Brown Butter and Oat Scones
These Brown Butter Oatmeal Scones are fantastic in the morning. Add some homemade jam or butter and you’re set!
Brown Butter Oatmeal Scones Recipe
Thursday night I went to bed determined to wake up in the morning and rhapsodize about brown butter and teff flour. Culinary alchemy. A magical Ethiopian grass seed. Then that morning came and something extraordinary happened.
Diane asked to put on the news. “Something’s happened in Eygpt.”
The next four hours I watched. Images, jubilation, dreams. Hardened reporters used to journalizing terrors, suffering, and troubles surrounded by celebration. Exhilaration. Even though the embedded reporters maintained a professional documentation of everything happening around them, I could feel their watcher’s souls glowing. The day was extraordinary.
In this moment, the importance of writing about food seemed trivial. Not that food isn’t important, or our sharing of recipes and stories isn’t something precious to wrap our hearts around. But this moment of what had just happened in Egypt superseded all of that.
Wishing for Peace in the World
A peaceful revolution. Peaceful. In a land torn and surrounded by violence. Where wills are imposed down the barrel of a gun or through fear of a bombing. The people had the courage to stand up for hope and humanity and demand it be given to them.
The were attacked. Provocations thrown at them. Fear dangled in front of them. Over the last 18 days, their courage, heart, and hopes were tested to the limits, but they stood strong. Reporters commented on seeing secret police questioning and opening noting those participating. If the revolution failed, payback would be a bitch.
Reporters themselves were tossed in jail, only to be later freed due to protestors standing up for the media’s sake and helping protecting them. The military rolled in on their vehicles of destruction, but instead of imposing terror, remained passive. Refusing to fire on the people they were supposed to be serving.
Volunteers checked people joining the demonstrations for weapons, helping maintain a revolution that would have brought joy to Ghandi’s heart. At night streets were patrolled by vigilante protectors, keeping ill-meaning scavengers from preying on the chaotic and emotional happenings.
All of this happening was virtually unimaginable a short time ago. Who would have thought in land of one of the oldest societies, facebook, twitter, and the internet would be instrumental in enabling a revolution. Youth who have grown up not even know what hope is, have given it to millions around the world.
We have no personal ties with anyone Egyptian. No connection other than we are all human. And I was struck to the core by what I witnessed. The future is still to be determined. There will be many more struggles and time will determine the significance of the revolution. But at least for now, hope and joy is spreading through the world.
Since the recipe for Brown Butter Oatmeal Scones is ready, we are still ending this post it. There will be those readers whose care is for the recipes, not our ramblings. And we are cool with that. Thank you to those have the time and interest in our chatter. Today this just seemed too important not to share.
– Todd
Brown Butter and Oat Scone Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 oz (115g) unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup (65g) Teff Flour
- 1 cup (125g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (50g) whole Rolled Oats
- 1/4 cup (55g) Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) Sugar
- 2 teaspoons (10g) Baking Powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (6 g) Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Heavy Cream
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure Vanilla Extract
- heavy cream for brushing
- sugar , granulated or superfine sugar
Instructions
Make Brown Butter
- At least a couple hours before making dough, melt butter in a tall saucepan over medium heat. Swirl butter occasionally to promote even melting and browning.
- Cook until butter is a light caramel color and bottom of pan is covered in dark brown flecks. Butter will have a toasty smell. (Butter will first bubble up and sizzle, then settle down with the solids floating on the surface. Keep cooking until nice and toasty, without burning the solids.)
- Pour butter into a wide, shallow dish, scraping the flecks on the bottom of the pan into the butter, and freeze until solid. This can be done a day or more ahead of time.
Make Scones
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or rub with butter
- Combine flours, oats, sugars, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the chilled brown butter into pea-sized pieces, then add to dry mix. Using your fingers, pinch butter into dry mix until it resembles a coarse meal. (This can all be combined in a food processor as alternative method)
- In a small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add wet mix into dry mix and stir until just incorporated.
