Over the weekend the tomato plants have moved from a space next to the big glass doors in living room to the greenhouse. This is a sure sign that summer is on the way and not, as my family would like to think, that I’ve finally taken heed of their complaints about there being pots all over the house. And while we’re on signs of summer, the swifts are back too from their wintering grounds in Africa. I saw the first few birds yesterday evening, skimming through the sky after high flying insects. They join the swallows, cuckoos and chiffchaffs that have arrived back over the last few weeks… now all is ready, and summer can begin.
I was looking back at a post from almost exactly a year ago to check when the swifts arrived last year, and it was just about the same time. In the post there’s a photo of apple blossom. The swifts might be back at the same time, but the apple tree is way behind this year. It has leaves, but no sign of any flowers yet. The pear trees, on the other hand, are covered in pink buds and white flowers.
I’m less excited about the huge flowers appearing on my rhubarb though. It does this every year – the RHS website says that some cultivars are more likely to flower than others, I must have the most flower-prone cultivar in the history of the world. I’ll remove the flowers, following RHS instructions, to prevent them from weakening the crown – I want the plants energy to go into producing stalks not flowers.
The internet is awash with rhubarb recipes at the moment – Kathy at Gluts & Gluttony did a great round up of recipes, including rhubarb tart, ice cream and cake. And this month’s three ingredients for the Recipes for Life challenge over at Bangers & Mash are rhubarb, lemon and spice. Must admit, my first attempt at a recipe using these three wasn’t great – rhubarb crumble cookies with lemon icing. They looked ok, but tasted something like rhubarb-flavoured cardboard. The children at the school gardening club tried them for me, and decided that I should try again, maybe with something else. Although the experience was memorable enough for eating cookies to make it onto the blackboard recording things we’ve done at gardening club.
This time I think I’ve got a recipe that not just works, it works well – rhubarb and lemon scones. The scone dough is nice and sweet to contrast with the tart rhubarb and lemon zest. They’re great as they are, warm from the oven. Or cut in two and spread with butter… some jam is nice too. Whichever way you want to eat them, they’re seasonal, easy to make and my entry for May’s Recipes for Life.
Rhubarb & lemon scones
50g caster sugar
100g rhubarb, chopped fairly finely
1 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
a little milk
Preheat the oven to 220oC, 450F, gas 7.
Mix the sugar, rhubarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
Sift the flour, and baking powder into a mixing bowl, add the salt and stir to mix. Rub the cubed butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, rhubarb and spices mixture to the flour – the sugar should have dissolved, scrape all the sweet liquid from the bottom of the bowl and add that too. Stir well so that the rhubarb pieces are spread through the flour.
Stir in the egg and enough milk to bring everything together into a soft dough.
Put the dough on a lightly floured board and roll it out gently until it’s about 21/2 cm thick. Use a cookie cutter or an upturned glass to cut rounds out of the dough. Put the scones onto a greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes of so before serving.
Vanesther said:
These look delicious. I’ve never thought to use rhubarb in scones before, but what a great idea. Will be giving these a whirl very soon. And a lovely entry for this month’s Recipes for Life – thank you so much for your continued support for this initiative!
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Vanesther – with three vegetarian ingredients this month, I had to enter!
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Chez Foti said:
Oh these do look rather lovely! I’m about to make a batch of Rhubarb Crumble Muffins for the challenge which fingers crossed will come out somewhere near as tasty as your scones look. My rhubarb is flowering too, but wasn’t sure what to do about them, shall now go and chop down!
thegardendeli said:
I’ll look out for your rhubarb crumble muffins – they sound interesting. Just need my plant to stop flowering and start producing more stalks so’s I can get cooking with it!
glutsandgluttony said:
Thanks for the mention and I love the scones. My rhubarb also attempted to flower but I beheaded it as you have done and it’s going great guns so it seems like a good idea. Good luck!
thegardendeli said:
In past years I’ve cut the flowers off, but the plant continues to produce more… don’t know if I should get another plant, try it somewhere different, or just give up!
Anne ~ Uni Homemaker said:
Sarah, your scones sounds delicious. And the photos are beautiful!
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Anne – it’s so nice to be able take photos in sunlight again!
