Richard Strauss and lavender scones are the perfect winter match

Norman and I are back in Austria and spending most of our time working on music from opposite ends of the musical spectrum, read: Norman is learning Rossini for his next gig at Theater an der Wien, and I'm learning the title role of Salome by Richard Strauss, a near Herculean feat operatically speaking, for an upcoming audition.

I took a break from the Judean princess, i.e. procrastinating, avoiding and generally denying the imminent reality of the task at hand, to prepare a treat for us, in the form of whole wheat lavender scones topped with a fresh orange juice glaze. Yummy and easy!

Here's the batter pre-mixing, doesn't it look pretty? I used the peel of an entire orange and the lavender was courtesy of our friend Verena, who collected it from the garden here in Salzburg.

Lavender is a powerful flavor that can overpower a dish, so I only used a tablespoon for the whole recipe. I think it would make a great addition to a marinade or salad too!

I substituted buttermilk for regular milk because I like the creamy texture. I sometimes make this recipe without eggs, but since I had them on hand, I used one.

I used the rest of the orange and it's juice to make a reduction, which sounds fancier than it actually is. Simply boil the juice and the pulp of the orange down with some sugar and butter to taste, and you have a nice glaze to top your scones! Hint: when it looks like syrup, it's done. The recipe I used/modified had another glaze option that I'm sure works well too, but I really wanted to use the rest of the orange on hand, and as an added bonus, it added another level of flavor!

And here's the final result! The scones were perfectly baked after about 18 minutes with this particular oven, crunchy on the outside with a flaky interior, not too sweet, and the orange elements added a hint of bitterness that worked amazingly well. (Bitter is not usually how one describes a successful dish if you ask me, but in this case it was perfect!)

Heres' the recipe I used if you want to try, courtesy of Live Simply, a very fine blog indeed!

I think I should procrastinate more often because really, Strauss and scones are a perfect combination on a snowy day. And who can resist this view from the kitchen?

"Sie sagen, dass die Liebe bitter schmecken...." - this drama could have all been avoided if Salome would have done more baking.

(Well now you HAVE to click on the link lest you perish of curiosity, nicht?)

:-D

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