Maple Scone and Bacon Two Cheese Scone

The Raw Maple Scone

Its Saturday afternoon. True Loaf, the bakery that I usually collect my morning bread from is closed for a spring break and I’m considering Sunday morning breakfast; for me, breakfast consists of two primary elements, large honey sweetened mugs of tea – one mug on a work day, two on an off work day – with some sort of bread. But without True Loaf – a weekend treat is the date-fennel bread – I’m left to consider what bread to have for Sunday breakfast. For about four years my workday, and some days my days off, began with my making scones; I can’t really remember, but it seems to me that Domus offered scones before lunch and, more importantly, scones with afternoon tea. I haven’t made scones in some time and think that maybe tomorrow morning would be about the right time to make a batch again.
The first question is savory or sweet? What to make, what to make: I don’t just want scones for breakfast, so I decide to make cheese scones-bacon scones. But my son doesn’t eat meat; I’ve tried to explain that bacon isn’t meat, its bacon, like salt is salt and pepper is pepper. It’s much more than meat; he doesn’t see my argument and won’t eat the cheese-bacon scone. I would just leave the bacon out, but that’s really like leaving out the salt and pepper and I don’t really like the idea. So….it will be savoury and sweet.
My favourite scone in the old days was a maple scone and I decide to go with it to accompany the cheese bacon scone.
I will be using extra old Cheddar and Romano cheeses: I like sharp hard cheeses in my scones and I have these in the house. If I didn’t and I had o go looking, I might try a hard old sheep’s milk cheese, which will push the direction of the scone, or maybe even a hard blue cheese. If you prefer, a fresh goat’s cheese is a different variation, a softer, tangy-chalky scone. I really don’t use a lot of bacon and cook it to crisp and dry, to give create distinct instances of texture and flavour in the scone. The other element that I think is important in a cheese scone is spice: either grind a healthy sprinkle of fresh black pepper into the scone – if you have pre-ground pepper in the house, run, don’t walk, and throw it out! While it may be black-grey speckled it lacks the piquant element of fresh ground pepper, which isn’t to say I don’t pre-grind pepper. I do, but I use it within a day. Anyhow, if you don’t have fresh ground black pepper, use a pinch of cayenne. And toss in a palm – something less than a handful – of fresh herbs.
As to the sweet scone, the real trick is to reduce the maple syrup: this both intensifies the flavour, giving a rich maple undertone to the scone and controls the amount of liquid being added to the batter. I had the end of last season’s maple sugar in the cupboard and used it with the reduced maple syrup; if you don’t, use as raw a brown sugar as you have at hand. You can also use a teaspoon of lemon zest in the maple scones, to balance the sweetness and bring out the flavour of the maple.
Finally, and most importantly don’t over work the scone dough. For small batch, like we’re making here, I work the wet ingredients into the dough using a dinner fork, and once its come together, work it as little as possible to shape into a slab of dough, before rolling it out. Roll it out once, cut the scones, bring it back together and cut another set of scones – what’s left over, I call the bakery’s portion, a left over nob of dough that I devour before it comes to the table.

For a long time I had eggs over with bacon and maybe fried tomatoes.
With age I've learned to appreciate the pure flavour of a poached egg -
I poach in water with as little vinegar as I can get away with. 

Cheese Bacon Scone

2 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground pepper or ¼ tsp. cayenne 1 cup each Cheddar and Romano cheese
½ cup bacon, diced 6 Tbsp. butter
½ cup chopped herbs – parsley, chive 1/3 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
Place the bacon in a pan with about a quarter cup of water, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the water is cooked off and the bacon fat rendered; continue to cook until the bacon is crisp; set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sat and pepper; set aside. Cut the butter into small cubes; set aside. Grate and combine the cheeses; set aside. Beat the eggs into the buttermilk; set aside. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, working until the flour is coarse and crumbly, sort of like oatmeal; cut the cheese mixture into the flour mixture, working to incorporate. Toss in the bacon and herbs, stirring to combine. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; pour in the buttermilk mixture and work, with a fork, to combine. Once rough dough has formed, work with your hands to bring it together. Roll out and cut scone; bring the dough together and roll out again, cutting the final scones. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes, until a beautiful golden brown. Let cool a bit before serving.

In the foreground sweet maple scones and in the background cheddar and bacon scones.
I like the maple scones with goat cheese and peach rum conserve.

Maple Scones

½ cup of maple syrup, reduced to ¼ cup
3 cups flour ¼ cup sugar – maple or raw brown
1 Tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt 8 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup buttermilk 2 eggs
2 Tbsp. 35% cream + 1 Tbsp. maple syrup, combined
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. Cut the butter into small cubes; set aside. Beat the eggs and reduced maple syrup into the buttermilk; set aside. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, working until the flour is coarse and crumbly, sort of like oatmeal. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; pour in the buttermilk mixture and work, with a fork, to combine. Once rough dough has formed, work with your hands to bring it together. Roll out and cut scone; bring the dough together and roll out again, cutting the final scones. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes, until a beautiful golden brown. Let cool a bit before serving.