I is for….. International Scone Week!
I was going to do a deeply serious post
‘No! no, not another one’
begged the iMac
and for once I listened. So you have been spared my learned treatise on etymology and the roots of words like inspiration = in + breathe and another one that took my fancy last night : integrity – from the word ‘integer’ meaning ‘untouched, undivided, a complete entity’ . I can hear the yawns, bad idea wasn’t it?
…but it will be much more fun to make Scones along with the Inspirational and Imaginative iScone Team!
Come on, join in…. round scones, square scones, wedge shaped scones, savoury, sweet, citrussy, chocolatey, gluten free scones, small scones, tall scones, leaning tower of Pisa scones, hockey pucks, scones for Poodles… no excuses.
Make the scones, fill the kettle, dust the teapot off, invite a mate around… or eat them all yourself, either way just do it!
The perfect accompaniment to #OperationCupofTea if you are a Twitter fan too.
In praise of the Scone
I care not for a scone when tis hard
I care not for a scone when tis old
But fresh from the oven and filled to the top
With fruity delights and a generous blop
Of cream or creme fraiche – add your own special tweak
Pour out the tea for it’s our special Scone Week!
My scones were made with home made ricotta, following Brydie’s expert guidance here, and my own yoghurt. I used very little sweet butter and sugar and still the scones were light and delicious. Go on treat yourself. I’ll post the recipe on a second post in case anyone wants it.
Any other Alphabetters in August fancy joining in?
Zeb Bakes 
You tease. I love the look of these scones. And I also love your moomin mugs. They appeal quite strongly to my scandinavian side. :-)
I really had to think for a moment then :D tease? Moi? And then I remembered the excerpt that I put on the email thingy. The Moomin mugs are great because apart from being covered in Moomins they are not too tall and I can fit them in a drawer in the kitchen and they like visiting the blog.
They do look great and fresh :)
Thank you – love the name of your blog :D
I ate a scone this week – does that count {wink}
I’ve never met a scone who could count yet (winks back) ;)
Oh you are clever, I was wondering how you were going to work scone week into the alphabet meme!!
Darling Celia, how could I ever let you down? Plus I didn’t have time to dig out the icecream machine and remember how to make icecream…
Those are stunning beautiful, Joanna, and I would be pleased to share a cup of tea and a scone with you anywhere and at any time. I’ll look forward to seeing the recipe.
Thanks Misk, you make beautiful scones too :)
Look at your lovely ricotta! It looks superb. Maybe I should make some scones with ricotta as well. I made some Vanilla Maple ones yesterday, but they seem to have disappeared before a photo was taken. But I’m with the scone team in spirit!
Those Moomin cups really are sweet.
Well now that I’ve revved myself up for scones I am looking forward to trying some of the other recipes too. The only trouble with afternoon tea is that you end up too full for dinner…. Thanks for the ricotta help. I made one litre’s worth of milk and got 150 g of ricotta from it. Is that roughly what you get? It was quite easy in the end. I don’t know what to do with the leftover liquid, I might try it in some dough…
I, too, love your Moomin mugs and all the rest of your setting!
And the homemade ricotta?
That is just beautiful!
Hee hee not a setting really, some old Danish plates of my mothers, some little bowls with hares and the moon for the jam and cream, an Ikea tray with birds that reminds me of the Fifties and the Brown Betty teapot. I have far too many teapots. I have to let the garden do the work of setting the tea tray and the dogs kept getting in the frame, hovering and hoping for a crumb of scone! Can’t wait to see yours Heidi :)
Dear Joanna, have just been catching up on posts – having a few days beside the seaside – didn’t know if it was appropriate to fly to the computer and blather out my feelings watching the horrible events unfold in England. Having just tumbled down the ‘operation cup of tea’ rabbit hole I feel so heartened. I’ve always thought that in England, when the going got tough, say at the outbreak of war, or, as in this case an outbreak of mindless viciousness, you would hear the sound of ordinary Britons in their hundreds, everywhere, filling the kettle for a comforting cup of tea and a quiet talk. I recall that when I was little my Dad was unoffical handyman on our Council Estate and having just cleaned our neighbour’s chimney and covered everything and everyone in soot, our neighbour put the kettle on for a cup of tea, a laugh, and then everyone set to and cleaned up. God Bless the tea pot. As to scones, I do like a soft, warm scone, but mine have always been more of the hockey-puck variety – possibly very useful for flinging from the battlements:)
I hope you’re having a lovely break by the seaside Jan ! Thanks for commenting.
