Friday, January 28, 2011

Easy Blueberry Cream Scones

" A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child."
-Order of the Knights of Pythagoras
.
I just returned from my trip to California, where I met my new nephew. I just love babies, he was such a delight! Why do babies smell so good? I love newborn baby smell.

I went to visit my sister to meet the baby of course, but also to help her with the baby, to help around the house, and also help with the cooking. These scones were one of the baked goods I made. They are incredible.


They taste fantastic, they are quite light, flaky, tender, and quite delicious. My favorite thing about them is that you make them the night before, stick them in the freezer, and slice them and bake them up the next day. You could even only slice up a few, at a time, which means you could have a few fresh scones every day for breakfast with little effort.

I baked them all at once, then wrapped up what we didn't eat in the first day, individually, placed them in a ziplock bag, and defrosted them on the counter when I wanted one.




I made them with frozen blueberries, because I like them and my sister had them in her freezer, but you could also use any dried fruit, like raisins, or currants, or dried cranberries, etc.
.
Easy Blueberry Cream Scones
adapted from this recipe from The Culinary Institute of America
.
Ingredients
.
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want them, I used 3/4 cup)
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups heavy cream-don't substitute, (there is no butter here, so this is where the fat comes from)
1 cup blueberries-if you are using frozen there is no need to defrost them-or substitute any dried fruit of you preference
zest from one lemon-optional
2 Tablespoons milk-for brushing the tops
2 Tablespoons coarse sugar, if you don't have coarse sugar use regular granulated sugar
.
Directions
.
Keep in mind this recipe needs to be made the night before you need them.
.
Get a cake pan ready, or tart pan. I used a tart pan with a removable bottom, just because it was handy, 10 inches in size, preferably, but 9 inches or even 8 would work, they would just be a little taller, and possibly need a touch more baking time.
.
Cut two parchment paper rounds the size of the pan, if your pan is 10 inches, then you would need two 10 inch parchment rounds.
.
Use one to line your pan. Reserve the other one for later.
.
Place all of the dry ingredients, (the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt) in a large bowl. Whisk it all to blend it well. Add the blueberries and zest, (if using.) And stir.
.
Make a well in the center of the mixture. Pour in the cream and stir just until blended. Be gentle. Don't over mix this or your scones will be heavy.
.
Pour this mixture in the prepared lined pan. It will be quite wet. Don't worry, it will freeze solid.
On top of the mixture place the other parchment round and place in the freezer overnight. Or 10 hours, till frozen solid.
.
The next morning, take the scones out of the freezer and place on the counter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.
.
Turn the scones out of the pan onto a cutting board and remove the parchment paper. Slice them using a sharp knife into 10 equal size wedges. I cut them in half first, then cut 5 slices from each. If you don't want to bake them all now, you can wrap the ones you aren't going to bake in saran wrap then freeze to bake another day.
.
Brush the tops of the scones with milk and dip or sprinkle them in the sugar. Place them on the prepared baking sheets and bake them for 30-40 minutes until golden and fully cooked on the inside. Cool them on the baking sheets for a few minutes then transfer to cooling racks. Serve warm or at room temperature.
.
Serve the day they are made, or freeze them, individually wrapped in saran wrap them placed in a ziplock bag.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

These look yummy and super easy, I'm going to make them. Thanks for the recipe!