Scones, Glorious Scones

I love scones!  I remember when I first tried them.  It was at an Afternoon Tea at my mother's cousin's house in Argentina.  They were delicious!  Elsa's scones were the typical dry scone with currants.  She served them with the required clotted cream.

Then, as part of my curriculum in secondary school in Bermuda, we made scones too.  Our teacher was from Scotland, and would most definitely frown upon my latest successes in recipe developing.

What set me on my way to recipe developing my own scones was when I could not find one I enjoyed while living in California.  So, it began... 

I have managed to come up with a few recipes that have made it into publications!  Here are some of them!

Cranberry-Orange Nut Scones from Garden Plate magazine

Dried Cranberry, Walnut and Lemon Scones from Bon Appetit magazine

Strawberry Scones from Cook's Illustrated's sister publication, Cook's Country

Blueberry Scones from Food Reference.com

I have also had recipes published in Cooking Pleasures magazine, as well as the Gooseberry Patch's "Come On Over".

And here is a recipe for all of you to try:

Raspberry Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg -- beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg -- beaten
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C) with rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray with a non-stick vegetable oil. To make the glaze, mix together the beaten egg with the cream. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips. This mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a small measuring cup, combine the whipping cream, buttermilk, beaten egg and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid, stirring with a wooden spoon until the batter forms moist clumps. The batter will be sticky. Do not overmix. Carefully, add the raspberries.

Gather dough together with your hands and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead for about 10 seconds until dough forms a ball and is smooth. Pat dough into a 7 inch (17.5 cm) circle that is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Using a sharp knife, cut circle into 8 triangular sections. With a pastry brush, brush off excess flour from scones, and place scones on prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of scones with the glaze and sprinkle lightly with sugar (if desired).

Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until lightly browned, or a toothpick inserted in the middle of the scone comes out clean. Remove from oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Yields: 8 scones

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