Karl’s Blueberry English Scones

Adapted from a Zurie recipe

We had leftover blueberries from dessert last night. Jan woke up with, “I wouldn’t mind blueberry scones this morning.”  Please note that she never really asked for scones, but that is just her way. I usually make oatmeal scones, but today I wanted to do something different.

When I am researching a recipe I will frequently run across an unrelated, but interesting recipe that I might want to try someday. A quick scrap & paste, a note on the source and it is in my “sort file,” waiting for a day like today. When I searched for “scones” this one came up and I decided to adapt it to include blueberries.

Karl’s Blueberry English Scones

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 Tbs. butter, cold
1 egg, lightly beaten
milk, added to the egg to make ¾ cup
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 Tbs. cream

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 deg F.

2. Measure the flour, baking powder and salt in a flour sifter. Sift the dry ingredients several times to mix them thoroughly.

3. Slice the butter into thin pats and cut it into small pieces with a pastry cutter.

Tip: If you do not have a pastry cutter you may use a fork or squeeze the butter with your fingers until it resembles crumbs. However, be careful not to melt the butter into the flour.

4. Put the egg into a measuring cup and beat it lightly.

5. Add enough milk to make ¾ of a cup of liquid.

6. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and gently fold the dough with a spatula.

7. When there is still some dry flour showing add the blueberries. When there is no more dry flour showing, stop and let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Tip: You do not want to overwork the dough. The more you work it, the more gluten is created. This is a good thing for breads, but a bad thing for scones and biscuits. The more you knead the dough the tougher your scones will be. Resting your dough allows the last of the dry flour to absorb the last of the liquid without creating more gluten.

8. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and pat it into a ¾ inch thick square.

Tip: How thin you pat your dough depends on how high you like your scones. If you prefer you may pat your square as thick as 1½ inches for a really tall, fluffy scone.

9. I use a bread scrapper to cut the dough into 9 or 12 portions.

Tip: If you really like round scones, you may use a cutter to make 2 to 2½ inch rounds. However, if you do this, you will have to gather up the scraps, reform them into a sheet and cut again. These second cuts will be a little tougher than the first cuts and you will always end up with one ugly, last-bits scone.

10. Put the scones on a Pam-ed baking sheet and brush the tops with the cream.

11. Bake for 13 – 14 minutes, until well risen and golden.

12. Serve immediately, while still warm from the oven.