Mothering Sunday, Ireland pauses Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, baking buttery scones with currants

By Hugh
In Uncategorized
March 14, 2021
3 Min Read
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Ireland is celebrating Mother’s Day today. Technically, it’s actually “Mothering Sunday,” which began as a religious festival in the Middle Ages and is many hundreds of years older than the purely secular and commercial Mother’s Day celebrated in the U.S. Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and is observed in many Anglican and Catholic communities in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.

The moody weather continues, with today being mostly grey and very windy. I sleep in late again this morning, after staying up past my usual bedtime last night watching some TV. Daylight savings hasn’t kicked in for Europe yet, so the time difference with the U.S. is 1 hour less than normal, which is conveniently timed because I have a Zoom call with family later tonight. I don’t have many ambitions for the day, other than catching up on my CMA studies (I’ve been procrastinating over the last few of days) and baking some scones (see further below).

The big news today is that Ireland has “temporarily paused” the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after Norway reported a handful of cases in which 30-40 years olds developed some unusual and serious blood clots. This pause seems to be out of an abundance of caution while the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reviews the incidents. Thankfully, most of the doses administered in Ireland so far have been from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine:

My baking adventure for today is a recipe for Ultra-Buttery Irish Scones with Currants, which I tried once before in SF with excellent results. The technique involves brushing the rolled-out dough with butter, then folding it over multiple times, similar to how croissants and other pastries have “laminating” layers. As with other scone recipes, the ingredients are very basic — flour, baking powder, milk, sugar, salt, lots of butter, plus currants and demerara (turbinado) sugar for sprinkling on top. 

In one bowl dissolve sugar and salt in milk, in another bowl sift flour and baking powder together:


Cut cold butter into small pieces and incorporate into dry ingredients by hand until it resembles a coarse meal:





Add milk mixture, form dough into a ball, and transfer to a floured work surface:





Roll the dough out into a rectangle, spread softened butter over surface, then add currants on top:





Fold the dough into thirds (as if folding up a letter), fold again in half, then roll out again to a rectangle:






Cut into 8 sections, top with demerara/turbinado sugar, bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown:




Once out of the oven, brush tops with clarified butter (just in case there wasn’t enough in the dough!), let cool, and enjoy:



They turned out pretty well. The texture is very similar to a flaky biscuit, so less dense than ordinary scones. And you can definitely taste the butter! I pick out the three best looking ones, roll them up tightly in some plastic wrap, bundle them in a small plastic bag, and hang them on next door neighbor Irene’s gate as a treat for her. She had left me some Toblerone chocolates a few weeks ago (for St. Valentine’s Day?), and when I ran into her this past week at the entryway of the buildings where the mailboxes are, I thanked her and said I’d have to reciprocate in kind sometime. Hopefully she enjoys them! Although I did wonder if perhaps homemade baked goods might not be the most welcome gift during COVID… oh well, even if she throws them away, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Until next time….

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By Hugh March 14, 2021
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