A scone-like thing?

So after having an overwhelming couple of weeks, I finally found time to bake! On a side note I had an event for a club last weekend and used a few of the past recipes that I've tried for the blog and they were once again a huge success. I love being able to incorporate these new findings in my regular baking repertoire. This project has turned out to be much more than just a procrastination tool from work. It's become sort of a way of life for me.

As promised in my last entry, I made tea biscuits, which according to Buddy are "sconelike pastries." According to the book, they were the first mixing that Buddy ever did at Carlo's. The tricky part about this recipe is that you stop the mixer before the dough looks thoroughly mixed together. Buddy describes it as "until all of the ingredients just barely hold together... the dough will look unfinished and flaky." I feel like this is a recipe that is best taught by watching someone else do it, so you know exactly what it should look like, aka how flaky is just flaky enough. Of course, I am just going off a book without pictures, so had to use my best judgment. I think that I stopped it at the right point, because the dough wasn't rubbery, but for all I know I could have stopped it even earlier! Who knows, maybe I'm developing a real bakers instinct?

My biggest complaint with this recipe is that it only yielded 12 biscuits. Usually I get at least 24 out a recipe, which allows for my testing group to be larger. The recipe still was pretty simple to make, even though I found the dough a bit difficult due to it's flaky nature. The recipe also called for a pastry icing on top, which the biscuit really could have done without. A few of my tasters commented that the icing was too sweet and a bit unnecessary. With the exception of a couple of tasters, no one knew what to expect from a tea biscuit. Most of the grading was from individuals who had nothing to compare this tea biscuit experience with.

The average grade for these tea biscuits was a B.

Some of the comments were:
"Love it!"
"Perfect! I need tea now."
"Really good, but a bit too dry for my taste."

I don't think this recipe is going to go on my list of future repeats, but it's always nice to try something new!

Keep reading, commenting, etc.

xoxo!