Irish-ish Scones

After posting about Nichole's Irish wedding the other day, I couldn't stop thinking about scones. In particular, the scones that my roommate came back dreaming about. The impossibly tall, impossibly flaky scones the wedding party ate at the Bellinter House.



Having never been to Ireland (I once arrived at Heathrow, ticket to Dublin in hand, and went home instead of to Ireland, but that's a story for a different day) I can't definitively say that this is a true Irish scone. Like biscuits or bagels in America, I'd imagine there's debate among the Irish about what variety embodies the Platonic ideal of a scone (this post, with a biscuit-like scone recipe, hints at that).





I don't know what Plato (or an Irishman, for that matter) would have to say about this scone, but I found it pretty tasty. Nearly as tall as the pictures from Bellinter, with a rich, shortbread-y flavor tasted that just as good plain as it did with jam.



Bellinter House Scones
recipe adapted from this one by Mark Johnston

- 5 cups flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 heaping teaspoon salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter (Irish butter if possible)
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups golden raisins, if desired

Preheat the oven to 425.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter (or your fingers) until the butter is in small pieces and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Whisk eggs and vanilla into the milk. Add the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, being careful not to over-mix (I find it easier to do this part with my hands).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat out to 3/4" thick. It'll be crumbly. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are lightly brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.