second and edgemont

creating space for beauty & simplicity

  • About
  • Gallery
    • Garden
    • Home

Scone (like gone)

March 15, 2017

Irish scone bread Irish scone bread Irish Scone Bread

With St. Patrick’s day just a few days away I thought I would share with you a recipe passed down by my great grandmother, Sarah McMonigle Jennings. Sarah was my mother’s grandmother from Letterkenny, a town in Donegal, Ireland. Sarah died before I was born but I remember her husband, my great grandfather James Joseph Jennings who was from County Mayo. He looked like a leprechaun with his twinkly blue eyes and he had a thick Irish brogue that was hard to understand at times. As a child I remember helping him in his vegetable garden and he always let me blow out his match after lighting his pipe.

According to my mom, this recipe was made for parties and church functions  and was always accompanied with tea (although almost everything is accompanied with tea in Ireland). This is not an Irish soda bread as it calls for baking powder instead of soda. It is very moist and resembles more of a cake with the taste of a scone or as my mother pronounces it, scOn, with a short o. Apparently there is quite a debate on how to pronounce the word scone depending on where you are from. Some argue the proper way to pronounce the word is scone like gone but some say scone like bone. My mother must have only heard her grandmother say it like gone because when asked by my sister recently for the recipe for scone (like bone) my mother replied “I don’t know what you are referring to. Oh do you mean do you mean scone (like gone)?” It’s a running joke now in our family (sorry Mom).

When researching about the proper pronunciation I stumbled upon this little rhyme which made me giggle.

I asked the maid in dulcet tone
To order me a buttered scone;
The silly girl has been and gone
And ordered me a buttered scone

 

Scone

4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup cold salted  butter

2 eggs

2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a 8 or 9 inch skillet with butter.

Mix sugar, flour and baking powder. Work in cold butter with a pastry cutter or knife until pea sized.

Whisk together eggs and milk and pour into dry mixture.

With rubber spatula mix until just combined (the dough will be wet).

Pour batter into skillet and lightly sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 1/2 hour or until golden brown on top.

I make this bread plain (because of some picky eaters around here) but grew up eating it with both raisins or currants and caraway seeds.  

 

To get you in the Irish mood…

A beautiful Irish legend.

A favorite I grew up singing along to.

Anything played by these guys.

The Bodhran!

 

 

Filed Under: In the Kitchen

Recent Posts

  • Thumbprints
  • The Lemon Drop
  • Kombucha
  • Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
  • This Week’s Vignette

Comments

  1. Lisa says

    March 17, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    I love this post! All the links, stories from your family, the image of you blowing out your great grandfather’s match.

    As an American I had of course always said scone (and still do generally), but I remember chatting with friends of mine when I lived in New York, a Kiwi/Scottish couple, and they said I sounded posh when I said scone-like-bone. They said for sure it was scone-like-gone :).

    Thanks for the happy memory. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

  2. Megan Miller says

    March 19, 2017 at 1:37 pm

    I made this on Friday evening and it was fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing and for the lovely stories.

    Meg

Welcome Welcome Amy Johnson is a writer, photographer, gardener, teacher, mother and wife living on the corner of Second and Edgemont. She creates space for beauty and simplicity in all that she does.
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Amy at Tend Collective

tend collective

Categories

  • Adventures & Getaways
  • At Home
  • Entertaining
  • In the Garden
  • In the Kitchen
  • Projects
  • Thrifting
  • Through the Seasons
  • Traditions and Celebrations

Gallery: Home

Home Gallery

Gallery: Garden

Garden
  • About
  • Garden
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Tend Collective

Tags

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 adventure april august autumn backyard beach birthday celebration christmas december february friends garden hannah holiday holidays home january july june kitchen lake lake shehawken mama march may norah november october old site papa september spring summer tend tradition traditions vacation winter

Archive

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2023 · Second and Edgemont · Site Design by Nomad Farm