Depending on your nationality, dialect and whether you eat tomAYtoes or tomARtoes will have a bearing on your pronunciation of this week’s Monday Munchies title.
I asked the maid in dulcet tone
To order me a buttered scone;
The silly girl has been and gone
And ordered me a buttered scone.
Source, Wikipedia (Anon.)
Personally, having the flattened Yorkshire tones peculiar to the East Riding of the county, it makes no sense to me. You see, I’m a ‘scone as in bone‘, not a ‘scone as in gone‘ kinda girl. Actually, I’m more ‘scern as in fern‘ (Mum’s been on fern, she’s made a batch o’ scerns…) but enough about my accent…I’ll leave you to decipher the translation!
However, as today marks Burns’ Night in Scotland, I thought I’d honour their pronunciation for the purpose of making my title work! Oh, and because I discovered something I wasn’t aware of: Scones originate from Scotland!
Yes, scoanes, scons, whatever you call these delightful treats that are the cornerstone of cream teas, have been baked in Scotland for hundreds of years, with the first mention of the word dating back to 1513.
So Scotland, we thank you for introducing these tasty treasures to the world!
Following on from last week’s musing on Afternoon Tea, I had a craving for scones. And here’s where I discovered something else I didn’t know – how to make them! My plan had been foiled already 😔 Surely, I’ve whipped up a batch at some point in life haven’t I?
Well, yes. A bit of trawling through photos (because even before the blog, and without the excuse of Instagram, I was annoying enough to snap practically every morsel of food I ate or prepared!), showed I had made some gluten free ones a couple of years ago. Unlike cupcake recipes that I can do from memory though, scones were not going to be as obliging, so a-Googling I went.
I settled on this recipe from Jamie Oliver. His attitude to measurements has always been to my liking – a slack handful of this, whack in a bit of that, oh and let’s save on washing up, I’ll just serve it up on my chopping board…
In fact, at one point in the recipe he calls for you to pull it all together in a scruffy mess. (Was he talking about me or the mixture?) I’m good at mess, I can do this!
I opted to mix in a three-way, equal split of raisins, cranberries and dark chocolate chunks and aside from this and adding a little more milk to help the dough be more pliable, for once I didn’t change the instructions!
The result: They look good and taste…decent. Although much better with the addition of some jam and cream, they weren’t the scones I’d planned on.
For me they were a little too dry and next time I make them (because I will, they were super easy) I’d like to add more butter. Sorry arteries…
The dough will make around 18-20 scones and the best part is, you can freeze it, to pop in the oven when you want a quick, sweet treat!
Do you have any favourite scone recipes I should try? If you have, please share – Perhaps I’ll opt for a savoury version next time.
Until then, grab yourself a whiskey and enjoy your haggis – Happy Burns’ Night everyone!
Image Credits: My own and cafemavens.com, flikr.com and shropshirestar.com.
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To be honest, I don’t think I have EVER in all my life had a scone. Not once. At least….not that I remember. Now I feel like I should give it a try.now the big question is….do I attempt to make my own first or get one At a bakery first. Hmmmm….decisions.
Where I’m from….we tend to say ToMAYtoes & PoTAYtoes instead of ToMAHtoes & PoTAHtoes. Sometime we call them Tayters. I just call them (well not the TOMS) delicious! Here…scone is a scone as in bone. It’s crazy to think about how many places have so many different pronunciations for different words!!!
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Surely that can’t be?! You must try a scone as soon as possible! Based on my meagre efforts at baking, if it was me I’d definitely want a good quality example from a bakery first, so I at least knew how they should taste. Better yet, make it a cream tea, so you get to sample with all the lovely creams and jam too!
I enjoy different dialects and sayings – it would be boring if everyone sounded the same! We’re a mixture: tomAHtoes and potAYtoes 🙂
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I stopped at Starbucks today for a delicious $6 coffee to spoil myself because I was called into work on my day off and even though I’m working on losing the rest of the weight I need to lose….I looked for a scone. Sadly…they didn’t have any. 😞
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Boo Starbucks! Although I’m not sure their scones would be the best introduction, if they did make them, so possibly a silver lining! Glad you got to treat yourself somehow though 🙂
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As a Devonian I love my scones covered in clotted cream and jam, you have just inspired me to try and make some! 🙂
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If I was ever going to inspire anyone, I didn’t think it would be to bake, haha! I hope they turn out well and you enjoy 🙂
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Whenever I hear about scones, an old Kinks tune pops in my head:
“You don’t need no mashed potatoes
You don’t need no buttered scones
Stay away from carbohydrates
You wanna look like Skin and Bones”
Thanks, Ray Davies!
