Touching in with my Scottish Roots

     The reason I named the blog the Kilted Baker was of how proud I am of my Scottish ancestry. Yesterday I celebrated that culture and history by attending the Bardstown Highland games. I got to wear my kilt, meet family members, and enjoy the athletic events. I was impressed with the games even though they are only four years old. Each year they have grown and expect even better things next year. I was also hoping to eat tasty Scottish food like haggis (it is better than you think and don't knock it til you try it), scones, and shortbread. None of these delicious foods were present which was quite the bummer, I don't come across haggis that much in South Central Kentucky unless at a Highland Games. I joked around with a dear friend about opening up my own booth next year to serve scones. We had fun discussing the finer details of serving scones with strawberry jam and devon cream. Alas, we will probably not open up the booth and share the moist and tender scones that I bake.

     This scones are possibly the best scones on the planet! I get requests to make them all the time. Moist, buttery, and warm, they are the perfect after dinner dessert or great with afternoon tea. Sometimes I steer away from the plain and add fresh blueberries, under duress I will cook chocolate chip cookie scones. Hopefully one day you on the internet will be able to taste these scones whether through the mail or if I ever open up my own bakery. I wish I could share the recipe with you so you can make your own tasty scones but I can't. It's a secret family recipe that I guard closely. I can direct you to an okay version of scones here! With these basic recipe you can add ingredients like ginger chips, dried apricots, or other additions. Also, I  might replace the milk/half-and-half with buttermilk. I think the tangy taste that buttermilk gives is a better complement to the jam and cream that will be generously topped on the scone.

     I will give you a few tips to making scones below:

1. Always, always, always be gentle with the scone dough. You want the least amount of gluten to develop. Each time you mess with the dough more and more gluten develops which will make your once tender scone very tough. 
2. Add the liquid slowly and mix in little by little. You could quickly use too much liquid which will cause the scone to be a little too moist. 
3. Pat the scones out into the desired shape to bake, using a rolling pin might compress the dough and not let the scones rise as much as you want. 
4. Let the scones rest before putting them in the oven so they relax the little amount of gluten formed. 
5. Eat the scones quickly after removing them from the oven. They are better still warm and not reheated. 

Hope this helps and comment with your own tips or ask questions if you want more help.