Scones a la Patrice

As some of you might know, Liat and I have been on a quest for the best scones ever. Ever since Keith Hurdman left the Brown's Hotel and opened Melt, a great chocolate shop in Notting Hill, the best scones in London disappeared. Our search was satisfied by Keith, who shared his recipe with us, but also from another unexpected source: the French pastry chef of the Peninsula Bangkok, Patrice Cabannes. You already know we are huge fans of the Peninsula hotel chain, but I confess we did not expect to find outstanding, well balanced, not-too-sweet, perfectly flaky scones in Bangkok. Well, we did; and Patrice was kind enough to share his recipe with us. We have slightly reworked the recipe to reflect baking scones to a small family of 12 (vs. the hotel-size batch), have tried it and are pleased to report these scones are TERRIFIC!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cake flour
• 3 oz. bread flour
• 0.6 oz baking powder
• 3 oz. butter
• 3 oz. sugar
• Grated peel from one lemon
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 3 oz. raisins

Combine in a mixer bowl cold butter, flour, sugar and lemon peel. Using the paddle attachment, mix until sand-like in texture. Add milk, raisins and eggs, and mix 1 minute. Do not over-run. Wrap the dough and refrigerate overnight. Roll into 2/3" thickness and cut into rounds. Put on a greased baking sheet and brush with egg-wash. Bake in a 350F oven for 15 minutes or until light brown.

I like scones with gobs of whipped cream and some drizzled honey (Acacia flower honey is best, and d'Arbo's honey is also outstanding and very light). The traditional companions are Devonshire cream and raspberry preserves. Either way, they are delicious!