Cheer me up, cheerio!

I love scones. What can I say? I learned to make them in the Fall of 2006 when I moved out and got my own kitchen. I saw them at the cafeteria at work and had never actually ate one. My first one was a flat scone that had the texture of a biscuit-like cookie. I still liked the flavor. Upon making my own, I had a VERY different experience. Mine were like biscuits. Little did I know, that was the texture I should have experienced all along!

I've been reading blogs while I've been stuffed in from our most recent snow event and one got me to thinking- I haven't made scones in a while. In fact, the last time I made them was Spring 2007. Gosh. Had it been that long? Noo...Upon reading the blog, seeing the size of the scone shrink at work and British jokes being made at work, I decided to bring them back. Only this time, I wanted to make them the non-biscuit way. You know. Without Crisco. I polled a buddy to ask if she knew of a non-Crisco recipe. (She had an excellent recipe for scones, by the way. Trouble is, I was missing one of her key ingredients. And was too snowed-in to go to the store.) I decided to take matters into my own hands. I looked one up. It goes like this!


Simple Scones

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup raisins (I used chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg

1.	Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.	In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3.	In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4.	Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5.	Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Um. I deviated. And I'm not just talking with the chocolate chips. Instead of grating the frozen butter (that's hard!) I cut up cold butter into small chunks and cut it in with a pastry blender. Just like with homemade biscuits. And I totally stuck my hands in the mixture and smooshed the butter. I like to feel what I'm working with! And instead of cutting the scones completely apart, I left them in a circle with cut marks and baked them on a pizza pan lined with foil and sprayed with Baker's Joy. Boo yah.

 

  

The only thing better than one scone is two.

  

melty. so good.

Recipe from allrecipes.com