I posted some late night pictures when a Twitter friend tweeted about #operationcupoftea. http://yfrog.com/hsb32ixj. I am on Twitter as Zeb_Bakes. We are all very subdued here, watching our TVs, not going out, cities under voluntary curfews, vigilantism, it changes day by day and there are so many troubles in the wider world that are not getting our attention as a result.
I love the story of your Dad – thank you for sharing it. Our devotion to the cuppa is mythological isn’t it? I think it’s time you revisited your inner scone maker and tried one of these recipes. Join us :D
Lovely scones. I was an exchange student in Tasmania and Non taught me to make a lovely savory scone – tasty cheese, chive and bacon. OH, dang, I just drooled on my shirt. However, put that plate you your scones in front of me and I wouldn’t even miss a beat, there would be one (maybe two in my hand). Emily
It was a toss up yesterday between cheese and bacon scones and these very plain ones. Brian said “Plain” If asked, he always chooses the simplest option for everything. But I do adore cheese scones too…. maybe I will make a batch today and throw some chives into the mix – lovely suggestion!
And you can join me anytime Emily :D
Interesting that Brian also likes the plain ones. I love your cheese and bacon quick bread recipe, but Peder will take ‘plain’ bread any day. Same goes for my scones. I asked what he’d like, and he wanted plain. Men, eh?
HIs Dad, who I never met, is often quoted as remarking that he didn’t like mucked about with food, i.e. food with lots of fuss involved. I think he wants me to enjoy cooking and not worry about it, so he says plain because he thinks it will be more straight forward for me, he doesn’t want to think that much about food, just enjoy it when it turns up. Though he cooks beautifully when he chooses :)
I made meatloaf for dinner; Peder was in heaven. He likes plain food. He often says that he’s a plain guy, which I think is so untrue. Right now, he’s finishing off Sedrick’s first sourdough (mini) boule with cheese and my Forest Berry jam. The bread is tasty but not sour enough yet. Couldn’t bring myself to throw out the 3/4 today, so made bread with it.
I’ll wait to hear more :)
What fun, rectangular scones, tea in the garden and a scone poem to mark the occasion. It’s interesting to see a picture of the ricotta too – must give it a go.
Hi Choclette, I’m glad you found this fun! I felt very silly when I was writing it. The ricotta seemed to thicken into bigger bits once it had cooled down, when it was first coagulating I wasn’t really convinced at all. I would like to try using lemon juice instead of vinegar and see how that goes. Carl (on Twitter) says that true ricotta is made by cooking whey and gave me a useful reference for this on Wiki and reminded me that ri-cotta means – twice cooked. All these twice cooked words bis-cuit is another one of course.
I adore scones but I can’t say I’ve ever attempted to make them (I’ve never baked anything in my life) but they look so delicious that I just might give it a go. It can’t be that hard can it?
‘ Morning rivertems ! Thanks for coming back ! like anything it takes a little practice. I think my first scones were pretty rubbish to be honest. I didn’t bake for many years, it’s only since I started doing the bread thing and latterly writing this blog that I have taken more of an interest in cooking generally.
The only problem people seem to have is that they complain they get heavy scones, I think that’s to do with overmixing and fiddling about with the dough too much and also not overcooking them. They carry on cooking when they are out of the oven as they cool.
Reblogged this on Zeb Bakes and commented:
This is a cheaty sort of post and I promise I will make some scones this weekend but just to remind you that it is International Scone Week starting today…
No, keep reminding me. I need it, as I definitely want to make scones this week.
I heart scones, (could be a good tshirt :-)
Hello Brydie! great tshirt idea – lets do it :) xx
Beautiful scones. Love the little table set for your tea time with scones. Beautiful view.
It was a bit more relaxed in my household this time last year when we did this together, how time flies!
Your “I” Inspirations would not have made me yawn.. but I did enjoy your lighthearted playful post today! I’ve missed some of your posts and am catching up.. I can’t believe you’re on letter I already.. where have I been?? And a lovely scone and cuppa to go with. I made some homemade ricotta yesterday and now I know where it’s going to go! xx Smidge
Hi Smidge, I don’t think you missed cos I haven!t been posting much lately, this post was a reblog of one from last year which is when I posted one a day thru August, sorry if it is confusing, I think other people have got confused too. I will write a proper post if I have a minute later Xx Joanna
No prob!! I might not have been following you last year:D So it’s new to me!! xx
Hi Joanna
Your scones look smashing. I made pumpkin scones to keep in the International theme. Pumpkins scones are very big in Australia.
Thanks Glenda, I just found your beautiful scones. I don’t think I have had pumpkin scones here but they look just wonderful. I think I will have to ‘steal’ your recipe and give them a go :)