Mixed Review: King Arthur Flour Blueberry Sour Cream Scone Mix
I must confess I have never been a big fan of scones. Given the choice I'd much rather have a banana-nut muffin or a chocolate croissant. But recently, I discovered that my favorite specialty food store in Brooklyn, Sahadi's, carries clotted cream. And nothing is a better vehicle for thick, buttery schmears of clotted cream than tender, crumbly scones.
While scones certainly aren't difficult to make from scratch, I was intrigued by the different versions of King Arthur mix available at my supermarket: cherry-almond, cranberry-orange, maple-oat, blueberry, and cream tea. (A quick online investigation revealed that the King Arthur website had even more enticing options, including peaches & cream, whole grain gingerbread, and even pina colada.) All are $6.95.
At first I wanted to make the cream tea scones, but I decided against it when I realized I would have to add 1 cup of heavy cream. It just seemed like a little much—a cream scone topped with clotted cream? I wasn't sure if my arteries were up to the challenge.
To make the blueberry scones, all I needed to add to the mix was a pinch of salt, a stick of cold butter, an egg, and 1/2 cup milk. It sounded easy enough. I dumped the mix in a bowl, added the salt, and set about dicing the butter. The instructions recommending mixing the chunks in with a fork or an electric mixer. First, I tried the fork method, but it was tedious and tiring—two things a boxed mix should never be. Next, I tried the electric mixer, which resulted in clouds of scone mix billowing around my kitchen and settling in a fine, buttery film all over the floor. In the end, the best method proved to be the most basic: Working quickly, I used my fingers to blend the butter in the mix until it was the consistency of wet sand.
After beating the egg with the milk, I stirred everything together and then gathered the dough into a ball. A very wet, very gluey, ball. The instructions said to pat the dough into an 8- or 9-inch disk and then cut it into 8 wedges, but this proved extremely difficult. Trying to make clean cuts through the dough with a knife was like trying to cut through melted cheese—it kept sticking and pulling.
Finally, I managed to separate my scone dough into eight shaggy triangles. I slid the baking sheet into the oven. After the recommended 16 minutes they smelled delicious but still looked pretty raw. I ended up baking them for an extra five minutes to ensure that they were golden brown and cooked all the way through.
After letting my scones cool (but just barely!) I broke one open and slathered it with clotted cream. The texture was crumbly and light, with just a hint of crunch at the corners. The flavor of the scone was nearly perfect—buttery and a touch sweet—but I couldn't really taste the blueberries at all. They were much too small, dry, and few and far between. Overall, I would conclude that this mix is good and solid, if not great. It would make a nice addition to a gift basket filled with assorted jams and tea. But if you're looking for a knock-your-socks-off breakfast indulgence, you're better off sticking with your favorite homemade recipe.
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10 Comments:
the basic scone recipe is salt, baking powder, flour, butter, and cream. so you basically spent $6.95 for a couple of cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking powder.
cybercita at 11:06PM on 03/12/09
Ditto on the comment from cybercita. Those are really expensive scones.
Working the butter in with a pastry blender works well also.
Speaking of KA mixes, their pie crust mix is advertised in the catalogue (or used to be) as "simply add fat and liquid". Think about how much that flour and salt costs!
pielady at 11:21PM on 03/12/09
they used to make a mix for making pretzels at home and it was insanely good
justcook at 1:40AM on 03/13/09
not for nothing folks, but those of you who complain about the cost of the mixes every time she reviews one are kind of missing the point.
carriebwc at 9:46AM on 03/13/09
i just think it's ridiculous to have to add four ingredients to a six ingredient recipe and pay an exhorbitant amount of money for the privilege. the amount of work she had to do to make the scones was exactly the same as if she had to measure out the flour and baking powder in addition to the salt, milk, egg, and butter. i'm not counting the berries, which she said didn't add anything, being tasteless.
in my opinion, it's not missing the point, it IS the point. are mixes cost effective, better tasting, easier than baking from scratch? in this case, no, no, and no.
cybercita at 10:22AM on 03/13/09
Scones?
eh, not so much
www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com
The Bitter Foodie at 10:22AM on 03/13/09
seconded cybercita -- scones are easy.
and shouldn't the texture be such that you can easily pat it into a round and then cut into individual scones? every time i've made them the dough has never been wet/shaggy.
also, a food processor with the dough blade works fairly well for cutting the butter in.
anysuchname at 11:15AM on 03/13/09
I think my favourite recipe from scratch is one I use every week from Everyday Food. Armed with this recipe, scones are no longer the enigmatic baked item many people associate with frou-frou coffee shops. I bake them for a local non-frou-frou coffee shop, and they always are a big hit.
This seemed like a fair review for the mix, and from the photographs, the scones aren't the rock-solid variety one can encounter. For butter-cutting, though, a pastry blender is my preferred utensil. The dough may have been shaggy because the butter may have been warm. The recipe I use suggests to add flour on the work surface, which I hardly ever do, but it may be something to try if you opt for this mix and find a very tacky dough.
tastyfever at 11:21AM on 03/13/09
I made the cherry-cardamom scone recipe that was posted here a couple of weeks ago and they were AMAZING - the dough was easy to mix, easy to cut, and they were a bit healthier than normal scones too. Awesome.
Cebca at 4:29PM on 03/13/09
Although I would not buy these mixes, I just want to say that I always enjoy reading these reviews. It would be fun to see more side-by-side comparisons of box mixes versus scratch recipes, though, especially in terms of price and time and effort involved.
esmesbell at 4:37PM on 03/13/09