Get the recipe: Gruyère and country ham scones
The scone is the work of pastry chef Tanya Bush, who is only 27 and preternaturally talented, considering she only has four years of professional pastry experience under her belt. She offers tempting flavor combinations, like almond cake with vanilla custard, sour cherry compote and salty cream cheese frosting. Her Cara Cara Orange Olive Oil Cake is so generously topped with poppy seeds that you get an audible (nice) crunch in every bite. Grub Street has called its sublime cruller one of the most coveted pastries in New York.
But it was Bush’s scones that stole my heart and caused many months of taste memory obsession. And that’s because of their unusual nature.
When I asked Bush about the inspiration behind the pastry, she wrote in an email that the scone is “a classic pastry with a Southern twist… a decadent, nutty-tasting wonder with an extravagant fat content , following that nebulous line between the traditional scone and the biscuit.”
If traditional scones and Southern ham biscuits came together, Bush’s scones would be their offspring. They have a deeply umami flavor, aided by the ham, green onions and cheese. (At Little Egg, Bush uses Calderwood cheese, sold exclusively by Saxelby Cheesemongers, but I substituted Gruyère for easier availability.) Sesame seeds and flaky salt on top add a touch of saltiness and crunch . Scones are best enjoyed warm, fresh from the oven, when they are most tender.
After Bush shared his recipe with me, I immediately got to work simplifying it for the home cook. Instead of chopping the ham and cheese by hand, I put them in a food processor. And while that left me with a few extra dishes to clean, I managed to chop both ingredients in less than three minutes – tasks that would have taken me much longer to do by hand – meaning that It took me very little time to throw the dough together.
At Little Egg, the scones are adorably chunky in their hockey puck shape, looking more like cookies and less like scones due to their lack of character. While it’s okay if they spread in your oven – they’ll still taste delicious – I wanted to crack the code of their shape. The trick, I discovered, was to cool the scones thoroughly before final shaping, egg wash and baking.
Since we’re a household of three – and my son refuses to eat anything with gruyere – making more than four scones at a time is overkill. But! Good news! Scones are also a dream to freeze. Shape them, freeze them on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a lidded container or zip-top bag and freeze them until needed. When you’re ready to bake, let the scones sit on the counter while the oven preheats, then brush them with egg wash and bake. Storing unbaked scones in the freezer makes it quick to whip up an impromptu brunch or last-minute afternoon tea.
In addition to baking spectacular cakes at the restaurant, Bush is also co-founder of Cake Zine, an independent print magazine that explores society and culture through sweets; and the pastry chef for Tables of Contents, a creative salon celebrating books, art, music and culture. And if that wasn’t enough, Bush is also working on what she calls a “literary cookbook that combines storytelling and recipe writing.”
With her involvement in so many projects at once, I asked Bush where she finds inspiration. “I am inspired by bakers who are playful and collaborative in their baking. …I find my main source of inspiration these days through the collaborative dessert program I host on Sundays and Mondays at Little Egg. It’s such a privilege to team up with other New York pastry chefs, experiment together and bring an abstract idea to the plate,” Bush wrote. She cites pastry chefs Kaitlyn Wong and Zoë Kanan, as well as Ham El-Waylly, as people she continues to learn from.
I can’t wait to see what Bush plans next.
Get the recipe: Gruyère and country ham scones
