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Passing on the scone tradition
By Carol / December 24, 2012 /
Samantha’s Girl Scout troop relishes a fresh-baked Lemon Poppy Seed Scone.
Holiday traditions usually pass down to the next generation. But this holiday, our family passed a tradition both down the line and back up.
My sisters and I were in 4-H where we spent many hours practicing for and giving demonstrations on everything from baking bread to ironing shirts. Demonstrations gave us opportunities to organize our thoughts, present in front of groups, and learn that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. My sister’s granddaughter Samantha is a Girl Scout. Girl Scouts also give demonstrations and recently Samantha chose to demonstrate making Lemon Poppy Seed Scones.
This scone recipe was a favorite of my sister Jane. Jane taught her daughter Clorinda to make the scones. Clorinda taught her daughter Samantha. Samantha taught her Girl Scout friends. The tradition passed down just like it’s supposed to. Somehow in all that time, I never made those scones. But when I heard about Samantha’s demonstration, I figured it was time. Especially when she shared her exact way of doing it.
Following Samantha’s directions, I had success on the first time. Thanks to Samantha, the scone tradition has come back up a couple of generations. Here’s the recipe if you want to give them a try. And if you want to enjoy them in the true English way, serve them warm with strawberry jam and clotted cream. Yum!
Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
COMBINE: 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds, 1/4 tsp salt
CUT in 1/3 cup cold butter
ADD 3/4 cup milk and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. The dough will be soft.
TURN dough onto a floured surface. KNEED gently six times. SHAPE into a ball. PAT into an 8-inch circle slightly smaller than the thickness you want your scones. CUT into wedges. PUT on a greased baking sheet. SPRINKLE with sugar
BAKE at 425 degrees for 12-15 min. until lightly browned.
NOTE: As described, this recipe yields eight large scones. You can make two or even three circles from the same amount of dough, yielding 16 or 24 scones.
This looks yummy and I have a deep love for recipes that have been passed down through the generations. I have a pumpkin pie recipe that was my great great grandmothers. It is delicious and treasured. Our oatmeal cookie recipe is from the same great great grand mother as well. As are our dinner roll recipe. She passed them down where they eventually ended up with my grandmother (father’s side) and she taught my mother how to cook who in turn taught me and passed the recipes on to me. I don’t know where she got them from. I don’t know if they were passed to her or not from an older generations.
I treasure our family recipes, too, Audra. Mom hand wrote out many of the recipes for me, so I have the recipes and her handwriting. I make my grandmother’s refrigerator pickles every summer. I also have family recipes for blood sausage and liver sausage, which my grandmothers made when we butchered. I don’t make them because it’s difficult to get a hog’s head for liver sausage and gallons of fresh blood for blood sausage! But every time I see the recipes, I’m right back on the farm watching them work.