Saturday, July 26, 2008

lunch from jamie oliver, snack from tyler florence....


Blueberry Scones
Makes 8 (very large) scones

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
a pinch salt
5 tbsp cold butter, in small pieces
1 cup cold heavy cream
3/4 cup blueberries

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or simply a fork or 2, cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture should look like coarse meal. Make a well in the center and pour in the cold cream. Stir until the dough just comes together, be sure to not overmix. There will be some dry spots at the bottom of the bowl, but they should come together when you pinch them. The dough should not be sticky. Gently fold in the blueberries. It's best to use your hands for this to prevent breaking the berries (unless you like a blue scone).

Turn the dough out onto a slightly floured board, and pat into about a 12 x 3 x 1 1/4 inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half and then half again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares. Cut each of these squares diagonally into the traditional triangular shape. Place the scones onto an ungreased cookie sheet and brush with cream. Sprinkle the top with sugar for decorative purposes.

Bake the scones in a preheated 400 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.


These scones are delicious, moist and tender, with a nice crunchy top. They're not very sweet, so you might want to consider a glaze on top (Tyler suggested lemon). I also found it too troublesome to roll these out because the berries are so fragile, so I usually just form round, drop scones. I made about 12 good-sized ones with this recipe; making 8 would result in rather large ones. You can substitute blueberries for other fruit (i.e. raspberries are quite nice) or use this recipe as a base for other flavors. I added almond extract and chopped almonds to some, then sprinkled the top with slivered almonds. Try stirring in some chocolate bits for a sweeter treat.

1 comment:

Ag said...

I'm a gonna make these for my mummy. :)