Carlow Café makes the Best Scone in Ireland!

Carlow’s Café Formenti makes the Best Scone in Ireland!

Goodall’s of Ireland Reveals the National & Regional Winners of the Nation’s Favourite Scone

2 One of the great culinary debates has finally been laid to rest as Goodall’s of Ireland have announced the winner of their search for the country's Best Scone! This morning Carlow’s Café Formenti has been revealed as the winner of a €1,000 prize fund, but more importantly the coveted title of ‘Best Scone of Ireland’!

The competition caught the public imagination with #bestscone becoming one of the top trends talked about on Twitter last week.   A shortlist was compiled from public nominations cast on Twitter and Facebook and was  then voted for on the www.goodalls.ie blog, with almost 10,000 votes being cast from around the country.

Café Formenti’s unusual ‘Scruffin’ a cross between a muffin and a scone, encouraged loyal customers and fans to get behind the Carlow based café, and owner Richie Fenner commented on his delight at the victory for the café,

“Cafe Formenti, along with being a working cafe where we cater for all tastes in Carlow town, is also a community, where all walks of life come to interact.””

Four regional winners were also selected from the shortlist of 12 finalists; The Halo Café in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, Keogh’s Café on Trinity Street in Dublin, Tierney’s Costcutter in Ennis, Co. Clare, and The Tuckaway Coffee Shop in Waterford, and each eatery will receive a €500 prize.

Speaking on behalf of Goodall’s Gareth Watkins commented,

“We wanted to celebrate the best of Irish baking – not the fancy stuff but tasty everyday stuff, that when it’s done well can be fantastic.  We all know scones can vary from the mediocre to the truly great and Café Formenti  represents the best of modern Irish food”.

Any bakers wishing to try their hand at making Ireland’s best scone can have a look at www.Goodalls.ie where Goodalls will  publish the café’s top tips on scone making .  You can join in the great scone debate on  Facebook.com/GoodallsIreland or follow the conversation on Twitter.com/GoodallsIreland.

This Christmas Cake kit works!

This worked for me!
The Odlum's Christmas Cake kit, with an excellent recipe booklet, is widely available at about the €12.00 mark. I got one to try and yes it works. Very easy to follow, and voila, a few hours later, you have a lovely light cake for the Christmas.

COOKIE CHALLENGE!

MARKET CHALLENGE from ANGELFOODS!


Picked up some tasty cookie bits and a challenge at Blarney Farmers Market recently. After the tasting the samples, I bought a bag by Angelfoods which contained most of the ingredients and all the instructions needed to make 18 Spiced Date and Sultana Cookies.


Had the gear.  The opportunity came this dreary Bank Holiday Monday. The alternative was watching St Mirren and Hamilton Accies on the telly - I did break away from the baking to see the only goal!

Added 4 ozs of butter and one medium egg to the mix and it was easy after that. Fifteen minutes in the oven and soon afterwards was doing the taste test. Not bad at all. Cookies can be stored for up to one week. Don't reckon they’ll last that long! By the way, Spiced Oat and Sultana is just one of a selection of cookie flavours available in this handy kit form. Watch out for them!