Painter and PBS star Bob Ross would let fly at times during his show of making “happy accidents.” His style and calm demeanor never seemed to allow for his creative feathers to get ruffled. I admired this trait in Ross, especially as I grew older, but have struggled to embody it myself. All to quickly I can spiral when a mishap takes place, and once one does, I start to feel “in the weeds.” Like I’m slipping with no traction in sight.
Making mistakes and “happy accidents” though are part of being in the kitchen. My experimenting should welcome the unexpected as it invites me let go of the regimented style or belief that things need to happen a certain way.
My faith is like that too, but I’ll hold off on that for now.
Quick distinction: I have read on other food related blogs of readers getting antsy when it comes to the delivery of the recipe. If you’re here for just the foodie writing, look for the indicating CHEW THE FAT header. That’s where my writings will offer other insights not tied directly to my culinary undertakings.
First let’s get to today’s undertaking; scones.
This recipe comes from southern baker extraordinaire Nathalie Dupree. Dupree has written several books focusing on the goodness of southern cooking and received several awards for her works. I was gifted her book on Southern Biscuits this past Christmas and have been eagerly working my way through it.
What you’re going to need…
4.5 cups of flour (maybe a little extra) 1 TBSP of baking powder, 1/4 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, 1 & 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 cup of chilled butter (which means 2 sticks), 1.5 cups of buttermilk (have an extra 1/4 cup handy if your dough seems a little too dry), 1 grated lemon, 1/2 cup of dry cranberries, a few TBSP of melted butter for finishing along with some Turbinado sugar for sprinkling (which I did not have, but knowing what I know now I could have made a mixture of granulated sugar and brown sugar and substituted it, alas!).
Whisk the baking soda, powder, sugar, and salt together
Grab the chilled butter and cut it into small cube like shapes. I slice several pads, stack them, and “quarter” them. I prefer a pastry cutter, but you’re welcome to try and reduce/mix the butter into the whisked ingredients by mimicking a pastry cutter with forks or knives…you can even use your thumbs and pointer fingers to rub the butter down to the size of a small pea. What ever means you deem necessary, have at it!
Once your done with the butter, make a “well” in the center and pour in the butter milk along with the grated bit lemon. Mix it well and then “fold in” the cranberries. If you’re a little unsure of the “folding in” method, it’s just a mixing method that is intentionally gentle in the combining of two different ingredients. If you need more explanation, please see the video below and then immediately binge watch the entire series of “Schitt’s Creek.”
When you’ve correctly folded, you should have something that looks like this…
Apply a descent amount of flour to your work surface and begin shaping your dough into a 5x18” rectangle that is around 1” thick. I chose to pat my dough down, but you probably could use a rolling pin if you feel want.
Now here is where I had a “happy accident.” Dupree instructs in cutting 12 pieces out this shape ,and as she did not include a guide to doing this, I was left to my own devices in trying to figure it out. Needless to say my method missed. What I ended up with were smaller “mini-scones.” Of course this didn’t change the flavor of the scones, but to come that far pretty much nailing the recipe…I had a small “you barely got through high school geometry” moment.
Bake times vary from oven to oven, but they do give you moments of reflection. For me, this bake lasted about 21 minutes, just a few shy of the suggested 25min by Dupree. In that time, while I wiped down and cleaned my area, I thought of the mistakes that got me to where I am and helped shaped the person I am still becoming. In that short bake time my mind plunged into the intersectionalities of my evolving faith journey.
Alright, remember what I said about what to do when you see this? Either skip down or read on.
Chewing the fat…
My thoughts to me to the question; What have been the things I thought I needed to hold to in order to be “part” of something? I suppose this was on my mind since I’d recently heard someone speak of “doctrine” or “right beliefs” concerning the Christian faith. I’ve been exposed to all sorts of perceived “correct” doctrine, only to discover after a little investigation that doctrine in most cases is little more than interpretation. Interpretation is much more fragile and it doesn’t sound as imposing; meaning it’s hard to erect something, like a set of beliefs, on it.
In my baptist faith tradition, there’s a lot of emphasis on freedom. Bible freedom, soul freedom, religious freedom, church freedom. Because of this those who come from the tradition are described as being a non-creedal people. Creeds, like doctrine, typical mark an unchanging system of thinking or understanding. Baptists have been on their better days a “confessing” people. Confession calls for evaluation on where you’ve been, where you are, and where you hope to go. It’s a call to think about why you do what you do and allows, even encourages, one to make changes when needed.
“Happy mistakes” are a nice way of saying you’ve experienced a new interpretation. Making mistakes, assessing new confessions of being, is way I feel I’ve gone deeper with my faith. Okay, enough CHEWING THE FAT.
At around 20 minutes, and with the tops looking brown pull the scones out and apply the melted butter and sugar, before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Being in the kitchen while referencing and recreating recipes is fun. It’s a way to build on something that might be seen a foundational in its understanding of how something is suppose to be made.
But, when you begin to learn, when you begin to make “happy accidents” you get the confidence to take what you know and start to interact with it in your own way. In that sense it becomes more authentically real to you.
So what does all that mean? Well I can choose to go back each time and try and get my scones to the count of 12 (which I probably will) or I can decide that I like my 20 odd count mini-scones and I’m going to keep making them that way. Maybe I’ll even decide to tweak the amount of butter milk? Maybe' I’ll substitute sweet milk? Why not throw some walnuts in there?
The point is don’t let “happy mistakes” or a little slip stop you. Let them instead be what emboldens you.
Cheers,
~tBSB