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!

Easy Zucchini and Mushroom Pie

Back in our vegetarian days, Mr P. and I (and our housemates) used to eat a lot of beans and cheese and vegetables, of course!  So Alison Holst's cookbooks were very often brought out.  She and her son Simon wrote lots of cookbooks, before she sadly was diagnosed with dementia.

This pie is similar to a baked frittata/crustless quiche kind of thing, which I often make for dinner.  You could add cooked bacon, or ham or maybe even fish to this one.  But we are having a vegetarian friend coming over for dinner tonight, so we will stick to a non-meaty version.  (Ms P., our poet friend from Tasmania said later that she loved this!)

(Edit: Forgot to say that the book is called Meals without Meat by Alison and Simon Holst.  Also forgot to say that our dear friend is Pam Schindler poet extraordinaire; her books include A Sky you could fall into, and Say, a river.  I think her poems are simply marvellous!)  

golden and smelling heavenly (I suggest lining the dish with baking paper)

Serves 6-8:

ingredients:

500g./18 oz zucchini, grated    see Notes

1 onion, grated

2 garlic cloves, chopped finely or thrown into the food processor with the onion

200g./7 oz mushrooms, chopped or sliced (fairly finely)

4 large eggs

180g./6.3 oz cheddar/vintage cheese, grated

1/2 tsp sea salt

95g./3.4 oz self-raising flour

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2-1 tsp mushroom powder  (optional)

a dash of dried chilli flakes, if you please

herbs of your choice, chopped  (I used parsley and chives)

extra grated cheese for the top (optional)  (I used Parmesan)

tomato slices for the top (optional)   (but you know how I feel about tomatoes, so it's a no from me)

you guessed it!  Zucchini it is!

Method:

Place the grated zucchini, onion and garlic in a large mixing bowl, and add the chopped mushrooms

Add the eggs, cheese and salt to the bowl, and give it all a good mixing with a fork

In go the flour, black pepper, mushroom powder, chilli flakes and chopped herbs, which you stir in well

Grab a large baking dish or 2 x 23cm/9 inch cake or pie tins, and butter them well (or use an oil spray if you must) - you can add some baking paper to the bottom if you feel so inclined   see Notes

Pour this mixture into your tin or dish, and add tomato slices over the top if you fancy, and extra grated cheddar or parmesan cheese if you feel the need for even more cheese

Bake at 200C/400F for 25-40 minutes!  You want the top golden, and the centre feeling firm (says Alison)  (Mine took about 35 minutes)

Let it sit and think about its life choices for 5 minutes, before slicing and serving with a green salad

red onions

Notes:

I suggest using the grating blade on your food processor, and letting it do the work: place the onion and garlic into the bowl and give it a good whizzing, then add the zucchini and whizz away till grated

I used my enamel baking dish, which is 30cm/12 in x 25cm/10 in, but I figured with the extra ingredients like the mushrooms, I will need a bit more space than Alison says to use  (and yes, it fitted perfectly!)

I love me some chives!

gather your ingredients

Mr P. takes the helm of the food processor to grate the veg.

grated veg. courtesy of Mr P.!

tip the ingredients into your large mixing bowl, my friends!

grate some Parmesan for the top

golden and slightly springy to the touch

add a bit of salad to your plate 

and have some proper gelato with fruit for dessert

We bought this fabulous gelato from a local place - Miss Sophia's Gelateria, - which is dangerously close to us :=).  It is SO delicious; our Tassie mate said she had never had better, except in Italy.  And she should know, as she has very recently returned from her writing residency in Tuscany!

Ooh, I meant to tell you:  Mr P. and I gave a talk at our local Historical Society on an interesting place we lived in back in our younger days.  If you'd like to listen (it's only 14 minutes long), you can access it on my Facebook page - Sherry Mackay - dated 7th September.

Ice Cream Sticks in a Puff Pastry Pocket

There is a viral "recipe" going around at the moment, where you take your fave ice cream on a stick and shove it into a hollowed-out croissant.  Of course, this is just a slightly different version of the Sicilian brioche con gelato - ice cream in a brioche bun.  There's really nothing new under the TikTok sun, my friends.

 

Remember that viral potato dish where you sliced lots of spuds, baked them in stock in the oven, or fried them in butter, after baking them, then cutting them into wedges.  That's just that classic French dish Pommes Boulangère!

And what's not to like about these re-invented dishes?  But I thought to myself - why not try something a wee bit different?  I admit there is a tiny bit of faffing here, but it's worth it!  You end up with nutty, chocolatey pockets full of ice cream.  Winner!

  

nutty and chocolatey! and full of ice cream natch :=)

Original recipe by moi:

Serves 2:

ingredients:

40-50g./1.4-1.8 oz pistachios  (or nuts of your choice)

1 x sheet of butter puff pastry  (24cm x 24cm/9.5 in x 9.5 in)

50g.-60g./1.8-2 oz milk OR dark chocolate

2 ice creams on a stick - your fave type (I used pistachio)

Yep, pistachios!

Method:

First, toss and toast your nuts for a few minutes in a small frypan - watch them carefully; they turn black fast!  Mm, who me?  Burn 'em? Hehehe ... Then chop finely, or throw into a food processor and zap away till you have a nutty dust with some small nutty chunks

Now for the pastry: Line a baking tray with baking paper, place the thawed pastry on top, and cut into quarters

Bake at 180C/350F for about 15 minutes, till golden and puffed

Take out of the oven, cool for a minute or two, then grab a piece of kitchen paper or a clean tea towel, and squish those puffy little suckers till all the air comes out of 'em; et voilà, you have the makings of 2 pastry pockets

So go and melt your chocolate; microwave method is fine by me

Take a silicone pastry brush and paint two of the quarters with the melted chocolate, and a little around the edges of the other 2 quarters

Throw some nutty dust onto the melted chocolate on your base piece of pastry

Place one pastry piece on top of another, and press down gently on 3 sides, forming a pocket with an opening for your ice cream on a stick

You now have 2 pockets; paint the tops of them with more chocolate, and throw on the rest of the nut dust

Pull/cut your ice creams off their wooden sticks, and shove 'em into the pockets, and there you have it: 'ice cream in a pocket'

Notes:

Use your fave nuts and flavour of ice cream

toast those nuts

and bake the pastry quarters at 180C for about 15 mins.

flatten those little babies out

melt the chocolate and get ready to make pastry pockets

plaster the chocolate on, and throw on the nuts

grab an ice cream on a stick :=), and shove into your pastry pocket

more chocolate and nuts on top - so dive in!

choose any flavour you like!

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!