scones for sledding

Yesterday we had the crew up for a sledding party. It was 18 degrees outside and the children stayed outside for hours, riding the hill just off our deck. My son's cheeks were so rosy for hours after he came inside, I checked his temperature just to see if it was because of a fever! However, we did lure the kids inside with hot chocolate, chili and scones.

This is a buttermilk scone taught to me by my dear friend Becky. It is easy and it is good!

Buttermilk scones (fry bread, sopapia whatever you want to call it!)

4 c buttermilk

8 c flour

3 T oil

7 T sugar

1/2 t baking soda

3 t baking powder

2 T yeast

3/4 c warm water

So my friend Becky is old school, she is all about the glass bowl and wooden spoon when she does dough. She has a kitchen aid that still sits in the box in her basement. So she would do all this by hand, but I however am a slave to the dough hook. So I will post how I did it in the kitchen aid.

Dissolve the yeast and 1 T of the sugar in the warm water. Combine the remaining sugar, baking soda, and baking powder with half of the flour. Mix together. Next add oil, yeast mixture and buttermilk and combine with the paddle attachment. Switch to the dough hook and begin adding the remaining flour, one cup at a time until all the flour is added and continue to knead until the dough is smooth. As always, I like to do the final kneading with my hands. Doing the final hand knead lets you get familiar with what good dough is supposed to be like, and will improve you bread making skills. Plus, it is so fun to put your hands in dough, I can't resist it! Spray your bowl with pam and return the to dough to it. Cover it and let it rise in a warm spot. Let it rise till almost triple if you can wait that long.It should get huge. Now Becky rolls hers out cuts them into perfect shapes, lets them rise a little and then fries them. I did that the first time, but last night, I just tore a piece off, stretched it out and fried it. Either way is good, the first producing a nicer scone, but not by much. It should also be noted that it is not a mistake that salt is not in the recipe, the buttermilk compensates for that.

I have a deep fat fryer, but you can heat about 4 inches of vegetable oil on the stove. It hot enough when you drop your dough in the oil it sinks to the bottom then floats to the top, if its really slow to float to the top, not hot enough, floats up really really fast, too hot.

Thank goodness winter is here, but scones and chili just aren't as good without snow and sledding.

note: my husband and children made it the whole night in the tent on the deck. I couldn't believe it, I woke up with no children next to me and I hod to go outside and make sure they weren't all frozen to death. They were all cozy warm curled around their dad like little puppies.