Strawberry Scones

I think it's finally time for me to change my position on scones. When I see them on other blogs or in cookbooks, they always look yummy, but never pull me in the way other treats do. I never feel compelled to get up and make them immediately. I'd seen these strawberry scones on The Food Librarian's site in March and resolved to make them soon. Well "soon" wound up being last week and now I'm kicking myself I didn't try these sooner. They are amazing! They're incredibly tender and the flavor is terrific. They're not overly sweet themselves, but the bites of fruit add just the right sweetness. I did have a little bit of trouble forming the scones. The dough was very crumbly so I wound up adding a bit of extra cream, which did the trick. I'm thinking of trying these again next week with a different fruit - they really do make a great breakfast treat.

Strawberry Scones

from Confessions of a Tart (as seen on The Food Librarian)

1 cup strawberries (or other fruit)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, in cubes, slightly softened

2/3 cup half-and-half or cream or cold buttermilk (I used cream)

Topping:

1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

If using larger fruit, cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle fruit with 1/2 tablespoon sugar; set aside. Be sure to make the pieces small, or they tend to fall out of the dough. They'll still be plenty prominent in your finished scones.

Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter to the mixture and cut in using a pastry cutter or 2 knives. Stir in fruit; then add cream/half-and-half/buttermilk all at once. Use rubber spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Be gentle so you don't break up the berries and don't overwork the dough. Sprinkle dough with flour if it gets sticky.

Press (pat) the dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick. If any berries peek out, push them into dough. Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space between them. Bake 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 more minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them. (The sprinkling of sugar over the top for the last few minutes of baking creates a simple, sparkly topping.)

Yields 6-8 scones.