Baked Bean Scones

Do other bloggers/readers know of Briony May?  She was a contestant in The Great British Bake Off in 2018, and has gone from strength to strength in the UK food world, and now hosts Escape to the Country.  She has been doing this zany thing of making scones from A-Z, and is currently up to the letter V, I think. 

So I decided to make some baked bean scones, as I had some wee tins in the pantry (and fridge).  I can't wait to try some of her other mad scones!  She started off with hummus, then graduated to the A-Z, including N for Nutella which was a sad failure, she said.  

Quick rant here - as anyone else noticed that recipes are starting to use fan-forced oven temps. as the default? - and then putting the regular oven temperature.  I almost missed that Briony was using fan-forced, as she had only written 'fan' after the temperature, which I only just noticed on the next line of the recipe.  I find it really annoying!  Grrrrr!  Rant over :=)

of course plenty of butter on your warm scone, my friend!

Makes 4 small scones:

ingredients:

150g./5.3 oz baked beans (I used Heinz, of course), mashed

125g./4.4 oz self-raising flour (or 125g. plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder)

1/2 tsp sea salt

about a dozen grinds fresh black pepper

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried chives

1 Tbs milk

Parmesan cheese, grated - about 3-4 Tbs or so

pretty obvious what this is :=)

Method:

Place the mashed-up beans, flour, salt, pepper and herbs into a large mixing bowl

Add 1.5-2 Tbs of the grated Parmesan into the mixture

Give it a good mix, then shape with your hands into a dough, then into a small ball - this is a dry-looking mixture, but it will come together without added liquid (I was afraid I'd have to add milk)

Place the ball of dough onto a paper-lined baking tray, and cut into quarters

Brush the tops with the milk, then sprinkle on the rest of the cheese

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 200C/400F (mine took 13 mins.)

Split and spread with lots of butter

we love pepper!

Notes:

Notes?  Are there any notes?  Maybe not.  I just have to add that Mr P. really liked these, and said that you can't really taste the beans at all!  Oh yes, I forgot to say that Briony says to bake these at 180C fan, which of course is 200C fan-less :=)

Oh yes, don't worry too much about the mashing of the beans!  I just used a fork, and gave them a good seeing-to, but I didn't worry about a few lumpy bits!

grab those ingredients

throw everything into your mixing bowl

place the ball of dough onto your lined tray and cut into quarters

brush with milk and sprinkle with Parmesan

golden and beautiful after 13 mins. at 200C/400F

can't wait to try 'em

let's hoe in

Mr P. is keen! (hasn't his head healed well?)

of course it's beans!

Almond Pound Cake with Maple-Roasted Apricots

I remember years ago when I lived with other students in a share house that one of the lads would throw together a pound cake most weekends.  He wasn't really into measurements so would just chuck what he thought was the right amount into the bowl - and he was pretty good at it!  A pound cake is just equal amounts of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, so pretty easy to get right, I reckon.

This brilliant fella also taught me how to fillet fish, and make bread - and then he went off to England to get his PhD.  Told you he was clever!  Anyways, I made this cake for our cookbook club hosted by Amanda from Lambs Ears and Honey, using this recipe from Emelia Jackson's beaut book You Had Me at Cake.  "So many cakes, so little time" - to paraphrase that famous rockstar ...  

  

the texture is delightful, said Mr P., the smooth talker :)

Makes 1 x 20cm./8 inch cake:

ingredients for the cake:

190g./6.75 oz almond meal (or nut meal of your choice)

140g./5 oz plain flour

2.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

225g./8 oz butter, softened (at room temp. basically), cubed

225g./8 oz caster sugar

4 large eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla paste or extract

180 mL/6 oz milk or buttermilk  see Notes

Crème frâiche, or thick cream, to serve with big slices of cake :=)

Maple-roasted apricots (or fruit of your choice):

6-8 ripe apricots, halved and pitted   see Notes

2 Tbs maple syrup or honey

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbs butter  (Emelia says to melt it first, but why?  It's going into the oven!  So just dice it, I say)

apricots

Method:

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up, and line a 20cm/8 in cake tin with baking paper (or use an air fryer liner like I do!)

