Betsy's Scones

On select weekends, I might be guilty of whining until Betsy makes me scones. There is no way to be certain, but this ritual might* be rather successful in creating some truly culinary goodness that happens to go great with espresso on a rare lazy Saturday morning. Making sure the butter is cold, good quality and having a pastry knife is really, really helpful to get the texture just right. Sometimes it doesn’t quite turn out how Betsy wants it to, and I think she has to make another batch with the left over cream on Sunday to prove a point!

Ingredients

• 250g (~2 c.) flour – (a scale is much easier and more accurate for baking)
• 70g (1/3 c.) sugar
• 15g (1 T) baking powder
• 3g (1/2 t) salt
• 85g (6 T) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 100g (3/4 c.) chopped dried cherries or whole dried blueberries/cranberries or chocolate chips
• 2 large TC Farm egg yolks, beaten (reserve whisked whites for glaze)
• 185 g (3/4 c.) heavy cream
• 10 g (2 t.) vanilla extract (or 1-2 t. almond extract is good with the cherries)
• 2 t. Turbinado (raw) sugar (or slivered almonds if using almond extract)

Instructions

1. Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
2. Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment or silplat
3. Using your scale: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
4. Cut in the butter with a pastry knife or two table knives until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of peas, this is intended to coat much of the flour with the butter to protect it from the liquids. It should have a course texture and almost, resemble corn meal when you are done.
5. Add the cherries (or substitute), tossing until evenly distributed and coated with flour.
6. In a new small bowl or 1cup pyrex weigh the egg yolks
7. Add cream to a total of 210g (or if no scale, just add the volume)
8. Add vanilla and blend all.
9. Add liquids all at once to the flour mixture
10. Gently stir with a fork or a spatula to begin combining and then use your hands to gently knead the mixture together until all the dry ingredients are absorbed into the dough and it can be gathered into a moist, shaggy ball. Don’t over knead: this dough is sticky but benefits from minimal handling... the more the dough is handled the more the gluten will unwind and make a tougher scone and it will taste terrible like the big brand coffee shop scones you’ve tried!
11. Set the rough ball in the center of the prepared baking sheet and pat it gently into a round about 1 inch thick and 7 inches in diameter. Don’t be tempted to make the round any flatter.
12. With a sharp knife or pastry scraper, cut the round into eight wedges and separate.
13. With a pastry brush, coat the scones with the egg-white glaze (you won’t need to use all of it)
14. Sprinkle liberally with the turbiando sugar, the scones will rise substantially and the sugar will spread out as a result.
15. Bake until the scones are deep golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a wedge comes out clean, 18 – 22 minutes.
16. Slide the parchment onto a rack and let the scones cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.