Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » in the kitchen with: chris chun’s lemonade scones

Chris Chun is one of my absolute favorite artists. Seeing his work up close and watching him work in painstaking delicate detail gives me the goosebumps! In addition to being a fantastic multi-media artist, he comes from a foodie family and he got the foodie genes. He’s a fantastic cook! He would have preferred to do a savory dish for us, and he still might! But this week, he has offered a recipe for “Lemonade” Scones. You’ll have to read the recipe to find out what it’s all about!

About Chris: Chris Chun has an appetite for fun, great food, adventure and beautiful things. His paintings celebrate joy and optimism. As an award winning designer (including a brief stint as a chef in London),  Chris has worked around the world including Australia, Italy and the UK. Since painting full time in 2004, Chris has been selected as a finalist in both the 2004 Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale Art of Food and the 2005 Jacques Cadry Memorial Art Prizes. His exhibition ‘Appetite’ was the opening event of the Tasting Australia 2005 Festival in Adelaide. His distinctive, beautiful pieces are in constant demand, which have resulted in sell out exhibitions in Sydney and throughout Australia where he now lives. Chris’s paintings have been featured in various local & international magazines and he also painted several book covers including the cover for the ‘The SBS Eating Guide to Sydney 10th Edition’ by Joanna Savill and Maeve O’Meara. Some of Chris’s work has also been licensed by renowned companies around the world onto a select range of products such as ceramics, cards & stationery, fabrics and homewares. His online shop opened in May.

CLICK HERE for the full recipe after the jump!

Chris Chun’s Lemonade Scones

Recipe:

6 Cups (780g) Self Raising Flour

500ml (2 cups) cream (heavy cream)

500ml (2 cups) lemonade (you call it Sprite)

Mix with knife lightly until just combined. Roll out gently, cut into scones with round shaped cutter then bake in moderate oven 180C (350F) for 15 minutes.

Note from Kristina: Depending on how large you make your scones, this recipe could feed many many people. I have found that quartering it, and making small bite-sized scones is quite effective, or halving it and making larger scones works if you have fewer people (or less greedy people) to serve.

[images above: chris at work- on a painting, and his lemonade scones]

Lara – the sprite and self-rising flour must react together (fizzy and baking soda) to make the recipe what it is. You could probably add lemon zest – I don’t think it would curdle the cream, but the lemonade definitively would! I’m excited to try these for Saturday morning!

@dee The substitution would be 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder + one half teaspoon salt for every cup of flour. I would add a bit more baking powder though to supplement this, making it 2 teaspoons per cup.

@Paulette you could try diet sprite I guess, not sure how the artificial sweetening would bake, but these are not very sweet at all.

@darcyart I wish it were devonshire cream! It’s butter from the farm up the street. Not sure why their butter is sometimes so light in color. Chris thought it was lard when he saw the images!!!

Is Sprite lemony-lime flavoured like is here in the UK? Australian lemonade has no specific flavouring (’cept sugar I guess!) so chris may have assumed Sprite was the same? The Ginger ale version sounds fab!

The yellow color in butter is from the grass the cows eat, which contains beta-carotene. Seasonal changes effect the color of butter, as do changes in eating habits, and the type of cow doing the producing. Commercial butter is often colored artificially.

Hi. I hope you guys enjoy the recipe. Scones are really popular here in Australia for afternoon tea especially served with strawberry/ raspberry jam (or jelly as known in the US) and whipped cream. And a good cup of tea.
Sprite/ 7UP whatever – I think it is the same all over the world.
Bon Appetit!! Cxx

You can substitute yoghurt instead of cream and any kind of carbonated drink.

With yoghurt though, it makes the scones a bit more chewy but fruit yoghurts make a nice flavour change.

Ginger ale works really well. :)

I am assuming that it’s the carbonation in the Sprite that helps these rise? In which case, you could just use soda/carbonated water (do you get soda water in the US? I have never been able to find it there) and flavour the scones as you would like?

Chris-your paintings are so colorful and full of life I could look at them every day to be happy! I am making the scones today, can’t wait to try them. The recipe could not be easier and I applaud the lack of butter.

To Sarah, from a few comments back, it’s definitely the carbonation that helps the scones rise, so for the diet conscious, I use soda water instead, and throw in half a cup of chopped up dates, and a small pinch of nutmeg. (And then I convince myself that I didn’t put any cream in….and eat them all by myself!) You’ve got to see my thighs!

OH! I just realized that there is an error in the flour amount here: I usually calculate 130g as 1 cup of flour, so the flour amount should be 780g as a starting point. With scones you should prefer a wetter dough to a drier one, but keep a bit of flour on hand for rolling out, and if you see things getting out of control!

eileen

self-rising flour is just all purpose flour that has had baking powder and salt added to it. here’s an easy recipe: http://southernfood.about.com/od/ingredientsubstitutions/r/bl40318o.htm

grace

I made these for guests and they were delicious with fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream. What an inexpensive easy dessert or breakfast. I will say they definitely don’t taste lemony at all though. But still no complaints here! Delish

Hi Amanda!

It’s always great to hear back from readers who try the recipes! I’m glad you liked it! I don’t think these are supposed to be lemon-flavored. I think the Sprite is there to add sugar and leavening (together with the powdered leavening). To hear the name “Lemonade” I think is a bit confusing, at least for Americans! -k

Hi MiMi,

Sorry to hear it didn’t work out the first time! It sounds like you may have needed a bit more flour. However, it’s better to have a wetter than drier dough with scones. You will probably have to play a bit with your amounts of flour and wet ingredients to match your particular situation. I used tips from Lucy Young’s Baking Tips book to guide me, funny enough! Let me know if you try it again and it still doesn’t work. -Kristina

ok, I made the scones yesterday using ginger ale. I had half expected the scones wouldn’t taste much of ginger, and they didn’t. But they tasted good nonetheless, and making the dough was a breeze and fun. I used a touch less cream as the dough got really sticky, but otherwise fine. Thanks for such a fun recipe!

I made these and yes, as an American tasted no lemon. However, as previously mentioned, the dough was incredibly sticky, (impossible to roll), so I just dropped them and they are delicious with butter and honey!

I tried the scones and they turned out amazing!

I did not have self rising flour, so I followed the rules Kristina gave about the salt and baking powder.

The dough was perfect so I decided to use my star shaped cookie cutter to make the scones fun and more enjoyable.

I will definitely make these for parties and breakfast gatherings!

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