While they're wonderful for breakfast, my favorite application for scones is mid-morning or afternoon snack, with coffee or hot tea. This particular recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and is one of many wonderful recipes I've made from this book. It's also a good base recipe for jumping off into your own flavor worlds- add citrus fruit zest, other dried fruits, chocolate chips, or nuts for variety. I would bet you could do savory applications, too.
This recipe is easy, and using a cold cheese grater and very cold butter make the work very quick.
Cream Scones with Cherries
from Dorie Greenspan
1 egg
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup dried cherries
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Beat egg and cream together and set aside (a two cup measuring cup works really well here).
In large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter and rub it into the flour until you have a pebbly mixture.
Pour the egg and cream into the flour/butter mixture and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. Add in your dried fruit or other flavoring ingredients. When the mixture is totally incorporated, divide the dough into two equal sized balls. Pat them disks about an inch tall. Place them on a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet. Carefully cut each disk into six segments (I used a bench scraper) and separate them.
Bake the scones for 20-22 minutes, until the are nicely browned. Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Notes
- The original recipe calls for dried currants, which I've never before seen in my grocery store. What I know I love and can find are dried cherries.
- Depending on the effect you want, you can brush the top with more cream or an egg wash for a sort of glaze. You can also sprinkle on coarse sugar. I left them au naturale.
scones are often so dry that i just don't like them, but i've found that using cream as the liquid really does a lot to help. these sound delightful!
Thank you! I really enjoyed them- they had a nice, sandy texture, and did stay moist.