Adaptability and Whole Wheat Cheddar Scones

On a recent trip to the wondrous land of Tofino, located on the most westerly tip of Vancouver Island, I revisited one of my featured recipes-classic scones. In fact I believe it was the first recipe I ever blogged. I decided to adapt the recipe to make a savoury version and quickly realized that cooking in another kitchen has its limitations- the kitchen wasn’t equipped with baking supplies, ie. measuring cups or spoons, so I had to adapt. This is something I have been learning how to do in the kitchen and in every day life and I feel that it is a valuable skill.

A few tips on baking without measuring tools:

1. Become familiar with the size of your measuring cups and spoons, so you can when you don’t have access to measuring tools you can more easily estimate 1 cup, 1 tsp etc. For example, the small kitchen spoons at my house filled 3/4 of the way amount to one tsp.

2. Notice ratios in the recipe. If your recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of sugar you can eyeball the ratios of ingredients.

3. Quite often ingredients will have measurements right on the package. Butter is a great example, the stick is labelled with measurements for your convenience.

If anyone has any other tips I’d love to hear them!

Whole Wheat Cheddar Scones:
Adapted from simple scones by adding cheddar cheese as a mix-in and omitting the sugar.

1 1/2  cup whole wheat purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
2 large eggs (reserve 2 Tbsp for brushing)
1/3 cup milk of choice (I used soy)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Mix first four dry ingredients well and cut in butter until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and reserve 2 tbsp for brushing.

4. Add the remaining egg and milk to the dry mixture.

5. Mix minimally until it just starts to stick together and add the cheese. Form into desired shape (blobs the size of a bunny’s tail) on a lined baking sheet.

6. Brush scones with egg wash.

7. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve on their own or with your favourite soup!

Here’s what you missed in Tofino.