Foodiva's Kitchen: International Incident Party - Rockin' Pink and Purple Scones!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

International Incident Party - Rockin' Pink and Purple Scones!




This marks the first time I am participating in the International Incident Party (IIP), the theme of which this month is “Scones”. It also marks the first time I made scones – ever - so I was truly excited and crossed my fingers that everything would go as planned! This monthly event is normally hosted by Penny from Jeroxie - Addictive & Consuming although this time, there are two other co-hosts: Anh from A Food Lover's Journey and Cherrie from Sweet Cherrie Pie. August is also the month when these two ladies celebrate their birthdays, so these colorful scones are especially dedicated to them. Happy Pyschedelic Birthday, Cherrie and Anh!

Okay, scones… where the heck do I start? There are so many recipes out there and they all seem simple enough to follow, but what about flavors? Yes, also too many that had already been tried and tested. Hmm… I wanted to wander off the beaten path just a little, maybe experiment with newer flavors. Or maybe colors! Hence I came up with these really pretty, as well as pretty tasty, Purple Sweet Potato Scones and Pink Dragonfruit Scones. Nooow, we are ready to PAR-TAY!


"Purple" Sweet Potato Scones.
No, don't adjust your monitor! LOL.

Fuschia pink Dragonfruit Scones!
What I had originally pictured in my mind were some delightfully romantic pink and purple color-coordinated scones. What actually came out (dastard chemistry!), were pink and purple-green scones…. Errm, the purple sweet potato had cooked to a greenish, matcha-like color and I wasn’t sure whether that was due to the added salt, or roasted dessicated coconut, or baking soda or even heat. It basically just turned on me, but after the initial shock, I got used to the mysterious hues of the scones. They were actually quite exotic, both in looks and taste. The bi-colored sesame seeds added some extra interest (as if there wasn’t already enough of it!). These scones were slightly drier in texture than the juicy dragonfruit ones, so I ate mine drenched in a little dulce de leche. You could also have them with some butter and jam or yes, condensed milk!

Dulce de leche on sweet potato-coconut flavors. Yuhmm!

The dragonfruit scones, thank heavens, stayed true to their color. In fact, when I finished glazing them, the fuschia-pink scones (naturally tinted) looked really mesmerizing! I took a bite, and the soft, crumbly moist texture made me go owhhh… Like a vampire, I was in love at first bite. Happily-ever-after kind of fairytale ending.

Do check out what the other party-goers made for this event by scrolling right down to the bottom of this page!

Purple Sweet Potato Scones
Makes 6 scones
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup + 1/3 cup extra, cooked, mashed and cooled purple sweet potato
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon roasted, dessicated coconut
pinch of nutmeg powder
eggwash, for glazing
black and white sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200oC/400oF and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Peel and slice the purple sweet potatoes and steam for 10-15 minutes. Mash and cool before using.
3. In a bowl, whisk butter and sugar until creamy, then add salt and beat in the egg.
4. Mix in the mashed sweet potato until just combined, but do not over mix.



L: Purple sweet potato                                                           R: Roasted, dessicated coconut (store-bought)

5. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix in the coconut and nutmeg. Add this to the sweet potato mixture. Dough should be soft but not sticky. Add more flour if necessary to reach this consistency.
6. Turn dough out onto floured surface and gently knead in the extra mashed sweet potato 2-3 times. Shape into a 1-inch thick flat, round circle and cut into six triangular scones. Brush tops with eggwash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk) to give scones a shiny glaze when cooked. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Place scones on baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until tops are light, golden brown. Serve with jam or condensed milk/dulce de leche while still warm!

Uncooked and cooked scones. Go figure...

Pink Dragonfruit Scones
Makes 6 scones
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup dragonfruit flesh, diced into 1/2- inch chunks
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Dragonfruit glaze:
1 tablespoon dragonfruit puree
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk butter and sugar until creamy, then add salt and beat in the egg.


3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and add to the butter mixture. Dough should be soft but not sticky. With your fingers, knead in the dragonfruit chunks lightly, making sure that you don’t press too hard or the fruit juice will start to seep out. Work quickly, and transfer the dough to the baking tray. (Note: Since dragonfruit is one juicy mama, I figured the flour needed some extra help rising and therefore enlisted the help of double-acting baking powder. It worked!)