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Haha, I guess they needed to get into those skinny jeans and drainpipe trousers (although I thought they were in the flares brigade!)
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Have you ever watched Still Game? http://youtu.be/5R7OJPMTSQ4
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I’d not heard of it until now – but they say scones, with a long ‘oh’. They even rhyme it with phone. I’m so confused!
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Haha. You’d should watch it. So funny. Also – what’s the fastest cake in the world? ‘Scone lol
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*groan* #crackerjoke 😉
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My face type lol
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Pls follow back my blog
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Thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂 I’ll be sure to pop over and have a read!
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Those scones (with the long oh) look delicious.
And I enjoyed the discussion about pronunciations – I didn’t know there was a sconn variant.
But I was confused by your tomAYtoes vs tomARtoes statement. I say tomATtoes, but I thought the variant was tomAHtoes. TomARtoes sounds like things pirates eat.
But I’m totally going to call potAYtoes potARtoes from now on. Which will no doubt lead to my family killing me. (SInce they’re from West Virginia, they pronounce potatoes this way: Spuds)
Fun post, as always!
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😊 Haha, spuds? That’s awesome, I thought that was just a British thing. We’re all about spuds here, and tatties or po-tates (the last one might just be in our household!). PotARtoes are for posh folk 😉
I’m thinking AH and AR are the same though (aargh too many ahs!) but I definitely think there’s a place in everyone’s life to speak like a pirate! As for tomAToes, really? Where’s the emphasis? ToMAToes?
I used to say tom-mat-toes as a child because it reminded me of tomahawk. You already know I’m weird…
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Haylee. I love scones rhymes with cones! I say it the same way you do. In fact, I get all hot and bothered when my friends say sk-ahh-nzz. But thanks to your knowledge, they are not pronouncing it wrong. Too bad! Now I have a craving for scones. I’ll have to research a gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy free version. Or wait till I drop 20 pounds! XOXO!!
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I say they’re wrong and we’re right with the pronunciation – unless they’re Scottish, then I’ll let them off!
Here’s the gluten free recipe I tried – dairy free too but alas it still has sugar. Maybe you could have it as a treat cheat day? 🙂
http://wp.me/pKlIQ-GJ
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Once more, you hit on several of my favorite topics all at one time: Scotland, scones, and sayings. When visiting the U.K. I did not understand why, what looked like a scone (bone) to me was called scone (gone). When I was teaching, I used to stop at a tiny bakery and pick up a brown sugar/ pineapple amazing scone to nibble on at school. The shop closed, and I have tried and tried but cannot reproduce it. Your post today has made me want to try once more!! P.S. Love the poem from Meritings.
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Ooh, that’s sounds a nice combination, especially of the sugar had caramelised. Please post the recipe if you find success with another try! And I agree, Meritings’ poem is fantastic, so quick off the mark too with its creation! 🙂
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I’ve never made scones but now I want to. Like right now… so I can eat them immediately. (Thanks. 🙂 ) But this reminds me of an amazing cinnamon scone I had once at a lovely little coffee shop. Now, I am in the US so I’m not sure how ‘authentic’ that scone was… but I dream of it. And I think I’m going to have to visit that coffee shop today. 🙂
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You should whip up a batch, they really are simple! I don’t think the cinnamon version would be considered authentic but that’s the beauty of scones – you can mix in pretty much what you like 🙂 I hope they have some on sale for you to nibble on!
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Oh yes, now that they’re in my head, if I go there and they don’t have them, I will be so disappointed!
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I alone can bake a scone that’s better than the rest,
but I for one can’t bake a scone, it really is a pest!
So can I bake, or can I not, it gets me in a blether,
a good wee dram should do the trick whilst lying in the heather.
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Haha, love it! Is this one of your own creations? It’s brilliant 🙂
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Mine, all mine. Just like the scones!
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That’s awesome! Time for a baking rap battle!
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Oh please do!
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LOL. I yield. My bluff was called, yo!
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