FAMILY MEDICINE® COLUMN
By John C. Wolf, D.O.
Associate Professor of Family Medicine®
Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine

SCONES: A "NEW" TREAT THIS CHRISTMAS FROM CHEF WOLF

During the holiday season for the last few years I've written about festive food I like to prepare for my family as a break from the routine of discussing human ailments. This offering isn't specifically festive. In fact, I discovered these simple but delectable scones while in the Seattle, Washington, area for my son's wedding this past August. Yes, I've led a sheltered life. I'd never eaten a scone before August of 1995.

For those readers who have also missed this culinary delight, a scone is a small, rich, biscuit-like pastry or quick bread. The following recipe is one I've created in an attempt to reproduce the delightful breads I purchased from a small bakery in Poulsbo, Washington. I think mine are very close to the bakers. The ingredients are as follows:

3 cups flour

3/4 cup butter - cut up

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons powdered buttermilk and one cup water

- or -

one cup fresh buttermilk

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

3/4 cup raisins or dates

1/3 cup sugar

For topping:

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon with 2 tablespoons sugar

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, powdered buttermilk. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse cornmeal. (Don't overdo it here. It is better to have the butter "too coarse" rather than "too fine.") Add the orange peel, raisins or dates. Add all the milk or water to the dry ingredients at one time. Stir until mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured board and shape into a circle that is between 3/4 of an inch and one-inch tall. Cut this into eight pieces as if it were a pie. Place the wedge-shaped slices on a baking sheet and lightly coat their tops with milk. Combine 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon with two tablespoons of sugar. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture onto the moist tops.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden. These treats are best when served warm.

Please try variations on this basic scone recipe. I've found that different flours make an amazing difference in the texture and flavor of the final product. I also vary the type of dried fruit I use to please the intended consumers. Some of my family love dates while others disdain them. I have used cooking oils with a high percentage of unsaturated fats instead of butter with fair success. I think they are fine, but when I really want to please a crowd, I use real butter. I hope you enjoy your scones. I also want to offer you my personal best wishes for a festive and healthy holiday season and a happy new year.

Family Medicine® is a weekly column. To submit questions, write to John C. Wolf, D.O., Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Grosvenor Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701.