Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
large pinch of salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces/1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup fresh fruit (Any berries, stone fruit, rhubarb)
Optional: Depending on the fruit, you may want to add some other flavoring: lemon zest, orange zest, ground ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and others could work with the fruit of your choice.
Optional: You may want to add a little icing as a finishing touch when your scones are cool. For the icing, just whisk some powdered sugar with your choice of: milk, lemon juice, rum or bourbon.
Method:
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and any optional spice you are using.
- Take the frozen stick of butter out of the freezer and grate it using a box grater into the flour mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour creating a sandy mixture. Once you have a sandy texture, place your bowl into your freezer or fridge.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cream or buttermilk, egg and vanilla.
- Get your flour mixture from the fridge and pour in the cream mixture, along with your fruit. Use your hands to form a rough dough. Do not over mix! Your dough will be sticky; that’s ok. If it’s a real sticky mess, you can add a bit more flour. Conversely, if it’s too dry, add a bit more cream or buttermilk.
- To make small scones: Divide your dough in half. One a lightly floured surface, form both halves into 5“ discs. Use a bench scraper, or kitchen knife, to cut the dough into 8 wedges each, like a pie.
- Place each wedge on a pan or plate lined in parchment and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. (NOTE: you can decide to bake your scones later, or the next day too.)
- Pre-heat your oven to 400F.
- After at least 15 minutes in the fridge, place scones 2-3 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Brush with some extra cream or milk, and if you are not planning to drizzle with icing, sprinkle some sugar on top.
- Bake 15-20-ish minutes. Check at the 13 minute mark to be on the safe side. They should be lightly golden brown on top and bottom.
- After removing form oven, cool on a rack. Once cool, you can drizzle on icing if you like. Enjoy!