The Ultimate Fluffy Buttermilk Scones

My son and I are acting like old grandma lately, enjoying tea and scones. LOL!

I like scones but never this much like now. I guess I must been influenced by my scones-loving son.

Well, what make an eight-year-old boy loving his scones so much? It started when he had his first scones with jam and cream when we were on our eleven-hours train ride to and fro Sydney. You know... When the train rides were extremely long and boring, the warm and simple commercially-made scones can strangely taste so extra yummy! LOL!

Then, our scones-loving adventure continues as we seek to try many famous and interesting scones.

One of the very popular scones that we had tried is the square and extremely fluffy scones from Miss Marple's Tearoom which is situated along Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd at Sassafras, Victoria. These scones and the country setting of the tearoom are very lovely but... honestly speaking, we all think that the over-fluffy square scones are NOT really scones-enough for us!!!

Alright. You might say that how does a non-English non-Aussie me would know anything about scones? My husband showed the photo of the Miss Marple's scones to his Aussie colleagues and they all agreed that these overly fluffy square bakes are not scones! Well, don't you think that these tall and fluffy square so-called scones do look and taste more like Australian spongy damper that are cut into squares?

Maybe I shouldn't judge and compare if I have not taste any ultimate fluffy scones before. Despite that I have baked and tasted many really good scones recipes at here, here, here, here and here, they are never as fluffy as the scones at Miss Marple's Tearoom.

I ask myself... Is there a scone that is ultimate fluffy?

Hence, I did a Google search to look for "ultimate fluffy scones". Not surprising, I found MANY recipes and I can't help to notice these interesting recipes:

Ultimate scones from BBC
Ultimate scones from ABC Delicious
Ultimate scones from Taste.com.au

Gosh! Can someone please me which recipe is the MOST ultimate? Are these scones really ultimate in term of its fluffiness? Taste? Texture? Or everything? Hmmm...

I guess the best way to know which recipe makes the most ultimate fluffy scones is to bake and taste them. Guess what? I did bake the recipes and learned something...

The Ultimate Fluffy Scones that I have baked eventually!!!

Spongy Soft Honey Sandwich Bread

Have you tried baking this well-tested Barefoot Contessa honey sandwich bread recipe from here? Yes, I did! And I love love love this recipe!!!

These basic and slightly brioche-like sandwich breads are delicious because they are VERY SOFT... So soft with a nice spongy feathery light texture.

I have baked with this recipe several times... Sometimes, I baked them with brown crusty tops like these country style sandwich loaves at here. Or sometimes, I baked them into square sandwich loaves like these ones at here...

Spongy Soft Honey Sandwich Bread

Easy Mix-and-Cook Crispy Banana Bread Waffles - Two Recipes, Non-vegan and Vegan

When I told my colleague that I was going to cook banana bread waffles for the coming weekend and he was like... Wow! Can I come to your house? Will you do the same too?

I know. Just the thought of enjoying crispy and moist banana bread waffles with drizzles of maple syrup will make me salivating instantly... Do you? Oopsie if I have influenced you so much that you might be thinking of banana bread waffles right now! LOL!

And if you do, you might want to try these two fabulous recipes that I have truly tried and tested. Trust me... They are really really really good.

Although both recipes make crispy banana bread waffles with moist fluffy insides ...
- one tends to be crisper due to the addition of sour cream and egg.
- the other one is purely vegan with no eggs added, very banana-loaded and a lot more moister with banana-cake-like inside.

I prefer the extra crispy waffles that are made with sour cream and egg but my son said that both are equally delicious in their own unique ways and he can't say that which one is actually better than the other.

What to do if you can't decide? Try both recipes!!! Both are going to be delicious so it's a win-win situation. LOL!

Easy Mix-and-Cook Crispy Banana Bread Waffles
These are the crisper ones with sour cream and egg. 

Egg Sambal (Sambal Telur) - Hardboiled Eggs served with Malaysia / Singapore Style Caramelised Onion Jam

If I could go back in time, I would never imagine that I had spent a major part of my adult life living in Melbourne. Well, it happened and I'm happy with the way how it happened.

Having said that, the Singapore-originated me will never forget my roots and like to stay connected from where I'm coming from...

In particular, I really miss food that cooked with belacan in the form of sambal belacan.

Sambal belacan? For those who don't know, sambal is a South East Asian type of chili sauce that is made with different combinations of chili and a large variety of secondary ingredients such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and vinegar. And of course, belacan is a Malay variety of shrimp paste.

If you have been searching for sambal recipes from books and internet, you will see all sambal are all very different!!! Honestly, I can't tell you which it is the best or not. It is actually depending whether you like it or not! I like sambal that is incorporated with belacan as its taste is heightened from just plain spicy and garlicy to something that is beyond 3-dimensional... a sauce that has a strong stinky fishy smell!!! LOL! And I LOVE IT!!! It's like durian, blue cheese, Taiwanese stinky tofu... It's either you love it or you don't.

I don't like durian, blue cheese, Taiwanese stinky tofu... but strangely love love love sambal belacan! Maybe because I have been growing up eating it!!! Likewise for my husband. My Aussie-born son? He tried... and hate it totally! Why am I surprised? LOL! Or maybe one day, he will become more Singaporean and might like it. Hmmm... Maybe.

Egg Sambal / Sambal Telur