Gold Dust Scones

This recipe was inspired by “Gold Dust Woman” by Fleetwood Mac and a crucial scene in Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. (Read my review here!) I think the scene is a real turning point for the plot, and bridges the acts that culminate into the final crescendo. After Mika and Primrose meet for afternoon tea, Mandanna floors the gas pedal and does not let up until the very last page. I was riveted, staying up well past my bedtime because I just had to know what would happen next. And the pay off is so worth it. I recommend enjoying these scones warm, with clotted cream and your favorite jam, jelly, or preserves. Please note, these are closer to English scones than the scones we are more familiar with here in America.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

¼ cup sugar

6 tbsp salted butter at room temperature

⅔ cup whole milk

1 egg

A pinch of magic (edible gold dust)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425* F
2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients together, starting with only 2 cups of the flour. Reserve 1 cup of flour for later
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and knead until there are no clumps of butter. The dough will stay very sticky until you are done with Step 4.
4. Slowly add the third cup of flour to the mixture, kneading as you go until the mixture is still slightly sticky, but able to be shaped into rough, round balls (I yielded 5-6 scones). They do not have to be perfectly round!
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the roughly shaped dough balls, evenly separated.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, until the outside of the scones are golden brown and a toothpick, when inserted into the middle, comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle with edible gold dust and enjoy with your favorite cup of tea. (I prefer Irish Breakfast, as I am sure a certain grumpy love interest does too)

Biscuits with the Boss

I created this recipe about two years ago, but did not think to make a post for it until today! I have really enjoyed watching Ted Lasso these past few years with my partner and we are always really excited when I make these biscuits / shortbread cookies. In developing this recipe (on the fly, if I’m completely honest!) I looked at two other recipes who claimed to have The Ted Lasso recipe and made my own to put in little pink boxes. I like to think that my recipe is The Ted Lasso recipe, now. 

In celebration of the series finale that airs tonight, here is my recipe for Biscuits with the Boss.

Ingredients: 

½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened but not melted

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but not melted

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ + ⅛ cup of regular white sugar

¼ + ⅛ cup of powdered sugar

Directions: 

Combining Ingredients

Combine 2 cups of all-purpose flour, ¼ + ⅛ cup of regular white sugar, and ¼ + ⅛ cup of powdered sugar in a large bowl and mix with a fork. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract, ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, and  ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter. Combine the ingredients using your hands to make sure the butter is distributed into the flour. Once it is more of a dough, you can use a wooden or silicone spoon to mix further. The dough should be soft and crumbly— not too packed together but the ingredients should be evenly mixed. Shape the dough into a square and cover with plastic wrap. Let it chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, no less, because the butter needs to solidify. If the dough is not chilled long enough then it will all turn into a weird melted butter situation of a puddle in the pan (I am speaking from experience of doing and getting just that). I chilled my most recent batch for about 45 minutes. 

Baking

While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 325* Fahrenheit. When the dough is done chilling, squish (for lack of a better word) it into an even layer in an 8×8 or 8×9 pan and pre-cut it. Pre-cutting in this recipe means taking a butter knife and running lines through the dough but not so that the knife touches the bottom of the pan. You want the dough to be slit into rectangular shapes but the whole thing should still be intact. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the top is slightly more golden than it was when it went in. 

Cooling and Keeping

Let the shortbread cool, still in the pan, on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. Once it has cooled slightly but not all the way, cut the rectangles all the way. You can keep the biscuits in the pan either in the fridge or on the counter. Or, to be just like Ted you can put them in small pink boxes. I got mine from Etsy. Make sure to line the boxes with a paper towel so that the butter does not make the bottom of the box soggy and oily.

Eating!

Eat plain or have the biscuits with a cup of tea! I like to drink Irish Breakfast with milk and a little sugar, but remember, the biscuits are very sweet on their own. A nice black coffee would also be delicious with the biscuits.