pear and almond scones

for near-instant-gratification baking

What I’m reading: another Vittles piece by Ana Kinsella - all about Irish butter

What I’m listening to: Garron Noone on the Laughs of your Life with Doireann Garrihy

What I’m eating: sandwiches from Secret Sandwich shop (below) - part of some very important research

While I was working at Mor in Auckland, I got very used to our morning croissant - equal parts quality control and breakfast for three hungry girls. We would take a croissant from a freshly baked tray, cut it open, examine the lamination and proving, then cut it into quarters and eat it with butter, a sprinkle of Maldon salt and the homemade jam of the day

Now that I’m no longer working in pastry, I really miss my morning croissants. I think viennoiserie has nearly been ruined for me, since my standards are now so high: I exclusively want to eat a croissant that is still warm from the oven. This leaves the window of opportunity quite narrow (approximately 15-20 minutes), and I don’t plan on breaking into bakeries at 6am any time soon to rectify the issue.

However, there is a very appealing alternative, if you don’t work in a bakery - or feel like embarking on a 2-3 day journey to make your own fresh croissants. Scones can be ready in half an hour, start to finish, and should be eaten within the first couple of hours for optimal freshness. Scones are the impatient person’s answer to a warm breakfast pastry - so if you’re into instant gratification, keep reading.

At Ballymaloe House, my favourite ritual of the day was the 8am scone: at this time of the morning, the chefs were all starting to arrive, and the pastry chefs had been in since 6 or 6:30. We made fresh scones every morning for the guests’ breakfasts, and would always keep some aside for staff. While I was working there, we also started dipping a few in Demerara sugar, for that crunchy, caramelised crown. The scone station would be set up, pots of tea and coffee made, and everyone would stand in the pastry kitchen for 10 minutes, exchanging news (gossip).

Anyway, on my day off this week, I really wanted to make something for breakfast that would scratch that itch. I wanted the house to smell like baking, and I wanted to eat a warm scone with butter and jam, and an entire pot of coffee to myself. We are rapidly approaching pear season, so these pear and almond scones are a bit of a herald of winter.

I went for the “double dip” approach for these ones: egg wash and dip in brown sugar, then egg wash AGAIN and dip in flaked almonds. You can skip one of these steps, but I really don’t recommend it. I’ve shaped them in one of my favourite ways: into a rough circle, then in half, and each half in three - to get six lovely triangular pieces. You could go old-school and use a cutter, but I really couldn’t be bothered rolling out scraps, and I wanted this recipe to be as straightforward as possible.

I ate my scone with the fancy French butter from Waitrose (with the salt crystals) and apricot jam (which is a personal fave), but you do you - I actually think these would be lovely with cheese?

recipe: pear and almond scones