Strawberry Scones

Sometimes I get a little carried away when I'm in the fruit section of Costco- everything looks so appealing that sometimes I forget that we can only consume so many servings of fruit per day. Take last weekend for example- I saw a tray of delicious red strawberries calling my name. We got them home; snacked on them, sliced them over cereal, made smoothies... and last night I realized that I still had half of this ginormous tray of strawberries to do something with before they went bad. So I made these. And they were delicious.


Strawberry Scones
(Courtesy of: http://confessionsoftart.blogspot.com/2009/03/strawberry-scones.html)

1 cup strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, in cubes, slightly softened
2/3 cup half-and-half or cream or cold buttermilk -- I used cream
(I also added about a tablespoon of orange zest and it was a great addition)

Topping:1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Sprinkle fruit with1/2 tablespoon sugar; set aside (be sure to make the pieces small).
Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder (and 1/4 tsp of salt if you're using unsalted butter). Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in butter. Stir in fruit; then add cream/half-and-half/buttermilk. Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Be gentle so you don't break up the berries and don't overwork the dough.

Pat the dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick. Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch ofspace between them. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 more minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them.

I had a difficult time getting the dough together and not mashing the berries-- I'm going to try making these with chocolate chips next time.

(this is obviously not my photo but, minus the floral arrangement, they looked the same)