PJ said:
These will be on my weekend baking list. I adore all thing rhubarb and I’ve never tried these scones before so thanks x
thegardendeli said:
Hope they work well for you. I’m thinking next time I might add some ginger instead of cinnamon…
Cathy said:
They look very pretty and lemon is a nice idea to go with rhubarb. My rhubarb has never flowered (not yet anyway)… Our swallows arrived several days ago – isn’t it a lovely sight!
thegardendeli said:
It’s great to see the summer migrants arriving back, especially after such a long winter.
gardeningshoe said:
They might be delicious warm from the oven, but I suspect they wouldn’t last long enough to be eaten cold later. I really fancy giving these a go. Our pear blossom is magnificent too. Perhaps you should start researching pear recipes since it might be a good year!
thegardendeli said:
I wouldn’t dare start researching pear recipes so soon… bound to lead to crop failure! Although saying that, I had some spiced pear ice cream today – definitely a recipe worth looking for.
andreamynard said:
Your scones look and sound wonderful, especially warm from the oven! Rhubarb cordial (a very pretty colour) is my favourite thing to do with rhubarb other than ice cream at the moment but I really fancy trying these. Love the sound of your gardening club too.
thegardendeli said:
The gardening club is fun – lovely to have children (and parents) who are enthusiastic about growing stuff. Rhubarb cordial sounds good, is there a recipe on your blog that I’ve missed?
Promenade Claire said:
I haven’t made scones in AGES!! I need to rectify that!
And yes definitely chop the flower off as it does weaken the plant – although it is rather fun seeing them!
thegardendeli said:
The flowers were given the chop this afternoon… but there will no doubt be more growing soon.
Jacqueline @How to be a Gourmand said:
Beautiful photo of the apple blossom Sarah and what a creative way of using up rhubarb. Your comment about the children’s feedback made me laugh – you can always guarantee an honest response where kids are involved 🙂
I tried rhubarb crumble muffins before – they were fine and tasty straight out of the oven but a day later they turned really soggy. I wonder what went wrong 🙂
thegardendeli said:
What a shame about your rhubarb muffins – I did wonder if the rhubarb would be too wet for scones, but it seems to work ok. Best thing to do is eat them all straight from the oven!
elaine said:
We had our first rhubarb crumble of the year on Sunday needless to say it was delicious I have accumulated quite a few recipes over the years for ways to use rhubarb but I haven’t tried scones yet they sound interesting. My garden seems to be about the same as yours we have damson, greengage and pear blossom so far – fingers crossed we don’t have any late frosts – it would be nice to have some fruit this year.
thegardendeli said:
The first crumble made with homegrown rhubarb is always something to look forward to… like the first apple crumble in autumn.
Laura@howtocookgoodfood said:
Well these scones look and sound perfect to me, especially as I have some allotment rhubarb sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. I never need an excuse to make a batch of scones, a favourite in our house and these have to be tried :))
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Laura – hope you enjoy the scones!
Charlie@Seattle Trekker said:
Love your banner and the scones sound really wonderful. I planted rhubarb 3 years ago so scones it is for this weekend.
thegardendeli said:
3 year old rhubarb should be giving you a good harvest this year… do you have interesting recipes you plan to use?
Elaine Livingstone (@pooohbear2811) said:
my scones always look like biscuits that have been run over with a steam roller, they never rise, these do look very nice indeed.
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Elaine. I use a trick with scones that I think came from Delia Smith – don’t roll the dough out too thin, then it doesn’t matter if they don’t rise much!
Karen said:
My pear trees always bloom a good week before the apple trees. Right now our orchard is almost at full bloom. I bet your apple trees will be blooming next week. Your scones sound terrific… I like your combination of flavors.
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Karen. The weather’s turned colder again here, so maybe it’s just as well the apples haven’t flowered yet.
lisa said:
i dont see where you add lemon to this recipe?
thegardendeli said:
Oops – you’re absolutely right Lisa, no mention of lemon! Don’t know what went wrong there… but all edited and sorted out now. Thanks.
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Elizabeth said:
These scones sounds utterly delicious! Congratulations on winning the Swallow competition with this recipe!
thegardendeli said:
Thanks Elizabeth! I’ve really enjoyed entering the Swallow recipe competition each month – having my recipe chosen this month is a real bonus.
HELEN said:
these look gorgeous – I love scones & would never have thought to add rhubarb – definitely making these! well done on your win too!
ediblethings said:
Congratulations on winning this month. Is it wrong that I am sitting here trying to decide whether apple butter or lemon curd would be best on those scones?
I’m always a bit sad to take the flowers off my rhubarb, because they are really pretty. That said, I grow mine in a container, due to living about an inch above the water table, and I relocated it in the container. It used to flower before then, but doesn’t any more. It is in a sunnier spot now, and seems to prefer it.
thegardendeli said:
I haven’t tried apple butter, but I think lemon curd would go well…