Like Ellen, I’m an Anglophile. I love British customs, and one that I especially enjoy is Elevenses.
Many Americans first heard the term uttered by an anxious (and hungry) Pippin in Peter Jackson’s film of The Fellowship of the Ring…”What about elevenses?” They are what they sound like: a meal–or more of a nosh–consumed at 11:00 a.m. or thereabouts. I suppose the American equivalent is the morning coffee break, with a donut.
I happen to be unenthusiastic about breakfast, as a general rule. I’m not hungry when I first wake, and don’t really get hungry until late morning. So for me, elevenses are the perfect way to break my fast.
On weekdays, I fire up the oven at 10:30, pull a couple (well, three, usually) scones out of my freezer, and bake them up. A little butter on the side, maybe one more cup of tea, and voila! Elevenses.
It’s easy because I make the scones ahead and freeze them. I use a 1″ diameter round cutter, so they’re small. (More crust!) My recipe is adapted to high elevation, and I’ve been tinkering with it, so it’s a little different now than when A Fatal Twist of Lemon came out, but it’s still a cream scone with currants.
