Irish Coffee Cake Scones

I love scones and am always looking for a delicious recipe to try.  I spied a recipe the other day on a blog called Seasonly Creations for Irish Coffee Cake Scones.  They looked really good so I thought I would give them a go! What a tasty way to end the month of May!

A basic scone recipe is created and then topped with a brown sugar and nut streusel before baking.  It does use a mix of dark brown and white sugars, and plenty of nutmeg which was a bit different. I thought I would give you an action shot of them ready to go into the oven!  Yes, I do end up having to use my table as a preparation surface most of the time as I have almost nil counter space in the kitchen.  

There really is only an area about 3 feet in length and by the time you put a toaster, a kettle and a knife block on it, prep surface is minimal at best. Now back to the scones.

The dough was really easy to put together, most scone doughs are.  You can't go wrong so long as you use a light hand. The original recipe said to cut the fat into the flour, but I have always found that rubbing it in with your finger tips works much better. 

It uses buttermilk, which usually makes for great scones.  I was a bit nervous about this recipe however, as it did not call for any baking soda, just baking powder.  I always understood that you needed to use some soda with an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk in order to get a good rise. 

I crossed my fingers and went with the recipe however and hoped that they would turn out like they should.  Her's certainly looked alright! 

As you can see however, my worry was for naught as I got a really nice rise!  I used some currants that I had in the cupboard from Whitworths, seedless ones, and really tiny. They worked beautifully and the end result in the finished scones was lovely.  

I confess I probably added an addition handful because I like lots of fruit. The only thing I wasn't totally fond of was the use of white vegetable shortening in the crumble topping, and to be honest, it kind of melted a bit. I had been thinking it would stand up like the crumble on a coffee cake, but it didn't.  I am not sure how you could get around that.  

And I am not sure butter instead of shortening would make any difference.  I checked back at hers on the other blog and they looked the same.  I think if just a bit more flour was added it might make a difference, but I will try that the next time around.  Maybe bake one and let you know.  They were really very good however and I will be making them again! 

 

*Irish Coffee Cake Scones*

Makes 12

Printable Recipe 

Flaky sweet scones studded with plenty of dried currants and topped with a coffee cake streusal crumb topping. 

For the scones:

340g of plain flour (2 1/2 cups)

50g soft dark brown sugar (1/4 cup)

45g white sugar (1/4 cup)

1 TBS baking powder

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

115g of dried currants (3/4 cup)

120g cold unsalted butter (1/2 cup) cut into cubes

2 large free range eggs, lightly beaten

120ml buttermilk (1/2 cup)

2 tsp almond extract 

To glaze:

2 TBS milk

1 large free range egg, beaten 

For the streusel:

73g of white vegetable shortening (1/3 cup)

40g chopped toasted pecans (1/3 cup)

50g of soft light brown sugar plus 2 TBS (1/4 cup, plus 2 TBS)

2 TBS white sugar

3 TBS plain flour

pinch salt 

 

 To make the streusel, rub the flour and both sugars together with the salt to combine and work out any lumps in the sugar.  Drop in the shortening and rub all together with a fork to completely incorporate.  Stir in the chopped nuts.  Set aside.
 

For the Scones sift the flour into the bowl  Stir in both sugars, the baking powder, the nutmeg and the salt.  Rub all together to make sure any lumps from the sugar are broken up. Drop in the butter, rub it in with your fingertips until you have a mixture which resembles fine bread crumbs. 

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  LIne a large baking tray with baking paper. Set aside. 

Beat the egg and milk together for the glaze and set aside. 

Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and almond extract for the scones.  Make a well in the middle of the scone mixture and dump in the wet ingredients.  Stir together with a fork until the mixture begins to come together into a soft dough.  Tip out onto a lightly floured board and knead lightly for a few turns.  Divide the dough in half and shape each half gently into a circle which is 5 inches across and 1 inch tall.  Cut each into six wedges.  Place onto the baking sheet, leaving plenty of space in between for rising, spreading.  Brush the tops with the glaze and then spring a heaped TBS of the streusel on top of each. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes.  Serve warm with your favourite hot drink!

 

Other than changing a few things about the way I put these together, I basically followed the recipe as per written and I found them to be quite, quite delicious. Even the day after.  I do have to say that next time I would leave out the almond extract.  I am not sure that it added anything at all to the flavour of the scones, and to be honest it wasn't a very "Irish" addition. Using the dark brown sguar however gave them a beautiful colour. Warm out of the oven, split and buttered, they were utterly devine!  Bon Appetit!