Strawberry Scones

UPDATE 3/26/2012: Every year, as soon as the strawberries appear at the farmers' market, I want to bake these scones again. I just baked some and took new photos to update the post. There's also a new added note in the recipe regarding the self-raising flour.

Every time I see a scone recipe, I want to try it. Kurt certainly wouldn’t mind if I did try every scone recipe, and since I don’t even need much encouragement to bake, I baked scones again. Hopefully, this won’t become a dedicated scone site, but chances are good there will be additional scone variations presented here. These particular scones are another item from Exceptional Cakes, and there’s so much more on my to-bake list from that book. Date shortbread bars or the chocolate caramel tart could be next. But, about these scones, I thought I should compare these to the last scones I baked.

These scones were made with self-rising flour which I had never used before. I didn’t even find it at my grocery store, so I made it as described here. An additional two teaspoons of baking powder was added to the homemade self-rising flour. Those ingredients were sifted with salt and sugar, and butter was worked in with my fingertips. Some milk was measured and then eggs were beaten into it and that was poured into the flour butter mixture. I stirred this together and folded in chopped, fresh strawberries. The strawberries were my choice of an addition, but the recipe suggested sultanas. I usually cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter, but this time I worked it in with my fingertips. I think the fingertip method is actually faster, and I definitely had a better sense of when it was well-combined. I may never go back to the pastry cutter. Now, interestingly, the minneola tangelo-buttermilk scones I made in February, used all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Butter was mixed in with a pastry cutter, buttermilk was added, and then the segmented tangelos and zest were incorporated. There were no eggs in the dough, and there was more buttermilk than the milk in these scones.

The tangelo scones were fantastic, and they rose nicely. However, in my opinion, the texture of these strawberry scones was the better of the two. It was more delicate and less crumbly. Warm from the oven, they were incredible, and re-warmed the next day, they were still incredible. Let me know if you have a favorite scone recipe, or if your scones have eggs or not, and I’ll keep trying every recipe I see.

UPDATE:
Since the book is not available, and I had a request for the recipe, I'm including it below.

450 g self-raising flour (or, just under 450 g all-purpose flour, plus  1 tablespoon and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons salt) (if you're converting to cups, that's 3 cups all-purpose flour plus the baking powder and salt) (and, yes, add the salt and baking powder listed below as well.)
pinch of salt
25 g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
85 g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
200 ml cold milk
chopped fresh strawberries or fresh or dried fruit of your choice (I used about a pint of fresh strawberries.)
1 egg for glaze
sugar for sprinkling (I used turbinado sugar.)

-preheat oven to 170 degrees C or 350 degrees F; line a large baking tray with parchment or silpat; sift the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder into a bowl; add the butter and rub in with your fingertips; in a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add the milk, then pour into the flour; stir together quickly and lightly, adding fruit if using; don't overwork the dough, the quicker and lighter you are, the better the scones will be

-tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a one inche thickness; cut into rounds and place on prepared baking tray; lightly beat egg for glaze and brush onto tops of scones, then sprinkle with sugar

-bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until risen and lightly browned
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