Monday 30 January 2012

Citrus Strawberry Scones

Greetings.

Today, I wasn't feeling well enough to go into work. However, I needed to do something productive... so naturally, I baked. The downside of this is that I may have "infected" these delicacies, the upside however is that it means I will need to consume them all.... damn.

Scones are an old favourite, specifically because they're sweet enough to eat as dessert but not too sweet to eat for breakfast. And they're conveniently easy to make... you don't even need an electric mixer. On top of all this, troubleshooting is pretty easy too... if it's too crumbly, add a bit more cream. If it's too liquidy, mix in a bit more flour. Thus, they basically work out every time (unless of course you add wayyy too much cream or flour, they may be difficult to undo)

In the past, I've made raspberry white chocolate scones, chocolate chip scones, blueberry scones and lemon scones. I thought it was time for these. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do...











Makes: Approx. 10 scones
(slightly adapted from le petit brioche)
Ingredients: Scones
2 cups all purpose flour + extra for dusting counter/hands
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
zest from one orange/lemon/grapefruit
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 cup diced strawberries

Ingredients: Glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
5-6 tsp of orange juice (but lemon or grapefruit juice would be good too!)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest in a bowl, stir well to incorporate.Using a pastry blender or by pulling two knives in opposing directions, cut butter into the flour mixture until it is fine crumbs.
3. Beat egg and combine with cream. Slowly add egg+cream mixture to the flour mixture while stirring. A dough should start to form. Before the dough is completely formed, add the diced strawberries. Continue to mix. If it's too wet, add a bit more flour and mix a bit more, if too dry, add a tsp of cream at a time until it becomes more doughy.
4. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead it into a ball. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. At this point, you have several options depending on the shapes you want your scones to be. You can A) roll out the dough with a rolling pin and cut out perfect circles with a cutter, you can B) roughly form the individual scones by hand or C) put the entire lump of dough on a baking sheet and cut into wedges after baking. I chose B but have also done C before. I'm not enough of a perfectionist (or have enough patience) for A.
5. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, but check after 15. Depending on the size of the scones and moisture of the dough & individual ovens, times will vary. Scones should be firm to the touch, totally cooked through and slightly browned on top.
6. Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes while preparing the glaze.
7. Mix the powdered sugar and juice together to make the glaze, drizzle it over the scones.

Enjoy.

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