In the Mood for Scones?

It has now been four full weeks since I have officially practised anything from school, yet I still can't bring myself to do it. That being said, I just had the overwhelming urge to bake something today so I decided to make scones once again. It's terrible but even mentioning the word "scones" makes me feel so rebellious. My hard-earned skills for procrastination are definitely coming into play.

Scones are not even remotely French and we'll never see them on the syllabus at Cordon Bleu. But they are delightful little quick breads that go wonderfully with Sunday brunch, or just on their own as a snack. No diet will ever stick while these little beauties are in my house.

The recipe I used today was from Baking with Julia - the recipe for Buttermilk Scones is incredible. The buttermilk yields a really delicate and moist scone that almost melts in your mouth. I had made them last weekend as well, using the recommended lemon zest and adding a sprinkling of poppy seeds. I still had half a litre of buttermilk left, so I decided to try this recipe one again.

This time I doctored the recipe a different way, as Phil had requested maple-walnut scones (he has a particular soft spot for all things maple). I used maple sugar in place of regular sugar. Then I toasted some chopped walnuts on the stove and added maple syrup, cooking it down until they were all nicely coated with a crispy maple shell.

I was feeling particularly rebellious today and threw away all the presentation skills they're trying to drill into my head at school. I like to call these scones "rustic"-looking, but really they're just lazy. I patted the dough out into a round and cut some very rough triangles. Topped everything with a light brushing of butter and a couple of the leftover walnuts. Et voila! Rustic Maple-Walnut Buttermilk Scones.