Grab a large mixing bowl, and whisk together the nut meal, the flour, the baking powder and salt with either your electric hand beaters or a stand mixer if you have one (I don't, so I use my hand beaters)

Then add the softened, cubed butter till you have a sandy mixture with no large lumps of butter - I didn't worry too much; I still had small lumps and it turned out just fine!

Now add the sugar, eggs, vanilla and (butter) milk, and mix till combined (but don't go crazy! - no gluten wanted here, my friends) 

Pour the batter into the tin (never mind if it's a wee bit lumpy), and bake for 45-50 minutes till golden and a skewer pushed into its almond-y heart comes out clean

And as for the apricots: about 15 minutes before the cake is due to come out of the oven, grab yourself a small-ish baking dish, chuck in the fruity ingredients, giving it a good mix together, and place in the oven till the cake finishes baking

Take the cake and fruit out of the oven when they're ready, let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a a wire rack to cool completely

Serve a big slice with some of the syrupy fruit (fruity syrup?) and a dollop of cream, crème frâiche or plain yoghurt

one guess :=)

Notes:

As per, I didn't have any buttermilk lurking around, so I squeezed a small lemon to get juice (prob. 2 Tbs), which I stirred into the milk, and left to get thick and curdled-looking

Nor did I have any fresh apricots, 'cos it's winter here!  So I grabbed a 700g. jar of Australian apricots in juice (which juice?  A mystery, my friends); also no nett weight on the jar - grrrrrr!  Anyways, I weighed out 270g./9.5 oz of the fruit, as Mr Google says the average weight of an apricot (with the pit) is 35g.-50g.  Hoping that this was a suitable conversion; and yep, it worked out okay, but you could go for extra apricots, I reckon

I'm gonna have to buy some more of this very soon!

ingredients gathered

sandy with a few wee lumpy bits :=) - no worries!

in go the wet ingredients

looking glorious as it goes into the air fryer paper-lined tin!

fruit etc going into my fave '60s enamel dish, with my cute new Japanese spoon)

cake done, syrup done!

looking so pretty

everyone loved this cake - great flavour and texture

Our neighbour came over for a piece after work.  She said it was a fabulous cake, and asked for the recipe.  Always a good sign :=)  And it still tastes great after 2 days!

texture still gorgeous after 2 days

Cheese and Onion Scones #ISW2026

And here is my second bake for International Scone Week!  A savoury one this time.  And I have to say, this one went down a treat with hubby and friends.  These lasted a bare 24 hours!  Mr P. suggests using even more herbs, pepper and chilli flakes, and he's not wrong :=)  

This recipe is from our dear friend's Auntie Patty, who died recently.  Our friend kindly handed on some of her handwritten recipes on yellow card, in her very wonderful and clear handwriting.  Auntie Patty only gave cayenne as an optional extra, with no other herbs or spices.  I boosted the flavour a bit, and as I said above, Mr P. said more is more :)

I was a bit worried about adding raw onion here, but it was a fabulous addition.  Make sure you chop it finely, of course.  I used one French shallot, and some red onion but once again, go with what you like.  These are really fabulous scones.  Thanks Auntie Patty!  

cheesy!  why not spread some (alot) butter in the middle? :=)

Makes 16-18:

ingredients:

375g./(3 cups) plain flour    see Notes

5 tsp baking powder

a big pinch of sea salt flakes

1/4 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

about ten grinds of black pepper  (or more, to your taste)

1-2 tsp dried parsley and/or your fave herb  (I like chives, too!)

50g./1.8 oz cold butter, diced

1 small-ish red onion or 2-3 French shallots, finely diced

185g. (1.5 cups) vintage/mature cheddar cheese, grated

310 mL (1.25 cups) milk

extra milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

the more the merrier, says Mr P.

Method:

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Grab a baking tray and throw on some baking paper

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (including salt, pepper and herbs) together

Then rub in the diced butter with your fingers, till you get sandy crumbs

Now put half the onion, and one cup of the grated cheese into the bowl, and fold them in

Make a well in the centre of the dough, and splosh all the milk in!  Yep I know it sounds a bit mad, but it works

Mix it all in well, but try not to go too crazy as you don't want to activate the gluten too much (or at all)

Form the dough into a ball in the bowl (if you can), then slap the dough onto a floured surface, and shape and flatten it to a rectangle, about 1.5 cm high, and approx. 24 cm x 20 cm (you might need to throw a bit more flour onto it, as it is most likely going to be sticky!)

