it's that time of year.
right now, your drinks should have 3 qualifications:
1. they should be hot.
2. your drinks should not skimp on whipped cream
and 3. all spoons shall be replaced with peppermint sticks.
kapeesh fools?
ok. it's tea time. (with scones!)
except that the tea is replaced with hot malty delight.
hot malted vanilla. with dollops of chocolate whipped cream.
it's like an inverted hot chocolate, where the chocolate and vanilla switched rolls. like in a freaky friday movie. or one with jason bateman.
now as for the scones...they are everything a good scone should be.
it's my favorite cream scone. with some dried sour cherries and chunks of white chocolate.
don't have sour cherries or white chocolate? use dried apricots or blueberries or currants! throw in candied ginger, or toasted almonds, or chocolate covered espresso beans!
OR we can get crazy and add absolutely nothing at all. i relish in the thought of a perfect unadultered cream scone...they are toootally delicious and delicate enough to hold their own with no shmancy add ins.
yesterday was just a sour cherry kind of day. mm. i am quite fond of sour cherries. and butter on a hot scone. and tea time with no tea.
would you be more likely to show up at my door if i invited you for afternoon tea or for afternoon hot malted vanilla with billowy chocolate cream?
yea.
EAT That UP.
Hot Malted Vanilla with Chocolate Whipped Cream
adapted from here
*it's important to use good vanilla here since it is the star of the show. i used tahitian vanilla extract that i love dearly. alternately, you can use the scraped seeds of half a vanilla bean.
4 cups milk
2/3 cup malted milk powder
1/4 light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
little pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. add the remaining ingredients and whisk until dissolved. remove 1 cup milk mixture and puree in a blender, about 2 minutes. divide the milk in 4 mugs and top with the pureed milk.
Chocolate Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp good cocoa powder
sift powdered sugar and cocoa. whip cream in a mixer until soft peaks form. add sugar and cocoa mixture and mix til all incorporated. dollop over hot vanilla.
Cream Scones with Dried Sour Cherries and White Chocolate
base scone recipe from America's Test Kitchen, can be found here
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/3 cup dried sour cherries
1/4 cup white chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup cream
raw sugar for sprinkling
preheat oven to 425. place flour, baking powder, sugar, zest, and salt in bowl or work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. whisk together or pulse six times.
if making by hand, use a pastry blender or fork to quickly cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few larger butter clumps. stir in cherries and chocolate. if using a food processor, remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second. add cherries and chocolate and pulse once more. transfer dough to a large bowl.
stir in the cream with a rubber spatula or fork until dough forms together. transfer dough and all the dry, floury bits to a floured countertop and knead dough by hand until it comes together in a rough, sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. form scones by either pressing the dough into an 8 inch circle cake pan, then turning the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cutting 8 wedges with a knife or bench scraper...Or patting the dough on a floured work surface into a 3/4 inch thick circle, and cutting circles with a biscuit cutter.
place scone wedges or rounds on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment, sprinkle the tops with raw sugar, and bake until tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. serve warm or at room temperature.
these scones are best eaten the day they are made.
