Scones!

I adore scones. Forget the fact that each one has a bazillion calories even BEFORE you slather them with cream and curd. They are just so scrumptious! Whenever our family has a tea, I always bring scones. I'm the Designated Scone Baker for Steve's Family. It's my official title. Really. So when we had a homeschool mother/daughter tea, what else would I bring?



These are Cream Scones, a very rich, cakelike scone. This is a pretty basic recipe and you could add seeds or nuts or dried fruits or whatever. It'd be good no matter what! We added very finely chopped walnuts because Morgan wanted to. :^) I tripled the recipe and the scones suffered no untoward effects.



Here's my recipe:



2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2" pieces

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream



Glaze: 1 large egg, beaten

1 tbsp heavy cream



Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray with non-stick vegetable oil. (Or skip all this nonsense and just use a well-seasoned Pampered Chef round stone. That's what I do.) To make the glaze, mix together beaten egg with cream. Set aside.



In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs. In a small measuring cup, combine whipping cream, beaten egg, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid, stirring with a wooden spoon until the batter forms moist clumps. The batter will be sticky. Do not overmix.



Gather dough together with your hands and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead for about 10 seconds until dough forms a ball and is smooth. Pat dough into a 7" circle that is 1" thick. Using a sharp knife (or a Pampered Chef pizza cutter. That's what I do.), cut circle into 8 triangular sections. With a pastry brush, brush off excess flour from scones, and place scones on prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of scones with the glaze and sprinkle lightly with sugar if desired. (I didn't desire. I never do this.)



Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until lightly browned, or a toothpick inserted in the middle of the scone comes out clean. Remove from oven. Transfer to wire rack to cool. I dare you to wait until they cool to taste one. :^) I generally burn my fingers and tongue eating one hot out of the oven. My children do, too. We're impatient.




When serving, top with Mock Devonshire Cream and curd - lemon is easiest to find, although if you are industrious, you can make your own. I wasn't. I was very surprised to find lemon curd in this redneck parish in which I live. I wasn't going to push it asking for lime or raspberry.



REAL Devonshire cream is a rich, thick cream that is produced by skimming the thick cream that forms on the top of unpasteurized whole milk when heated. I've never actually eaten the real thing. But I do have a recipe for Mock Devonshire Cream that is completely yummy to the uninitiated like me. Perhaps Dorothy will say otherwise.



1/2 cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 tbsp confectioner's sugar



Place mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Serve immediately or refrigerate for a few hours. The recipe says this cream doesn't hold very well and suggests rewhipping before serving if you need to refrigerate it for any length of time. Perhaps because I simply use cream cheese, I've never had a problem with it "holding." Even until the next day.



Attendance was low for the tea. But that was fine with us. Scones for breakfast! Hurray!