Buttermilk to go

No matter how much I train myself to love superfood breakfasts like fruit smoothies or cooked oats, I always come back to coffee and scones.


Daily smoothies would be perfect if I had a live-in Jack Lalanne to prepare my breakfast to-go. (Alas, I do not.) Also, when I cook oatmeal, even when I spike it with flax and walnuts and--let's not hide things--butter, my stomach is a screaming banshee by 11 am. I don't know if an enzyme imbalance or my bum-ass metabolism is to blame, but I do know what works: coffee and a good scone.

For me, coffee is so wonderful that I name my top six coffee-related songs with no mental prep:*

1. "Coffee and TV" - Blur
2. "Cigarettes and Coffee" - Otis Redding
3. "Black Coffee" - Ella Fitzgerald
4. "Coffee Shop Girl" - Ozma
5. "The Coffee Song" - Frank Sinatra (Soul Coughing sings my favorite version.)
6. "Starfish and Coffee" - Prince

Scones accompany coffee almost as well as cream does. Unlike giant gas station muffins, they don't scream, "Look at me! I forgot to eat breakfast." They're classy, low-key. The scones I love most come packed with flavorful treats like walnuts, spices and fruit. Also, I love that scones are easy to carry, since I never leave enough time for breakfast.

I started making scones in my College Hill Coffee days. There, cranberry-orange buttermilk scones reigned supreme. In the CHC kitchen, I learned to cut in the cold butter, to make buttermilk from vinegar and milk, and to quickly press the scone dough together into a flaky round. After slicing the dough and a quick bake in the oven, CHC's cranberry buttermilk scones often sold within a few hours.

Years later, when I was morning shift manager at a Starbucks, I'd take my 7 am "lunch break" with a foamy latte and maple-nut scone. Starbucks also carries a cranberry-orange scone, but nothing tops the ones from College Hill Coffee. Now when I make scones at home, I always use the CHC recipe as my foundation. I might swap in cranberries and lemon, or sprinkle poppy seeds on top, but the proportions are always the same as the original recipe.

I made some great swaps in my last batch of scones. Instead of tart cranberries, I filled them with soothing apricot and buttery walnuts, then swirled cinnamon and cardamom through the dough. They went over well at work. I think my boss ate three. Thanks, College Hill Coffee, for teaching me another recipe that keeps on giving.

Buttermilk scones! (the fruit + nut variety)
from the College Hill Coffee Cookbook
makes 1 dozen scones

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¾ c. cold butter
• 1 c. – 1Tb. Milk
• 1Tb. Vinegar
• 1 tsp. grated orange peel (optional)
• 1 cup dried apricots (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
• ½ cup walnut pieces (or almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, etc.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small cup, combine the milk and vinegar. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to create buttermilk (because who keeps buttermilk on hand these days?)

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter or the tines of a fork, working until the butter is incorporated with the flours in tiny pieces. Stir the buttermilk into the flours until just combined. Fold in the fruit and walnuts.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and lightly pat and squish the dough into two 6”-diameter circles. (The less you knead the dough, the flakier the scones will be.) Add cinnamon-sugar swirl.** Divide each circle into six wedges, and brush the scone tops with milk. Sprinkle a spoonful of sugar on the scone tops if you like.

Transfer the scones to the baking sheets, leaving 2” between each scone. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

**I marbled a cinnamon-sugar mixture through the dough before I cut it into scones. I mixed 2 Tb. Cinnamon, ½ tsp. cardamom, ½ tsp. sugar, and 1 Tb. water into a thick paste. Then, I use that paste to “glue” together random chunks of scone dough before I pat it into the circles. This creates lovely ribbons of spice.



*I did not list "Java Jive" by Manhattan Transfer because I wish that barbershop quartets worldwide would retire it, forever.


If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

Ms. Rita's banana bread
Pumpkin cream cheese muffins
Chocolate chip biscotti with orange
CHC Blueberry Muffins