pineapple scones

The kitchen smelled wonderful yesterday, not only were the dehydrators full of papaya, pineapple, banana and jackfruit, but I was baking scones and an oat bar we've been enjoying for breakfast. A friend with an organic farm has a surplus of pineapples at the moment (he did something like we just did: plant 300 same age suckers at once!), and no electricity so he's selling a lot to us. This is great news. Not only have we been eating copious quantities of sweet and sour everything, and drying every day, I've also had enough to experiment with such frivolities as pineapple scones and pineapple jam.

Hating to waste any of the fruit, I've been simmering the skin and cores (they are organic) in water for about 40 minutes, or until the water reduces by a third and then storing it in the fridge, or adding sugar and cooking it down into a syrup. In Nicaragua they make a delicious rice pudding with cooking pineapple peel along with the rice, and in Belize they make a great iced drink with this pineapple 'tea'. The tops have been going to the kindergarten: we've got quite the pineapple patch over there now!

The pineapple scones are the best so far of all the scone flavours I've tried, the farmer says they're up there with the durian scones, but in my mind they're better. Here's the recipe, it's the basic scone mix with extras:

2 cups wholewheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
about 1/4 cup sugar
about 3 tablespoons oil
1/3 cup dried pineapple chunks
about 1/4 cup crystallized ginger
about 2/3rds - 1 cup pineapple 'tea'

Mix dry ingredients, add oil and pour in about 2/3rds of the 'tea'. Mix lightly. For scones you want a soft dough, not much handled. Add remaining liquid until the dough comes together in a ball, you probably won't need it all. If it gets overwet add some flour. Turn out on a floured board and pat or gently roll to a thickness of 3/4 inch. Cut into rounds and bake on a cookie sheet in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes then enjoy warm.

ginger scones

Having made my crystallized ginger I could make my scones. Delicious served warm with cream or butter.

1 cup wholewheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup ginger sugar (see post below)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (see post below)
1 stick butter (4oz)
2/3 cup buttermilk (or normal milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice added to make up 2/3 cup. Let sit for 5 minutes before using.)

Mix dry ingredients. Finely chop the butter (easier if frozen) and rub into the dry mix until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in buttermilk with a knife. Turn out onto floured surface and knead VERY LIGHTLY, basically just shape the dough. Shape or pat into a round about an inch and a quarter thick. Using a knife score into 8 sections. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and serve with good strong hot tea.