I have a deep affection for just about any food that contains cornmeal. A cornmeal affection affliction that takes the form of corn bread, corn muffins, polenta, Indian pudding, cornmeal biscotti…you name it. But until last weekend, I hadn’t yet tried cornmeal scones. Luckily for me, Nick Malgieri also loves all things corny, and there’s a recipe for Lemon Cornmeal Scones on his website that I’d been eying for a long time. I finally made them yesterday.
One thing about these scones…they are not like the ones you might find at chain coffee shops; they are small, more crumbly than cakey, and not too sweet. Due to the cornmeal, they are also slightly drier than classic flour-and-cream scones, which makes them excellent for dunking. I’ve mentioned before that I prefer my breakfast and tea foods to be pretty low in sugar, and thus don’t take offense at the mild amount of sweetness in these. For those who prefer more cookie- or cake-like scones (putting aside arguments about scone authenticity), these might not be indulgent enough, but you could try making Apricot Cream Scones, which are sweeter but not overpoweringly so.
I found these scones to be pretty good, and were especially lovely when spread with a little honey, but I was a bit regretful that there wasn’t a stronger lemon flavor. It’s there, just in a pretty subtle way. I even used the zest of a whole lemon, but maybe I should have used lemon juice, too. To be fair, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. It originally called for adding dried tart cherries, but I omitted these since I was saving my cherries for another recipe. I realize now that this was probably a mistake; they have a fairly significant role as it seems the lemon is supposed to be a supporting flavor for the cherries rather than the other way around. So yes, us recipe-fiddlers do learn our lessons sometimes!
Cherries aren’t the only option, though. If you find them prohibitively expensive ($9 a pound for me, and that’s at the cheap place), other dried fruits such as apricots or cranberries are great alternatives, or even try adding some savory herbs like rosemary or thyme. I’ve printed the recipe with the original quantity of dried fruit, with my changes of more lemon and the option of brushing egg over the tops of the scones, which gives them a nice shine.
Lemon Cornmeal Scones with Dried Fruit
Adapted from Nick Malgieri
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal (medium grind, if there is a choice)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup dried tart cherries or other fruit (e.g., cranberries, chopped apricots)
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
finely grated zest from 1 medium lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten (optional)
sanding sugar for dusting (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°F and set a rack in the middle level.
Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
With a pastry cutter or two knives, cut butter into 12 pieces and rub evenly into dry ingredients, until mixture has the appearance of coarse cornmeal. Add dried fruit.
Whisk egg, milk, zest and vanilla together and stir into flour and butter mixture with a fork, to form a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 3 pieces and form each piece into a 5-inch disk. Using a sharp, floured knife, divide each disk into four wedges. Place on pan, leaving 2 inches between scones on all sides. Brush tops of scones lightly with egg and dust with sugar.
Bake scones at 450°F until they are firm, but not dry, about 10 to 15 minutes. Watch closely to be sure they do not color too deeply.