Ritzy Scones

DEAR SOS: Recently, at a tea at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, we were served wonderful scones. Do you think the hotel might share the recipe?

--JANET

DEAR JANET: The recipe arrived from pastry chef Christoph Bader and executive chef Denis Depoitre, and we too couldn’t wait to taste-test them. Use a light hand in mixing and handle the dough as little as possible for light and fluffy scones. Over-mixing the batter tends to toughen biscuit-like products and make them heavy. Weight measures are given (in addition to cup measures) for the dry ingredients because the hotel chefs, like most professional cooks, use a scale for accuracy when baking.

RITZ CARLTON SCONES

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) powdered sugar

4 cups (1 pound) pastry flour

tablespoons (3/4 ounce) baking powder

1 egg

1 1/4 cups milk

Pinch salt

1/4 pound dried apricots, chopped

1/4 pound raisins

Cream together butter and sugar. Add pastry flour, baking powder, egg, milk and salt, mixing just enough to blend. Do not over-mix. Add apricots and raisins.

Using small ice cream scoop, scoop out dough and turn each scoop into 4-inch aluminum cup. Press flat. Bake scones at 400 degrees 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 15 scones.

Makes 15 scones.

Each scone contains about:

222 calories; 235 mg sodium; 25 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.33 gram fiber.

Kumquat Gifts

DEAR SOS: I’d love to preserve kumquats as gifts when fresh crops appear.

--CHARLENE

DEAR CHARLENE: Tie a pretty ribbon around a jar of these preserved kumquats.

PRESERVED KUMQUATS

1 pound kumquats

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Water

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves

4 cinnamon sticks, broken

Wash kumquats in warm water, place in pot or large bowl and sprinkle with baking soda. Cover with boiling water and let stand 10 minutes. Drain water and rinse three times in cold water.

Cut tiny cross in blossom end of each kumquat. Place in pot with cold water to cover. Bring to boil and boil 15 minutes. Drain, add fresh water and repeat boiling process until fruit is tender. Set aside.

Combine sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks with 2 cups water and bring to boil. Boil 5 minutes. Add kumquats and cook in syrup until fruit is transparent and syrup registers 222 degrees on candy thermometer. Remove from heat and let kumquats plump in syrup overnight at room temperature. Drain kumquats. Reheat syrup to boiling. Place kumquats in sterilized jars and strain hot syrup over fruit to fill jars within 1/2 inch of top. Seal jars.

Makes 1 1/2 pints.

Each tablespoon contains about:

38 calories; 1 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.35 gram fiber.

Rare but Not Forgotten

DEAR SOS: I’ve never eaten tastier Welsh Rarebit than that which used to be served at the Cock and Bull restaurant on Sunset Strip.

--JOHN

DEAR JOHN: The recipe disappeared with the restaurant, but here is a good facsimile that might make you just as happy. Old-fashioned as it may be, we love serving this dish at open house parties.

WELSH RAREBIT

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup beer

1 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

1 egg

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 drops hot pepper sauce

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon chopped chives

6 slices bread, toasted

Halved hard-boiled eggs, optional

Quartered tomatoes, optional

Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Blend in beer. Add cheese and stir constantly over low heat until smooth.

Beat egg in bowl and add few spoonfuls hot cheese mixture and blend well. Blend egg mixture into remaining cheese mixture, stirring constantly. Add Worcestershire, salt, hot pepper sauce, curry powder, mustard and chives, and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, 10 minutes. Serve over toast and garnish with halved hard-cooked eggs and quartered tomatoes.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving, without egg or tomato garnish, contains about:

351 calories; 711 mg sodium; 120 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 20 grams protein; 0.02 gram fiber.

* Plate and mug from Ivette Helfend Ceramics, available at Fred Segal in Santa Monica and Newman Marcus in Beverly Hills.