isn't ALL bad. But..no. Just no. They are not what they should be.

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