In the Kitchen with Gran Marge

This past May I had the pleasure of going to Chicago to visit my grandparents (and aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and siblings!) not once, but twice. Both were weekend trips, one quick and one long, and each reminded me just how wonderful it is to be around family. I felt blessed being surrounded by all the love.



Both of my parents are from Chicago, and since I grew up in Denver, we went back once or twice a year to visit family. These vacations were the highlights of my summer. I remember looking forward to them for months, asking if we were staying at Papa and Gran Marge’s, if we were going to the lake in Wisconsin, if we’d get to play with cousins, and if Gran Marge’s raspberries would be ripe. With the exception of the last one, the answer was always yes. And usually, there were some ripe raspberries for me to pick and put one on each finger, then pluck them off one by one.



I loved these trips as a child, and my love for them has only grown as I’ve become an adult. It always felt like time slowed down just a little bit at my grandparents’ house. Gran Marge was always busy making something, and I usually tried to balance visiting with Papa and all the other relatives with helping her, and learning from her. Cooking with my grandmother was a joy, and I always wished for more of it.

Gran Marge has always been a wonderful cook and an excellent baker. I do not say this lightly. When she visited us in Colorado she would make éclairs or Julia Child’s brownies from memory. If my dad, and who am I kidding, myself, were lucky, we’d get a pie.



The first time my husband came along for a trip to Chicago, there were scones for us to have as a snack when we arrived. He thought he’d found nirvana, and I couldn’t disagree. To this day, Peter still talks about Gran Marge’s scones. I’ve made countless batches of scones for him before and after, but none have quite lived up to Gran Marge’s.

So this visit I was bound and determined to make scones with her and divine her secrets. But time always got away from us, and we never got around to making them. Over Memorial Weekend we finally did. It took three days before it actually happened, but planning and talking about it did the trick.



While my Papa napped and everyone else was out and busy preparing for a big family reunion later that afternoon, Gran Marge and I were alone to do our baking. It was peaceful and quiet; two words that are used so often and yet there are no others to describe slowly and methodically getting out our supplies, measuring and mixing. I asked questions to make sure I knew the exact way to do it: is the butter mixed in enough? Should I knead this more? Gran Marge would answer and always slip in to show me just how to do it.



When the scones were finally in the oven and I stood over the sink drying the last dish, we finally had time to talk. We spoke of births and deaths and loss, and spoke of them as if they were the most natural things in the world. Which, of course, they are. It was easy to tell my grandmother my troubles. She has decades more life experience than I do and has lived through her fair share of sorrow, too. It turns out that the best advice and guidance I got that day wasn’t about how to make the perfect scone, but how to incorporate the bad into the good and still lead a full, blessed life.



I realize how lucky I am for all of my happy childhood memories, but it is the deeper, more meaningful conversations with my grandparents as an adult that make me feel truly blessed. I’m already looking forward to the next visit, and the next recipe Gran Marge can help me with. I know there will be plenty of life lessons to soak up while in the kitchen.


Gran Marge’s Scones

Though this recipe calls for currants, we used a mix of fresh strawberries and currants since that was what we had. I later made them with all strawberries, and both were equally good. You may substitute blueberries, raspberries or another dried fruit if you prefer.

6 Tablespoons sugar
3 ½ cups flour
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup currants
½ to ¾ cups half and half
3 tablespoons (or the rest of the stick) of butter
3 tablespoons sugar, for topping
½ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg, for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (omitting the 3 tablespoons sugar and nutmeg). Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Stir in the currants or other fruit, then stir in the lightly beaten eggs. Add the half and half 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it holds together well, about 6-8 turns. Pat the ball into a 10 inch diameter circle that is 1 inch thick. Cut into 12 wedges and put on the baking sheet.

Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and nutmeg in a small bowl. Brush the melted butter over the scones, and sprinkle with the sugar mixture.

Cook the scones for 20 minutes, or until nicely golden brown.

Smitten

I have been smitten with peaches lately. I’m still in awe at how early we get summer fruit in Central Texas, and each week at the farmer’s market I feel like a kid in a candy shop, with so many wonderful choices that I hardly know where to begin. There is bright green okra…



…Buckets of tomatoes…



…Bouquets of herbs and flowers…



It is all inspiring, and I wish I had an army to cook for so I could take advantage of it all. Alas, even my husband is out of town so it’s just me, and I will have to make do with only the pictures for now.

But in the midst of all this bounty, it is the peach that I am completely enamored of. I have been eating them for breakfast every day as I posted earlier, and still it’s not enough. I would love to make a big cobbler or pie, but being home all alone with a pie would not be a good thing. I had the same thought about ice cream, and it is probably lucky I didn’t have any cream on hand or I would still be eating it and not writing a word.



And then it dawned on me that I haven’t made scones in a while, and more surprisingly, that I haven’t baked much lately or even posted one single recipe for a baked good (savory Tomato Tarts are a bit iffy). I love to bake, and now that I think about it, I can't believe it's taken me so long to write about baking. I had decided: I would make peach scones.

I wanted them to be special, to really show off the lovely fruit. Frankly, I wanted them to have a wow factor. Since peaches and ginger have a natural affinity for one another, I added some crystallized ginger to the dry ingredients, and some fresh grated ginger to the sliced peaches. For added complexity, I substituted ¼ cup of cornmeal for flour, which gave the dough a little more texture and a nice hint of sweetness.



Oh my goodness, they were so good! I wish I could invite you over to have a cup of tea and one of these scones! The ginger was completely infused into the scone in each bite, sweet and spicy, offsetting the fruit marvelously. Thankfully I had the foresight to freeze half of them before baking, or there wouldn’t be any left when my hubby gets home. Still, I may have to package some up for the neighbors so I don’t eat 10 scones today.

The taste of ginger is still lingering in my mouth. I think it’s tea time again.



Double Ginger Peach Scones

I like to make small scones so I can enjoy one with a cup of tea in the afternoon. You could just make eight large ones if you’d like, but then you’ll have less of them to eat and share with your friends. They will take longer to bake if you make bigger ones.

2 ¾ cup flour
½ cup sugar
¼ cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons very finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup (1.5 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 small peach, ripe but still quite firm
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
A few tablespoons of turbinado sugar, to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and position rack to middle of oven.

Slice the peach (no need to peel it) into very thin slices around the peach.
Then cut around in the opposite direction, so that the slices are all cut in half.



Place these in a small bowl and stir in fresh ginger, stirring to combine. The ginger may initially just clump together, so just gently mix it until it’s evenly dispersed. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, cornmeal, crystallized ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add the buttermilk, stirring with a wooden spoon until it clumps together.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and bring the dough into a loose ball. Divide in half, and pat one half into a round a little less than half an inch thick (if one piece is slightly larger, use it for the bottom). Spread the peaches around the disk, as you would pizza toppings. Flatten the other half of the dough into a disk the same size as the first one. Place this on top of the first disk, and pat it down, kind of sealing the edges as needed.

Cut the round into eight even pieces. Cut each eighth into three triangles, making them as even as possible.





Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. You’ll need to do two batches, or you can freeze one sheet of them, placing them in a freezer bag once they are rock hard; then just bake them from the frozen state for just a few extra minutes. This is what I do, so I can have fresh scones without lifting a finger.

Bake for 12-13 minutes until the scones are golden brown. Try to let them cool a bit, even though the smell of spicy ginger will tempt you. These are wonderful with a cup of tea, especially Rooibos tea.