Buttermilk Scone Muffins (Scuffins!)

I had the greatest experience in the grocery store today! We were walking by the little aisle of cheap little toys, and Stephen saw something that looked like a portable Nintendo thingee... honestly, I don't even know what those are called anymore. Anyway. It was one of those games where you tilt it around to get the tiny balls in the holes, not a real Nintendo. He asked what it was, and I told him. Then the magic words: "Mom, what's a Nintendo?" Ha HA! Victory!! The best part was the employee shelving things next to us said, "Wow. You don't hear that much anymore, do you?" Now, I'm not a horrible techno-nazi mom, I promise. My boys have played with Wii's and things, dancing games and Mario-Kart and such. But we don't own one, and we won't for a while. Someday! I'm not against them completely. They're lots of fun! But first I want my kids to play outside. Or together. Or read. Or explore. Or dance like crazy around our living room. (I guess you can do that with a Wii... whatever) I hope that when they get older, they'll be the ones that invite their friends over to play basketball or something. Technology will be very controlled in my house. I don't want teenagers who spend their weekends in the basement staring at a TV, sorry!! 

Buttermilk Scone Muffins (Scuffins!) (adapted from The English Kitchen)
Printable Recipe

2 1/2 cups of flour
Zest of 1 lemon (optional, but recommended)
Heaping 1/4 cup caster/ultra fine sugar (you can use granulated sugar, but they won't be quite as light)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp salt
10 Tb cold butter, cut into chunks
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12 cup muffin tin well and set aside.

Rub the zest into the sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Drop in the butter and rub/cut it into the flour mixture until the mixture is crumbly and the butter bits are no larger than small peas. Stir the vanilla into the buttermilk, add this to the dry ingredients, and stir it in with a fork until the dough is moistened, all dry crumbly bits incorporated. You may need to add more buttermilk. This is dough, not batter, so it will be relatively stiff, but you still want it moist.

Divide into the 12 muffin cups, and sprinkle the tops with sugar. (optional) Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and crusty. Serve warm.

These are my new favorite things. Really. They're actually just scones in muffin form, but I'm already envisioning a whole new genre, flavors galore. Scuffins!!

My favorite part is how crunchy they are on the outside. The sugar of course gets even crustier. You could leave it off for health reasons... I suppose... But why??

Then barely lemony, soft and light and fluffy on the inside! I bet you won't stop long enough to spread butter or jam or anything on them! Although of course that would be yummy...

Positively scrumdiddlyumptious scuffins :)

Shared at Create It Thursday and Foodie Friday