This past Saturday, May 06, Charles, the heir to the throne for the last seven decades, was crowned king of England. King Charles is the oldest ever British monarch to be crowned. This coronation was notable because the rites and rituals mostly unchanged in a thousand years also melded with the new. During one of the most ancient and moving parts of the investiture, the King was anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives. This coronation was different than its predecessors because it was the first to involve non-Christian religious figures, such as the British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
Classic Scones
Rabbi Mirvis was invited to the landmark event at Westminster Abby but faced a problem of how to get there on Shabbat, when he could not use motorized transportation. King Charles III solved the problem by inviting the rabbi and his wife Valerie to spend the night at St. James’s Palace, within walking distance of the abbey. This was certainly a first for the coronation of an English monarch.
To celebrate the coronation of King Charles, we are making classic English scones. These traditional scones are barely sweet and are lighter and flakier than their American counterparts, with a moist, soft, tender crumb. This simple recipe by food writer and recipe developer extraordinaire, Mark Bittman, published in the New York Times, uses the food processor to prepare the scones, processing the dough very minimally to preserve their delicate texture. Enjoy the freshly baked scones with a swipe of your best jam and a good strong cup of English tea. Long live the King.
Assemble your ingredients. Although the recipe calls for cake flour, I have made it with part cake flour and part all purpose flour because that’s what I had in the cupboard. The recipe calls for cream but I used whole milk. From reading the community notes on this recipe in the New York Times, it appears that this recipe is pretty flexible when it comes to reasonable ingredient substitutions.
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture has the appearance of coarse cornmeal. Add the egg and just enough milk (or cream) to form a dough that just sticks together. I found that the sweet spot when adding the milk was 6 tablespoons. You may add up to a 1/2 cup as the original recipe calls for.
Turn the dough onto a very lightly floured surface (you don’t want too much flour. It will make the scones dense.) Press the dough into 3/4-inch-thick circle. You can cut the dough into 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass, or alternatively, cut the circle into 8 wedges. Transfer each wedge or round of dough to the prepared baking sheet and brush it with milk (or cream) and sprinkle with coarse (raw) sugar or granulated sugar, if that’s what you have.
Bake for 10 minutes until the scones are light golden in color. Allow the scones to cool for 5 minutes and enjoy.
Classic Scones
Light, flaky, buttery, traditional English scones with a moist, soft, tender crumb.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 5 tablespoons (75 g) cold butter, cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
- 6-8 tablespoons milk or cream, more for brushing
- sugar for sprinkling on scones before baking (coarse or granulated)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture has the appearance of coarse cornmeal. Add the egg and just enough milk (or cream) to form a dough that just sticks together. I found that the sweet spot when adding the milk was 6 tablespoons. You may add up to a 1/2 cup as the original recipe calls for.
Turn the dough onto a very lightly floured surface. Press the dough into 3/4-inch-thick circle. You can cut the dough into 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass, or alternatively, cut the circle into 8 wedges. Transfer each wedge or round of dough to the prepared baking sheet and brush it with milk (or cream) and sprinkle with coarse (raw) sugar or granulated sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes until the scones are light golden in color. Allow the scones to cool for 5 minutes and enjoy.
Notes
To freeze the scones, prepare the dough and cut into wedges or rounds. Place on a baking sheet and freeze. Wrap the individual frozen scones very well with plastic wrap and store in the freezer in a resealable bag. When ready to bake, brush the frozen scones with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake as above. It make take a couple of extra minutes because the scones are frozen.
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