Pretty in pink - uncooked scone
Before glazing
4. Once on the tray, shape the dough into a 1-inch thick flat, round circle and cut into six triangular scones. Separate scones, leaving a space of 2-inches in between each.
5. Bake for 15 minutes until tops are light, golden brown. Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. If you try to lift them up while they are still hot, the scones are fragile and likely to crumble and fall apart.
6. Prepare glaze by mixing the melted butter with icing sugar and dragonfruit puree, then add milk slowly to reach a glazing consistency. Spoon glaze onto cooled scones and serve.




26 comments:

Victoria said...

I love making scones! They are so versatile! I would have never thought to use either of your key ingredients, so for your first time making scones huge kudos to you, haha. I love the vibrant pink color on the dragonfruit scones.

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

These are the most exotic and prettiest scones I've ever seen. I'm invited to a party with some close girlfriends where the theme is pink and I may just have to bring these because they are so pink and so adorable :)

Unknown said...

Victoria and Azmina, yes, those pink scones are really hot-looking and they taste wonderful too! I couldn't get my hands off them long enough for a decent photoshoot... My first time making scones was so great, I'm definitely going to experiment again with other flavors.

Thank you both for coming by!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

Woah I love the bright glaze and even more that it's natural. Great entry to the party :).

Unknown said...

Thanks Xiaolu! I don't think I'd want to eat anything that fluorescent in color if it wasn't naturally-derived! LOL. Love your white chocolate-cherry scones too, btw.

penny aka jeroxie said...

OMG! You made such beautiful scones with natural colours... You rock babe. :D
I want to try the Purple Sweet Potato Scones.
And hooray! You worked out linky :D

Unknown said...

Yes, I only figured out about linky today... Talk about a steep learning curve eh, Penny! Thanks for hosting this scones IIP, it was so much fun thinking up what to contribute. I loved your pumpkin scones and wow, the tomato jam looked incredible!

Mardi Michels said...

Wow, interesting choice of flavours and colours there - I have never seen anything quite like it. Makes my plain old scones look naked!!!

Unknown said...

Mardi, you know, sometimes naked is good....and yeah, sexy! The memories of your nana's scones are exactly the same ones I have of when I used to eat scones while studying in the UK years ago. With clotted cream, oh how I miss that. Seeing yours have definitely made me long for my younger, carefree days!

Iron Chef Shellie said...

Wow what awesome flavours!! I have never seen dragon fruit in cooking and I would have never have thought of sweet potato.

man i'm craving scones again....

Tasty Trix said...

Wow, I can't believe those colors!! Okay, your Incident entry definitely wins for most colorful. I am longing to taste that dragonfruit glaze.

Heather S-G said...

Love 'em! They're so pretty =)

Unknown said...

Thank you, IIP Scones party people for all your kind comments! Really, everyone's scones and the stories behind them were so inspiring in their own way. I felt truly overjoyed at being able to participate in this event, and look forward to the next one!

Unknown said...

Wow! Love the purple sweet potato scones and the dragonfruit ones sound so delicious :D

Unknown said...

Those look so much fun!

Anonymous said...

I had some and they were FAAAAAAAAAAAAB!!!

Evelyne@CheapEthnicEatz said...

Welcome to the IIP. Wow very creative for a first event. I actually discovered the purple yam recipes too. Great job!

Unknown said...

My Anon friend, glad you liked them! The dragonfruit scones matched the colour of your outfit that day too... how fab and freaky was that??

Caroline said...

When I saw your title "rockin' purple" I kinda hoped your scones will have purple sweet potato and I'm so glad they did! I love purple sweet potato, a great substitute for ube (purple yam) that unfortunately you can only get fresh in the Philippines. Thanks for the recipe, I am sure to make these.

Unknown said...

Hiya Caroline, yes, I'm a purple sweet potato addict, I think! Looking back at the number of posts and dishes I've had with the color purple in it (waaay too many for one individual), it looks like I may need to get some help. Thanks for dropping by with your lovely comments!

Baking Barrister said...

These are some really unique scones. Sweet potato? That's definitely a new one in m world. Plus the colors are awesome.

Unknown said...

Baking Barrister, welcome to my weird and wonderful world! LOL. Thanks for looking in.

Cherrie Pie said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Wow, what a way to celebrate my birthday by eating pink and purple scones! How did you know they are my two favourite colours!

Unknown said...

Cherrie, pink and purple are your favorite colors? Well, then I just guessed correctly! LOL. Hope you had a rockin' birthday celebration!

Indonesia Eats said...

I love purple yam!

Unknown said...

Pepy, me too! I have so many ideas on what to do with them... I could do a post everyday just on purple sweet potatoes! But I don't want to turn people off them, and I also don't want to get purple ube burn-out... ;-)

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