Today is a good day.
I woke from a deep and luxurious sleep this morning, and it was still half dark and the curtains in our bedroom flapped in the breeze as cool air rushed in. I pulled up the covers, nestling down deeper into my bed and enjoyed the sensation I had been waiting for all summer: feeling chilly!
Today is also a good day because Sharon is coming up from Atlanta for a visit this weekend, arriving tonight and leaving on Monday. This evening we’ll have dinner, just the four of us – Mom, Dad, Sharon, and me, before Andy arrives tomorrow afternoon. The original four, reunited. We’ve made an extensive list of all the things we want to make while we’re together. All weekend we’ll have both ovens and at least two burners going at any given time, churning out steaming pots of soup and batches of granola and muffins.
We’ll make our very favorite Pumpkin-Walnut Scones. It’s a tradition. But we may also make these BLT Scones. When we served these scones to friends alongside Peach Cobbler Scones last month, I thought for sure the sweet ones would win out. Not so! Our guests absolutely devoured the savory ones. But who can resist bacon? Technically, this isn’t really a BLT scone–we swapped basil for lettuce–but the flavor combination is perfect.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, frozen solid
- ½ cup chopped sundried tomatoes, packed in oil
- ½ cup chopped cooked bacon*
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup sour cream, light if you like
- 1 large egg
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Grate ⅓ of the butter into the flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; toss. Repeating grating and tossing twice more. Using fingertips, work butter into flour a bit more. Mix in tomatoes, bacon, and basil.
- Mix sour cream and egg with a fork until smooth. Using same fork, stir into dry ingredients until large dough clumps form. Use hands to press dough against the bowl into a ball. (There may not seem like enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together. If necessary, flick a little water into bowl bottom to get the last bits to adhere.)
- Place on a lightly floured work surface and pat into a 7½-inch circle, about ¾-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably silapat- or parchment-lined), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve—hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Hey Maggy, I’m so excited to see both you and Sharon this weekend. I’m accustomed to not seeing Sharon much, but it’s been over a month since I’ve seen you and since you are pregnant, that is a very long time! These BLT scones are superb. The combination of sun dried tomato and basil make them taste a little like pizza–another Anderson favorite.
Yum!! I will make these this weekend too. Have fun!!
I love everything about these scones! So delicious!
What a great rainy Saturday morning treat! I thought, but didn’t have, bacon, so substituted shredded prosciutto that I crisped – what can be bad about prosciutto and basil with sun-dried tomatoes?! Fantastic scones!
What perfect timing. I was having a margarita gold out on my deck this afternoon looking at my basil—-thinking yikes I keep forgetting to use them. They are doing particularly well this year. Well here you go. I have a few stray pieces of bacon in the freezer too. If I make a batch of scones, I will have something special to send me off to work on Monday.
These scones look incredible! Major flake factor. And I love the combination of basil, bacon and sun-dried tomato. Well done!
These look uhmazing. And I love that waking up chilly and pulling the comforter over your shoulders feeling! Fall is my favorite.
Made these this morning, along with the cheddar-herb scones. Both are phenomenal!! For the BLT scones, I used sun-dried tomatoes that were in an envelope rather than the jarred kind in oil. Still fantastic!! For the herb scones I used fresh basil and fresh chives. For both recipes I used bread flour, and kept the rest of the dry ingredients the same : )
I can’t wait for my fiancé to try them this evening. I am having one of each with a bowl of home-made tomato soup : ) yay fall!!
Cannot wait to try these .they sound wonderful. I am just hanvig a ball making all these great recipes I am finding on this blog and in your book as well as experimenting on my own within the guidelines. I would go with the pine (pignoli) nuts too..but then again I am an Italian who was raised on pignoli nuts which were added to meatballs, tomatoe sauce and many other dishes but I was wondering if I can replace the Romano Cheese with Parmesean cheese instead? How many can you have although I am sure they are very filling and satisfying so one would be enough, correct?