Irish Scones

Irish soda bread is the usual accompaniment to a traditional St. Patrick's Day Feast.  We've served it for years.  Last year, though, I ran across a recipe for Irish scones, and I was hooked.  Irish scones are rather like buttermilk biscuits--only with eggs inside the batter and a bit of sugar on top.  They are best served warm, but they are also great cold the next day, so I always make a double batch.  They retain their moisture much better than biscuits, and the bit of sugar on top is a nice touch, especially for a holiday dinner.

Be warned--the dough is a bit sticky when it is time to roll it out, so if you find yourself needing to flour the counter a bit more than usual, that's okay.  Resist the urge, though, to work in more flour by kneading the dough.  Like biscuit dough or pie crust, one of the keys to flakiness is handling the dough the least amount needed to roll and cut it out.  When rolling and cutting the dough out, be sure to roll it thick--seriously--one inch or slightly more.  Cut with a straight up and down motion to help the dough retain its flaky layers.  Finally--the large grain sugar on top is turbinado sugar, sold under a brand "Sugar in the Raw" in our town.  Though it won't look the same, regular sugar will also work and be just as delicious perched on top of your flaky scones. 

Irish Scones -- Yield: about 1 dozen scones
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
6 Tbsp sugar

7 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cup cream (milk will work, too)
1 cup buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, put a scant Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar into a cup measurement and fill the rest with milk.  Let it stand for a few minutes.  Voila!)

large grain sugar like turbinado for sprinkling (regular sugar will work)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until the pieces are the size of peas.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, and buttermilk.  Add to the flour mixture and stir with a heavy spoon until just combined, but all of the flour has been incorporated into the dough.  Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface, handling as little as possible.  Roll out to about 1" or a little more and cut out with a large biscuit cutter.  Place on a baking sheet 1/2" apart and sprinkle the tops with a little sugar.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.