Lemon curd and lemon cranberry oatmeal scones

The egg yolks were accumulating. Day after day, three new sunshine yellow orbs will make their appearance in the yolks container in the refrigerator. The bright coloured rounds beckoned to me. I hate the thought of seeing them go to waste. Instead of the usual ice creams that the Sister has been churning out, my mind was on a luscious creamy lemon curd.

Homemade lemon curd

Most lemon curd recipes uses whole eggs. But since I have so much egg yolks, you know, just lying around, I thought that it would be prudent to run a search on recipes using just egg yolks alone just so I could get them outta that blasted container. I managed to find one recipe that uses a whopping EIGHT yolks. Then again, the recipe makes a huge quantity. Like two or more cups of curd. So with that in mind to comfort the nagging voice in my head screaming that egg yolks are cholesterol busters, I decided on the eight yolk-ed recipe.  

 
Sis was going to make lemon macarons, so it was also part of the reason why I decided to make the lemon curd - lemon curd filling for macarons - as seen here. And cos we had extra leftover lemon curd, about a small cup, scones instantly came to mind.

Lemon oatmeal scones (with and without cranberries)

Cranberry lemon oatmeal scones with lemon curd

I've not baked scones for the longest time ever. I wonder why. Scones are essentially tasty as a breakfast choice. Buttery and warm, waking up in the mornings isn't that much of a chore if I can have one for breakfast daily. I used my old recipe for scones, goodness knows the recipe's from where, but it's simply fab and I always go back to it whenever I'm craving scones. There's tons of possibilities with the basic recipe. Add ons can include one or more of the following - rolled oats, chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruits, fruit zests, whatever floats your boat.

I love making scones cos it's a really hands-on activity. I like to mix everything in by hand so I find that it helps to organise all the ingredients in front of the mixing bowl before starting the scones preparation. Sticky floury hands are a given, and I don't want to go touching and dirtying the kitchen too much while searching for the ingredients.

Sunshine goodness (or fat bomb, depending on how you view the glass)

Lemon curd (adapted from Kate at A Dash of Sass)

1 cup sugar

finely grated lemon zest (as much as you want! I like to add tons cos lemon sugar smells fab!)

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

8 large egg yolks

1/4 tsp salt

140g room temperature unsalted butter, diced

Rub lemon zest into sugar, set aside for the lemon oils to infuse the sugar.

In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon zest sugar and egg yolks. Add lemon juice and salt. Whisk until combined.

Place the saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. 

Continue whisking until the mixture is smooth and has thickened considerably. 

Remove from heat and continue whisking. Add the dices of butter gradually, a few at a time and whisk to mix.

Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve, removing any lumps and zest.

Press plastic wrap against the surface of the curd and wrap thoroughly. Refrigerate.

Store in a refrigerated airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Cranberry lemon oatmeal scones

250g self raising flour

50g milk powder

115g sugar

125g unsalted butter, diced

pinch of salt

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

rolled oats

Bake 190°C for 10-15minutes.




Haha. Just kiddin'. I swear that's all that's written on my recipe notes. Ha! It's a wonder I can remember the procedure for making them. But making scones IS a really dead easy thing to do. So, here goes -

Combine and mix together flour, milk powder, sugar and salt in a big mixing bowl. (I like to use my hands)
Add the cubes of diced butter and start kneading lightly with your fingertips to form a coarse breadcrumbs-like mixture.
Crack the egg directly into the mixing bowl and continue kneading. The dough will become wetter at this stage. Don't worry, you still have to add the milk to make it wetter still (told ya about the sticky hands...).
Add the milk gradually, sometimes I find that I don't need the full 1/3 cup. Just add till the dough seems really wet (not full-on liquid stage though - I normally omit about a tablespoon or so of milk).
Now, scoop about 12 tbs of rolled oats (at least!) and dump everything into the mixing bowl. Mix. And mix some more. I just continue adding more rolled oats until the mixture is no longer that wet.
Time for add-ins - For the above batch, I split the dough in half, and baked one batch plain. The other half, I added the strained zest from making the lemon curd and chopped dried cranberries.
Shape into eight small balls (four plain, four cranberry lemon) and bake 190°C for 10-15minutes.

I love the addition of the lemon zest and cranberries! It's a new combination I've never tried before and it was really refreshing due to the addition of the zest. I regretted not making the whole batch cranberry lemon. :)

And they were portioned a bit smaller than my usual scones, so I reckon I used to shape them in bigger balls (six?). It's a personal preference but I prefer nom-ing on a bigger scone so I will feel fuller after eating one. These smaller ones just left me feeling a tad unsatisfied. I felt better after eating one and a half for breakfast. :)