Strawberry Scones

 I made these yesterday for our Valentine's Breakfast, but now that I know how easy and fantastic they are, they will be making more appearances at future parties I host. I'm thinking these babies would be perfect for Sunday brunches and tea parties!

Strawberry scone, will you be my valentine?

These beautiful, moist biscuits were fantastic even the second day (I had one for breakfast this morning) and can be frozen. Wouldn't it be a great idea to make a batch of these, kept frozen, to have on hand in the case of unexpected company? Or unexpected midnight cravings for a delicious treat?

Ingredients: 

(makes 8 large scones) 

• 1 cup strawberries (or other fruit)
• 3 tablespoons sugar (granulated)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons butter, in cubes, slightly softened
• 2/3  cream (you could also use half and half or buttermilk)

Topping:

• 1 tablespoon sugar (I used vanilla sugar I bought at Williams & Sonoma) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Cut the strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Make the pieces relatively small, or they will fall out of the dough. Sprinkle the fruit with 1/2 tablespoon sugar and set aside. 

Combine the remaining sugar with the flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in the butter (I even used my hands to make sure the butter was very well incorporated into the flour). 

Stir in the fruit, then add the cream all at once. Use a spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.

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

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

Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 more minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown. Make sure to check the browning progress every 5 minutes or so. Overcooked scones equals dry scones. 

And that's it! These scones are incredibly easy to mix together, and have a very small baking time. If you started making them right now, you could be enjoying them within a half hour... just sayin'. 

If you have these ingredients in your kitchen, I highly recommend that you whip up a batch of these tasty scones immediately. I promise you that you will not regret your decision. 

Happy eating!