Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter
• ½ cup dried fruit (blueberries, mango, cherry, ginger, mango,...)
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup heavy cream, plus 2-3 teaspoons
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest (see below)
• cinnamon & sugar for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F. Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter, and cut with 2 knives or a pastry blender, tossing the pieces with the flour mixture to coat and separate them until the largest pieces are the size of peas and the rest resemble breadcrumbs. Do not allow the butter to melt or form a paste with the flour.

Stir in the fruit. Whisk together the egg, ½ cup cream, and zest, and add all at once to the dried ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Gather the dough into one mass and knead it against the bowl for 5-10 times (MDS - or maybe more times...), pressing any loose pieces into the mass each time until they stick and the bowl is fairly clean (MDS - this works for dried fruit, but I was never able to get it to work with fresh fruit so far... ). Break into 8 or 12 balls, press into baking sheet (so that each is about ¾ inch thick, and each is separated each by at least ½ inch).

Brush tops with 2-3 teaspoons of cream or milk, sprinkle on cinnamon or milk if desired, and then bake until the tops are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Zest: Joy of Cooking recommends orange zest with dried cranberries or apricots and lemon zest with blueberries or ginger. I used lemon with mango and blueberries + white chocolate (adding a half cup of both), and both were nice.

Cream Scones variation: Omit the egg and butter, increase heavy cream from ½ to 1 1/4 cups.