My maternal grandmother, Dorothy Scotland (Granny), is the inspiration for this recipe. Granny always said “Waste not, want not.” This saying plays in my mind every time I am called on to throw some produce or food out of my fridge. This saying also inspired me to start composting.

I was looking sideways with a guilty feeling at the pineapple in the fridge week after week. Finally I knew that I had to face it. I took it out and started to peel it. Well it definitely was past its prime – to say the least. What to do? Well I had been ruminating on the idea of a scone with some type of jam in it and decided to try to “preserve” the pineapple.

My granny and aunts made guava jelly and guava jam when I was a child. It was part of a summer ritual. My sister and I would go down to granny’s in the country for the summer. My granny lived on the Essequibo Coast in the tiny village of my birth called Suddie – a few steps from the hospital where my sister and I were born. My sister and I would roam the beaches and pick guavas from trees that were growing in wild abundance. My aunts would make the guavas into jelly and jam in an arduous artisan process… so it’s kinda in my blood. I’ve also made applesauce for my children over the years so I thought – why not?

Homemade Pineapple Preserves

INGREDIENTS

1 overripe pineapple
2 teaspoons brown sugar

METHOD

Peel and core the pineapple
Remove any rotten bits and all of the “eyes” of the pineapple
Dice the pineapple and shred it into bits
Heat a small pan on medium low setting. Add the shredded pineapple.
Cook the pineapple until it turns a sunshine yellow color and springs its own juice (5 minutes or so).
Reduce the heat to low and add the brown sugar.
Cook until well combined, tender and tasty.
Cool, place in a jar and refrigerate for future use.

ORANGE SCONES

I have been playing around with scone recipes for years. Homemade scones are one of my son’s favorite treats. I make a batch to last for 3-4 days and they are gone in under 24 hours unless I hide some. I have been working towards the size, look and texture of a Cherry Cream Scone that I would buy from Amy’s Bread in NYC but could never quite make it. With time on my hands in the pandemic, I started to refine an orange cranberry scone recipe and play around with making it into fun shapes. The Orange Scone with Pineapple Preserves is a twist on my original orange scone recipe.

The Beauty of an Orange Scone

The orange scone’s effect on your palate should yield sensations similar to those enjoyed by the sommelier as she inhales the delicate accents of an exotic wine and sloshes it about slowly in her mouth. Your sense of smell grabs the citric notes of the scone and delivers an ephemeral experience to your taste buds – truly ecstasy in every bite.

If only smells could be conveyed through this medium, it would complete the experience.

Orange Scones with Homemade Pineapple Preserves

PREPARATION

Heat your oven to 400⁰ F.
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

ingredients

4 cups all enriched, unbleached all purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar + 2 additional tbsp set aside.
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
nutmeg seeds for grating
1/2 lb salted butter divided
2 x-large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 organic orange
1/2 cup pineapple preserves

Orange Scones with Home Homemade Pineapple Preserves

method

In a large mixing bowl, measure out your dry ingredients.
Grate a generous amount of nutmeg into the bowl with the other dry ingredients
Mix with a large spoon to blend thoroughly.
Wash the organic orange and dry thoroughly.
Using a zester or the finest side of your grater, grate to remove all of the outermost layer of the skin of the orange. This top layer is rich with the oils that flavor the scone. Stop when you get to the white inner skin.
Use a kitchen brush if necessary to get all of the zest. Set aside the zest and the orange.
Cut the butter into manageable pieces, then using your fingers crumble the butter into the dry ingredients. Stop when you have a very fine mixture.
Using a spoon, add the orange zest into the flour mixture. Combine thoroughly breaking up any clumps.
In a separate bowl add the sour cream and eggs.
Squeeze the orange to extract all of the juice. Add the orange juice to the eggs and sour cream. Whisk to blend thoroughly.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients.
Mix gently with a spoon until well combined. The mixture should be moist and sticky but not too wet. If it is too wet, add a bit of flour and gently combine. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH.
Using a large spoon, scoop out the dough and drop it onto the parchment paper. Separate by 3/4 inches. Reserve some dough to top the scones.
Scoop 1 tsp of pineapple preserves and top each of your dough mounds. Cover the mound with dough and press down around the edges to seal it off.
Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Place the baking sheets in the middle of the oven on two separate racks.
Bake for 8 minutes then rotate the baking sheets on the racks.
Bake for another 8 minutes. Remove and test for doneness. A toothpick inserted should come out clean and the scones should be golden brown. If the scones are not golden, put again in the oven in 2 minute intervals until the optimum coloring is achieved.
Remove and set aside to cool. ENJOY!