Well, I decided to dust mine off to make scones for a bridal tea I was co-hosting for a friend’s daughter. I think it had actually been 5 or 6 years since it had been invited on to the kitchen counter so after washing it thoroughly I set to work.  Hmmm, the recipe makes 14 to 16 scones and there are 20 guests, so I’ll add another half recipe to the batch.  I got all the ingredients ready and put the butter and dry ingredients in the bowl and plugged in the mixer. 

POOF!  My face was suddenly covered in white.  Apparently the last time I used it I left the power button on level 10.  Oh well.  I added back some flour and notched the speed down to one.  So far so good.  I carefully added the eggs and cream.  Then I turned around to check something on the stove.  Bad move.

When I turned back to the counter the batter had turned into one giant glop that would rotate out of the bowl hanging precariously about six inches and then get sucked back in just as the glop threatened to fall on the counter.  I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.  Should I catch the runaway dough?  I watched in fascination.  After about 30 seconds I decided it was mixed enough.

Since I was little traumatized and the guests were coming in a few hours I decided to bypass kneading and rolling out the dough.  I gave it a massage for a little while and called it a day.  When one of my shower co-hosts questioned me later on why I didn’t roll them out I announced confidently that these are RUSTIC SCONES.  They turned out great, especially served with the warm homemade jam I had made earlier in the week.  Why was the jam served warm?  Don’t ask.