Scone

Here's a whole-grain update of that longtime British favorite, the scone. Serve it with hot tea at any time of the day or evening.

These British scones, created by the mother of Martha Stewart Living design director James Dunlinson, resemble small, thick pancakes.

We used sanding sugar on the tops; granulated sugar works just as well. The scones are best eaten the day they are made, but they will keep up to 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature. This recipe was developed by Emily Donahue for Rosey’s Coffee and Tea in Hanover, New Hampshire.

When baked, these scones can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

The dough for these savory scones gets its unique texture and flavor from a combination of butter and olive oil. It was inspired by a similarly flavored yeast bread sold at Amy’s Bread in New York City.

These scones are so rich and dense, you may prefer to eat them as an afternoon snack, rather than for breakfast. Either way, they’re great with coffee.

Feel free to substitute other dried fruits for the apricots. We particularly like using sour cherries, cranberries, golden raisins, or chopped figs.

Sanding sugar is coarser than granulated sugar and lends a lovely sparkle when sprinkled over the tops of scones, biscuits, pies, and cookies before baking. It is available at baking-supply stores and many grocery stores.

These scones appear atop our deli case every morning, although not for long—we always sell out within a couple of hours. Unlike many scones, they’re not too sweet. Pair with a cup of coffee and the newspaper and you have the formula for a perfect Sunday morning. If you’re serving a crowd, this recipe can be doubled. You’ll need an extra-large bowl for your mixer, or you can make them by hand.

Making your own bread is immensely satisfying. At the Green Kitchen, we had demonstrations of two very quick ways to put bread on your table: Darina’s traditional Irish soda bread and Scott Peacock’s buttermilk biscuits (page 33). Neither of these recipes requires the dough to sit for hours while it rises, because neither of them relies on yeast. Instead they are lightened by the chemical reaction that occurs between the buttermilk and the baking soda (or baking powder) when the dough goes into the oven. For this book, I’ve added a third recipe, this one for Jim Lahey’s yeast bread (page 35). Jim, proprietor of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, has a brilliant method of making a country loaf that develops flavor in a long, slow rise, but which, like Darina’s soda bread, requires no kneading at all. None of these three recipes is complicated. Darina’s soda bread is something I make at home all the time. From start to finish, you can have fresh bread in less than an hour.

You can put this dough together in just a few minutes. These scones are surprisingly light and are delicious as an after-school snack or with afternoon tea.

The combination of strawberry jam and piney rosemary may sound strange, but together they add up to the perfect blend of sweet and savory—and these scones, which are a bit lighter in texture than regular ones, smell incredible as they bake. I think using a heart-shaped biscuit cutter makes them even prettier.

My friends Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle, owners of Boggy Creek Farm in Austin, sell the most fabulous smoked tomatoes. I’ve used them to enhance meat dishes and salads. But I’d never tried them in a bread or scone, so I came up with this recipe to showcase them. As soon as the first fragrant scone came out of the oven, I knew I’d be delighted with the result. I even devised a way to use the day-old scones to stuff my Three Pigs pork tenderloin (page 33). As much as I love Larry’s smoked tomatoes, I must admit the scones are delicious made with any high-quality sun dried tomatoes.

These colorful scones are crumbly and rich from the combination of Cheddar cheese and spinach. A more substantial scone than some of the sweet ones, these go well with just about any salad and are also good with a frittata.