Scones are my favorite midnight baking treats – not only is the dough quick to put together, but also I find the act of shaping and cutting the little wedges to be a singularly satisfying experience. And I like how the recipe can be adapted to suit taste preferences (and availability of ingredients). When I can, I like to use mini chocolate chips in mine, but you can also go the more ‘traditional’ route with dried currants instead. Or add a handful of sweetened coconut and chopped nuts for a heartier experience. Or leave all of the additions out and just enjoy a deliciously simple cream scone.
Another great thing about this recipe is that it freezes well. After shaping the triangles, you can freeze the unbaked scones in a single layer, then wrap them in a freezer bag to keep for baking later. Whenever you’re ready, just brush the frozen wedges with a drop of milk and bake at 375ºF for 25 minutes. I love having homebaked scones on stand-by for company (or emergency sweet cravings!)
One thing to note – the recipe calls for ¾ cup of heavy cream, not something I usually have in my fridge. But an easy substitute is to mix ½ cup of melted butter with ¾ cup of milk. I’ve found that whisking this together over low heat helps prevent the butter from curdling in the milk. This will give you about 1 cup of cream, enough for the dough and glazing.
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup heavy cream (plus extra for glazing)
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour (plus extra for dusting work surface)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 Tbsps cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips, or currants, or whatever addition inspires you
Process:
- Preheat oven to 400ºF
- Cut cold butter into small pieces
- In a small bowl, whisk together cream and egg
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
- With a pastry cutter or two forks, cut butter into flour mixture until it becomes a coarse mealy texture (it’s OK if there are still a few pea-sized pieces of butter)
- If you’re using them, add chocolate chips or other mix-ins (toss any mix-ins first with a pinch of flour first to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the scone while baking)
- Add cream mixture to dough and stir until just combined, but be careful not to overwork it (few clumps of butter is OK). If using the cream substitute, you may need to add a touch of extra flour to make the dough less sticky
- Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and divide dough in half
- Pat dough lightly into two disks, roughly 5 inches in diameter and half an inch tall.
- Cut each disk into 6 wedges and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet
- Brush tops with heavy cream
- Bake at 400º for 16-18 minutes
Photos by Sarah Matista | www.sarahmatista.com | Copyright 2016