Cut it into 16 (or 18) squares, place them on the lined tray, and brush the tops with the extra milk

And add the rest of the onion and the cheese on the tops

Bake for around 15-20 minutes, till golden

Delicious both warm or room temp., with lots of butter in the middle

yep, shallots

Notes:

I am using Auntie Patty's measurements in her recipe verbatim (for the ingredients list anyway) - one Aussie cup of flour is normally 150g./5.3 oz but we will stick to her measurements!

I think your rectangle will be about 9.5 inches by 8 inches, for those non-metric fellas

full-cream milk

get those ingredients together 

and grate that cheese!

kinda sticky, once you add the cheese

and now add the rest of the cheese on top

and don't forget the extra onion!

golden and smelling so good

half of them gone already :=)

butter makes everything better, of course

so neat!

Here is another post for International Scone Week hosted by Tandy of Lavender and Lime blog.  We have been doing this every August for years, my friends.  #ISW2026 goes from the 10th to the 16th; everybody welcome!

Huckleberry Scones - kind of!

International Scone Week again?  How can this be?  You mean a whole year has gone by already?  Okay, I give in, I've had another birthday and here we are.  I am joining in with Tandy from Lavender and Lime for the annual scone festival, which has been ongoing since 2011.  The years have really flown by ...  

This recipe is from Baking across America by B. Dylan Hollis - my fave cooking YouTuber!  He is such a delight.  It's amazing that social media has given so many people a career and a decent wage too.  Our Historical Society has just received its first Facebook payment due to a lot of engagement.  Millions of views, and a few measly (tho' very welcome) dollars.  Here's to future happy $!

add some homemade jam to the middle!

Makes 1 dozen scones:

ingredients:

280g./10 oz plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

100g./3.5 oz sugar (I used caster)

zest of 1 lemon  see Notes

115g./4 oz butter, cold and diced

120 mL/4 oz buttermilk   see Notes

150g./5.3 oz huckleberries!   see Notes

2-3 tsp demerara sugar  (my addition)

raspberries

Method:

Turn on your oven to 200C/400F to heat up, and grab a baking tray which you then line with baking paper

Grab yourself a large mixing bowl, and add in the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and lemon zest

Give it a good whisking, then rub in the butter with a knife then your fingers so you end up with a sandy mixture (and not too many chunks of butter)

In go the buttermilk and the berries; mix till just combined.  My mixture was incredibly damp so I chucked in a bit more flour to make it more pliable

Dylan says to divide the dough in half (weighing each half with a kitchen scale!), and form them into balls - gently!   see Notes

He then says to press the balls out to make a disc 4cm/1.5 inches high, and cut each disc into 6 wedges, separated just a wee bit on the tray so you end up with 12 small-ish wedges

I say phooey to all this!  What a lot of unnecessary faffing!  Don't bother to divvy up the dough; just flatten it out a bit (you probably won't get it to be 4cm high), cut into 12 pieces and shove 'em in the oven for 12-15 minutes till golden  

Oops!  Don't forget to sprinkle on the demerara sugar before baking!

and a lemon

Notes:

Google says 1 medium lemon gives you 1 (U.S.) Tbs of zest; I used 1.5 lemons as they were small! (and this is an American recipe so the tablespoons are smaller than ours)

I made my own buttermilk - I just added a bit of yoghurt and ricotta ('cos it was in the fridge), and lemon juice to some milk.  Stirred it, and left it to sit for 10 minutes to go thick(er)

Like me, you may not be able to get yourself some huckleberries, so I used 100g./3.5 oz raspberries and 50g./1.8 oz chocolate chips

My dough made 375g./13 oz x 2 halves = 750g./26.5 oz all up

Flour!  Plain (all-purpose)

ingredients gathered

ready to rub butter in

buttermilk going in

and the berries and choc chips

a kinda damp dough

sugar sprinkled on, and ready for baking

why do they look green? hehehe (and a bit crab-like)

I think that's a bit of ricotta on top

great with cream and some homemade apricot jam!

#ISW2026