- Put dough ball on a well floured surface and pat into a 7" wide by 1" thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges.
- Place wedges on baking sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Brush with a couple light coats of heavy cream, then sprinkle sugar over wedges. Bake for until the edges of the scones have browned nicely, about 28-34 minutes. The scones are better slightly over-baked than under-baked.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Hope you enjoy these Brown Butter Oatmeal Scones. Here’s more scone recipe ideas for you.
NPR blares in my lab, so as I go about my day, I’m marveling at how the day seems so normal and, yet, I’m a distant spectator to revolution. Say what we will about social media and journalistic media, but they’ve made so many things possible and passed along a testament to the power of humanity, hope, and courage.
And the scones look absolutely delicious. 🙂
Thank you for your thoughts and your recipes.
Thanks you for your beautiful words and of course your recipes!
Awesome oatmeal scones….i have never tried to make this, but really inspired from ur post and will try it soon… !
Such a beautiful reflection on a world-changing and history-making moment. A gorgeous scone is just the cherry on top.
thank you for that, todd.
by the way, did diane style those tiny butterfoam hearts into the second photo?! 😀
(browned butter, the one next to the melting butter?)
No, they were coincidental. I had just shifted some of the foam to the side so the underlying flecks would be visible. Love must have been in the air. 😉
Todd
Great words, fantastic photos and an amazing recipe I’d just love to try 🙂
I’ve been following the events in Egypt for the last few weeks, worrying for friends who were there while not knowing if things would turn violent. My perceptions of the revolution are tainted from my years of living in the Middle East, and while part of me desperately wanted to see the protesters achieve their goals, I’ve worried that an abrupt transition would leave a gaping hole of instability in its wake, which could turn out worse than what they’ve been living in for so many years. But this is what it takes: the citizens standing up to say enough is enough, taking the governance of their country back into the hands of the people, and working together to build a better future for themselves. I hope that they will be able to accomplish that.
I was continually surprised by the civility and drive of the people during their revolution. Protecting one another, and outsiders as well. Religion didn’t matter. Violence wasn’t a solution. I too hope this breath of humanity will fill their lungs and guide them into a better future.
Thank you so much for posting this. It is such an important subject right now and I am glad you addressed it on your blog! Oh and of course your scones look delicious:-)
Great post Todd, I totally echo your feelings. Yesterday morning a woman who is from Egypt called City Hall and I got to talk to her about her fears for her family and worries for the future of her country. I’ve been passionate about social justice for quite a while but actually talking to someone with emotional ties to the situation makes those feelings even stronger. They still have a long road ahead of them and I pray that their government is now set up in a way that is beneficial to their people and to the world. It’s so exciting and mind blowing to see the power of social media (and not weapons) beating corruption.
Hearing and seeing the Egyptian and Egyptian/Americans which spoke on MSNBC that day was what branded the experience into my heart. Jubilation and hope aren’t nearly well enough words to describe it.
Delicious photos!
Having no personal ties to Egypt I found myself being an armchair spectator over the last few weeks and at this moment I could not be more happy for or proud of the Egyptian people for standing their ground! I also found myself wondering if we ( the U.S. ) could have accomplished the same so gracefully under similar circumstances. Thank you for sharing
The writing satisfied my heart with the emotions it evoked and the scones played nicely on my visual senses. Such an inspiring read, it brought back memories of the 1988 Solidarity movement that ended communism in Poland, the will for freedom that eventually had all Eastern Europe freed from that tyranny. Indeed, the feeling of jubilation is so wonderfully hopeful and promising. I love that the Egyptian people can finally experience how freedom feels.
There was an ex-Parliament member who was interviewed on the streets, talking about previously not daring to dream. Now the world has changed for them.
“I will teach my children to dream. … To dream is to live,” tears of joy choking him as he spoke.
Lovely. Your words, photos, everything. So glad it was the first thing I read this morning :).
What a way to start my day! Well done on both counts.
Beautiful thoughts and photos. Thank you.
Great post! I like your writings *and* the recipe.