More scones

Continuing with my nascent sconology I whipped up a batch of ginger walnut scones when I got home this evening. 

Leslie loves ginger and these are our chef friend Melissa's favorite scones. They were somewhat loosely based on Martin Philip's recipe although he uses no nuts.

I added diced walnuts and diced candied ginger, both minced very finely. About a half a cup of the latter. Some recipes call for raw ginger as well but I thought that this would be enough and it was for me although my wife said I should put more in next time.

There was only one crisis when I realized I had no baking powder. Melissa told Leslie that the stuff with aluminum in it is bad for you and will make things taste metallic and my wife threw it in the trash without telling me.

Not having backup baking powder I ultimately fished it out of the bin and gave the container a serious rinse. Yuck! 

Thanks, girls.

It is an interesting recipe. I added salt, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamon, coriander, brown sugar and cloves. Philip likes to grind everything from the whole spice and I suppose that I could have but did not. I was a little flummoxed with the black pepper but what the hell, I put it in. (Ed: Here is why, thank you RoxAnn)

Finished up with a turbinado sugar egg wash.

Because it lacked all the moisture of the fresh peaches, this dough was much more easy to handle.

The final product was still rough and organic, not pretty perfect.

My wife came home and absolutely loved them, spicy but less sweet than the peach version. 

We have a really great Italian butter in the fridge drawer right now, almost white in color and it really was a nice flavor combination on the warm scone.

I gave it a few more minutes in the oven and it got a nice crisp and finish, less doughy and cakey than the peach. 

I love them both! But the peach is still my favorite. And the next batch will be even better.

Next time I think I combine the two recipes. I have only begun to scone...