'I Immediately Went to Work'

Celebrity

Ina Garten's scones were famous at her Barefoot Contessa store but the cookbook author once revealed she added different flavors only after lying to a food writer.

Published on May 14, 2022

TL; DR: 

• Ina Garten’s scones were popular at her Barefoot Contessa store.
• The Food Network star once admitted to lying about her store’s scone flavors to a journalist. 
• Today Ina Garten has multiple scone recipes.

Ina Garten’s scones are an original Barefoot Contessa recipe. However, before they were featured in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook the Food Network star sold them at her Barefoot Contessa store. And as Garten once revealed, two flavors were added after she lied to a journalist about having them on the menu.

The story behind how some of Garten’s scone recipes came to be can be traced back to a lie. As the Be My Guest with Ina Garten host said in her 1999 cookbook, she fibbed when a journalist called her store.

“Years ago, a food writer from the New York Times called to ask if we made our famous scones in different flavors,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Oh, yes, we make Cheddar dill scones and strawberry scones.’ 

But there was a problem. They weren’t on the menu. “Of course, I had never made either one,” she said, adding that she “immediately went to work to create both recipes.”

Garten developed the recipes and, as she noted at the time, “they have been on the menu at Barefoot Contessa ever since.”

The Food Network star now has a number of scone recipes 

Garten’s scone recipes have expanded since that memorable phone call. Today, she has a few variations including strawberry, the second of the two flavors she lied about serving. She included them in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, noting she spent a week making scones before settling on the recipe. 

“I made scones for a week before I came up with a recipe that would get customers out of their beds in the morning and into the store,” she wrote. The Modern Comfort Food author continued, saying, “In a world where most scones are like hockey pucks these are light and moist.”

Additional Garten scone recipes include Maple Oatmeal Scones, Cranberry Orange Scones, Raisin Scones, and Chocolate Pecan Scones.

The Barefoot Contessa’s trick to light and fluffy scones is cold butter

Garten’s technique for perfect scones is two-fold. One part has to do with the butter. She advises using cold butter, not room temperature, to avoid tough scones she would compare to “hockey pucks.” 

The reason? “Cold bits of butter in the dough ensure flaky scones,” she wrote in Cook Like a Pro. “When the heat hits the bits of butter,” she explained, “the water in the butter turns to steam and makes the dough rise.” 

The other way to get perfect scones, according to Garten, is flour. Not a particular type or brand but rather how it’s measured. She suggests not packing it into a measuring cup and using too much flour as a result. 

Additionally, Garten’s known for following recipes exactly. That means no eye-balling measurements or skipping steps. 

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