SERENE CHATS: There is one food tradition in my home that trumps all others . . . Scones, Jam, and Cream Night. It is what my children plead me to make on their birthdays or any special celebration. In fact, I am sworn by a pinkie promise to have Scones, Jam, and Cream Night for them when Pearl and I finish with this crazy, ginormous book. You see, it is more than a recipe. It is an event . . . a special night of decadent, sweet comfort. This recipe is found in the “Family Theme Nights” section of Trim Healthy Table Cookbook on page 287.
Scones, Jam and Cream Night
Description
SERENE CHATS: There is one food tradition in my home that trumps all others . . . Scones, Jam, and Cream Night. It is what my children plead me to make on their birthdays or any special celebration. In fact, I am sworn by a pinkie promise to have Scones, Jam, and Cream Night for them when Pearl and I finish with this crazy, ginormous book. You see, it is more than a recipe. It is an event . . . a special night of decadent, sweet comfort. This recipe is found in the "Family Theme Nights" section of Trim Healthy Table Cookbook on page 287.
Ingredients
Make Your Scones
Make the Jam Gravy
Whip the Cream
Instructions
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MAKE YOUR SCONES
Bake up a batch or two of Plain Flower Scones (page 249). These scones are crispy on the outside and soft and steaming in the center. One batch makes 16 scones (see Note, page 288 of THT).
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MAKE THE JAM GRAVY
While the scones are baking, make your Jam Gravy. You want everything ready to go once the scones are done. You can bake the scones earlier in the day if you want, but be sure to do a quick 5- to 10-minute reheat in a 350°F oven so they are crisp with steaming centers.
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Place the frozen berries in a soup pot and add 2 cups of the boiled water. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer, stirring from time to time. After a few minutes, when the berries are melting, reduce the heat to medium-low.
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Put the remaining 2 cups boiled water in a blender with the Gluccie and blend until smooth. Add this to the berries and stir the pot well. If using baobab powder, stir it into the lemon juice and stir out all the lumps. Add the lemon juice (with or without baobab) and the sweetener to the jam. As soon as the jam is lovely and hot and all the berries are heated through, it is ready to serve.
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WHIP THE CREAM
Put the cream, sweetener, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.
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FILL YOUR BOWL
Not a plate! A plate won’t do at all! There is a traditional order to how we assemble this meal. Place a couple hot-from-the oven scones in the bottom of your bowl. (Some like to rip them up into chunks and others keep them whole.) Ladle a generous serving of jam over your scones so they start swimming in it, then top the center of your bowl with cream.
Note
Recipe Notes
Introduction continued..... I can’t claim to be the instigator of this special tradition. I am just one sibling among others who carry on the baton from our mum, and she carried it on from her mother before that. When I think of my nana, her famous scones appear in my mind. She always had a batch steaming fresh from the oven when guests would visit.
I have to admit, though, that the scone recipe that we share here is not our historic family tradition. Scones are usually blood-sugar igniters that pile on the fat since they contain lots of starch and lots of butter. We put our thinking caps on and came up with this delicious scone that rocks and rolls with the jam and cream all the while Trimming you a pretty waist. Down Under, where we come from, scones are more like biscuits. But we don’t call them biscuits because biscuits are our cookies . . . get it?
Also don’t expect to put a firm little plop of jam on your scone like you may have seen in a British movie. The jam that we are talking about for this celebration night is more like jam soup. Don’t say “Blech!” or “Yuk!” or “I’ll just skip that part and put on a dab of ‘all-fruit’ or sumpin.” No no no! If you do this night you have to do it RIGHT! The jam is literally the best part. It is tart, sweet, and simmering hot and you ladle it generously over your scones like a berry gravy so it becomes the scone swimming pool, then top off your gorgeous bowl with cold whipped clouds of fresh cream. Oh, the joy! And you fill up much better this way.
Many hands make light the work, and when you have a crowd to feed you usually have a crowd to help. I usually get nagged at by quite a few of my children about who gets to whip the cream. They all want that job as the one who whips gets the whipper doodads to lick afterward. Making the jam is super simple and is easily taught and farmed out to a willing helper.
NOTE: If you have an army-size family (like I do) and have lots of growing children without weight issues, you may want to make just 1 batch of Plain Flower Scones for family members on the Trimming side of the plan along with a much bigger batch of regular scones using sprouted-wheat flour for growing, hungry tummies (look up a recipe online).
Complimentary Recipe:
Plain Flower Scones
