Irish Scones with Orange Mascarpone Whipped Cream

cjr and I are dog-watching these last few weeks. For this lovely girl:

Her name is Tinkey and we're watching her while her family galavants through South America until the new year. She's some kind of husky/shepard-y mutt and she's a pretty lady who loves to give kisses and chew raw hides and get compliments from everyone she sees. She also loves to hang out with us, especially when we're cooking. So she's our temporary mascot here at dicedtomato.

For breakfast on Christmas morning cjr wanted some Irish Scones. Ever since he's come back from The Emerald Isle in the spring he's been in love with scones.

We've been using the recipe from thekitchn. As with all pie/biscuit dough, it's quite shaggy but don't be alarmed! It'll all be okay in the end.

As for the whipped cream, we actually used it to top some of our bread pudding. I love how mascarpone adds body to whipped cream and the orange zest is really lovely. We used some leftover whipped cream to top leftover scones which we ate today (Boxing day!) and its thickened nature reminded me of the clotted cream you often get with scones in the UK and Ireland.

Irish Scones

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 - 1 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350F

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Add the butter in small bits and combine with your fingers until the butter is combined well and sandy (try to not overwork).

4. Add the cream slowly just until you get a soft dough that just comes together.

5. On a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1 inch height and use a biscuit cutter (or a sharp knife) to cut into about 10 biscuits.

6. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake the biscuits for 8 minutes, turn the baking sheet, then bake for about 4 more minutes just until they are just lightly golden on top.

7. Serve with a knife (to cut them in half like an english muffin) with some irish breakfast tea, irish butter, jam, honey, and whipped cream (recipe follows).

8. Store any extra scones in the freezer and defrost in the oven.

Orange Mascarpone Whipped Cream (from Giada De Laurentiis)

Ingredients

1/2 cup Mascarpone Cheese

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp fresh orange zest

1. Mix the mascarpone and orange juice until well combined and creamy.

2. Add the heavy cream, sugar, and zest and combine well. (You can stop here if you want to prepare this early)

3. Just before serving, whip until thick and fluffy, careful not to over whip.

4. Store any remaining cream in the refrigerator.