Of Muses and Meringues

The Royal Family

I love the English monarchy.
I’ve loved it since the first time I visited England.  I had just left my job at the bank, and was spending ten weeks traveling around Europe (mostly by backpack) before going back to school for my MBA.
On one of the last days of my trip, I went to watch the Changing of the Guard, when a bobbie told me it had been cancelled due to a parade.  “You can see the queen,” he said.
To my everlasting shame, I gaped, “You mean the Queen of England?!!”  To his everlasting credit, he answered in the affirmative without a grimace or a rolling of his eyes.
I was traveling on my own, and could change my schedule at a moment’s notice.  So I made a quick change of plans and grabbed a front row viewing space.  Two hours later, the Queen (of England) rode by in a carriage, accompanied by the King of Morocco.  I saw her for about three seconds and I was hooked.
After I graduated from business school and was working, my mother and I traveled to Charleston for a week. I noticed in the local newspaper that Prince Charles was in town for an international meeting of business leaders.  But he was taking a break that day for a public walkabout.  “Can we go?”  I breathed.  My mom agreed, and off we went.  This time, two hours at the fence meant that I got to shake his hand!
I haven’t seen Prince William and Kate Middleton in a parade, nor have I shaken their hands.  But that doesn’t prevent me from looking forward to their wedding.  I can’t claim that I baked these scones in their honour, as the photos were taken in late February.  But if I had known how easy it was to bake scones, and how delicious homemade scones were, I would have made them to celebrate every royal event, big or small. 
I’m a little disappointed in the tradition of morning English weddings, which will require me to get up ludicrously early to watch it.  Perhaps I’ll bake some fresh scones on the morning of April 29th to accompany my cup of tea as I watch the young royals wed.
Cream Scones
(from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours)
1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
3/4 cup currants or raisins
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Stir the egg and cream together in a medium bowl.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.  Drop in the butter and toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour.  Cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.
Pour the egg and cream over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough (which will be wet and sticky) comes together.  Don’t overmix.  Stir in the raisins, then gently knead the dough by hand in the bowl or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough.  Divide it in half.  Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that’s about 5 inches in diameter.  Cut it into 6 wedges and place it n the baking sheet.  (At this point the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped air-tight.  Don’t defrost before baking; just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)
Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Your story was so cute! I would totally freak over the Queen! How lucky you got to see her 🙂
    You subconsciously baked the scones in William and Kate's honor 😉

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  4. I have not made Dorie's cream scones yet, but they look and sound so dreamy!

    You won't be the only one getting up at an early hour the day of the wedding! I think we will all be going through pots of coffee and scones. 😀

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  5. Sweet story! It is a fun romance, I'll most likely watch a bit. It would be even better with a plate of your scones and jam, they look fantastic.

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  6. Join on us on Twitter, Mary at Popsicles and Sandy Feet has us all getting ready to watch together and tweet during it all, I think we are making scones for it, too! Loved your post…and yes, IT'S HISTORY in the making!! How exciting is that? Oh, yeah. Love your flowered china.

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  7. Awesome!!! Sounds fun! I had a friend growing up who was that dedicated to English royalty. She love Charles and Diana's wedding and had pictures on her door for as long as I can remember!!!

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  8. So funny, I totally remember being woken up at 6AM to watch Princess Diana's wedding. Don't think I'll be getting up for this one, but the scones might be enough to wake me!

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  10. Thanks for sharing your story ^^ And those scones look yummy. My friend who lives in London humored my fascination with English scones and sent me eight packs of scones LOL along with jam and tea. Unfortunately, I could only work through half the scones before the passed expiration date began to worry me and I had to, shamefacedly, toss the rest. (I sent her a ton of Reese's candy in return since they apparently don't have those in London…or she's been lying to me LOL)

    Will have to try the homemade scones!

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  11. Scones are yummy! I also love the cream that sometimes accompanies them at tea places.

    I remember watching Charles and Diana getting married. I was a teenager,and it was oh so romantic!

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  12. Thanks for the recipe! Kate and Prince William are getting married on my own wedding anniversary, so I'll bake some of these to watch the royal wedding with, then give some to my husband to take to work 🙂

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  15. I'm SO with you on this one. The monarchy is worth re-arranging one's schedule for. Queen Elizabeth is a model leader and an absolutely fascinating human being. I'm very proud of our democracy, but can't help but to wish that she was ours!

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  16. Love the English culture too! They are so proper! I love their teatime the most, with scones smothered devon cream or double cream, tomato or cucumber sandwiches and many more. Your scone recipe is fabulous. It's already bookmarked for my next baking. Cheers!!!

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  19. I'm an anglophile – so also fascinated. Woke up at 3 a.m. to watch Charles and Di get married. We should have had those scones. Have Prince Chalres/Princess Diane coffee cup – bought on the streets a few months after that wedding. And now I am ready for those scones.

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  24. How exciting that you saw both the Queen and Prince Charles! That is pretty incredible for an American. When I was in London, the Queen was not in residence but we did see the castle. I love scones. Yours sound wonderful, and it does sound really good to drink tea and eat homemade scones while watching the wedding:)

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  25. What girl/lady/woman doesn't love a fair tale with a real life princess. Call me old-fashioned, but the aromas of baking and dreaming of your own prince charming is a wonderful innocent indulgence. My daughter Elizabeth and I will definitely set our alarm clocks and the oven alarm for a shared memorable moment.

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  26. I'm excited about the wedding too! I wasn't planning on making special treats, but then again, knowing that a scone is waiting for me might help me get out of bed!

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  29. You are so cute, Beth! I think everyone's interested in the monarchy…always something going on with one of them!
    Fun that you've actually seen them in person and actually shook hands! I've seen the Queen in her carriage, in London, years ago.

    Scones are a delight; I make them often. And your idea of making them the morning of the wedding is super. Although I will be watching reruns. 🙂

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  31. I love all things English too. A few years ago we took, what was for me, a dream vacation to England. When I first entered Westminster Abbey I actually cried because I was so happy to be there! Thank you for sharing this recipe – I love the thought of enjoying them while watching the Royal Wedding!

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  34. I love scones too, they really are easy to make, and I'm sure they will be a nice way to celebrate watching the royal wedding (even at a ridiculously early hour).

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  35. I must admit, that I can picture myself saying the exact same thing to the bobbie. I must also admit getting up ludicrously early to see the Wedding of Charles and Diana in elementary school. I plan to do the same for William and Kate. Although, now I think scones will be in order, as well.

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  37. Those scones look amazing! There's nothing more English than devonshire tea: scones, strawberry jam, whipped cream and a beautiful cup of tea. We Aussies have made that one our own as well!

    My sister and I got to meet/shake hands with/chat to Prince Phillip, does that count? He's the commodore-in-chief of our yacht club, and when he last visited spent a while chatting to the juniors (which we were then) about our boats. Despite strict instructions ("your royal highness the first time, then sir after that"), my friend accidentally called him "mate" in a moment of absent-mindedness. It didn't seem to ruffle him 😉

    (Edit to add: my verification word is "hicking". I think the internet's offering an unkind description of the way we all behave when we meet royalty…)

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  40. Scones–and Devonshire Tea, specifically–is one of my favorite things about living in Australia for a year. How sad it will be to return to the land of coffee and dry toast! 😛

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  42. How cute! I wouldn't have pegged you for a royal watcher 🙂 But the monarchy is pretty fascinating (I got to watch the changing of the guard when I was in London eons ago). Love the scones and "happy watching". I'm not sure if I'll try to catch the nuptials "live" but I think there will be so much coverage it'd be pretty hard to miss.

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