Dolder inspired Scones

Tell me how many times it has happened to you that when you  have tried something somewhere in a nice Resturant and immediately want to try it out at home. It happens to me all the time. This time of the year there are nice goodies everywhere. This last weekend R picked me after work, then we met M and just spontaneously we decided to go to Dolder for a drink. People from downtown Zürich all know Dolder. It is one special Hotel and it has a great view. They do high tea and they have an amazing spread of little sandwiches, scones, patassiere and of course the best Darjelling tea. 

We ended up there and guess what! They were serving English breakfast tee with scones, mini cakes and little finger food on the cutest little Etage. I freaked out on that and we all three settled for that. 

The food was so good and the service perfect with very friendly staff. After we had about 2 kettles of freshly brewed tee I was always waiting for the SCONES! Finally after waiting and asking twice to the utter embarrassment of M and R, they arrived. Fresh and warm directly from the Oven, with Jams and clotted creme. It was very fine food, which I thoroughly enjoyed. That night I dreamed of Scones and BAM! I started to try to make my own first thing is the morning. I looked around in the kitchen and found most of things and this time some more which I needed to make scones. I had 3 very ripe bananas sitting in the kitchen for a few days. I was planning to make a banana and Walnut bread but they were used otherwise, Yes! to make scones. 

Here is what I needed for my Banana-Walnut scones:

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 300 gms flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50 gms or less of sugar, I took powdered brown sugar
• 75 gms of cold butter cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup creme
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 150 gms of walnuts.

Method:

1. First of all take all the three bananas and the Vanilla in a bowl and mash them with a fork, keep them aside. 
2. Take another big bowl, sieve the flour with the baking powder and salt in it. Add the butter cubes to the flour and start working with your fingers until it resembles like fine bread crumbs. You can also do this with a mixer, but for me its almost like meditating :)
3.  Now add the sugar and Walnuts to the flour mixture and mix it all well. 
4. Start adding creme bit by bit, keep mixing the dough with a spatula or a spoon and when you see it is starting to come together as a ball. Stop adding the creme. 
5. Depending on how big and juicy the bananas are the quantity of creme will differ. The dough should be not very stiff but soft. You just bring the dough together, don't knead it like a pizza dough. 
6. Rest it for about 20 minutes in a cling film in the fride. In this time clear the kitchen and lay the table for breakfast, that's what I did. 
7. Now roll out the dough on a baking paper and with the help of a round dough cutter, cut out about 12-14 scones. I used my old silver water glass given by my mom for the girls, it had sharp edges :)
8. Separate them and put them on another baking tray lined with baking paper, brush them with fresh creme and bake them for about 10-12 minutes on a preheated oven at 220°
9. Serve with jam, nutella, beated creme and a smile. Mine were a hit and so will be yours. 

The banana is a main ingredient in this recipe. It gives a very moist and creamy taste to the scones. But the banana has to be a very ripe one. When the skin of the banana is black and very thin, that's when its ready to use for baking. You can also substitute the walnuts with the dark chocolate chips and then you will have banana and chocolate chip ones.

Some views of the Dolder: