What's more terrible than following up a post about blog-abseenteism than following it up with another one six months later?
I feel terrible...so I made you scones...can you forgive me? Let's call them the "I'm berry sorry scone."
Over the past two months, I've been doing a lot of pastry and scone bakes. The goal is to get a better understanding of the physics, chemistry, and the overall science of baking by focusing on one or two bake types at a time. I'm generally familiar with various sorts of quick breads, often making pumpkin bread in the autumn and winter months, and banana and carrot breads for year-round goodie treats. The success rate have been consistently above-average and dare I say, quite delicious (of course most of this is due to the fantastic recipes I follow).
However, scones, another type of quick bread, have been a puzzling endeavor. Achieving the proper rise I'm used to seeing at local bakeries just can't seem to happen when I attempt to make them at home...until I came across averiecooks.com's recipe for a triple berry scone. Instead of buttermilk, which is what I normally use, it relies on sour cream for moisture. But most exciting of all, its cultured nature helps the baking powder as a leavening agent allowing for a rise I've never achieved before!
And so, lo and behold, the prodigal blogger offers you the Berry Sorry Scones (all credit goes to www.averiecooks.com for these delicious treats):
Recipe taken (just very slightly amended) from www.averiecooks.com:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 1 stick of chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes
1 large egg
3/4 to 1 cup sour cream (depending on how dry the mixture becomes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup fresh berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)
Glaze (optional)
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon cream
1. Preheat oven to 400F and line your baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a large bowl and mix thoroughly
3. Add the cubed butter and cut in with pastry cutter; I also use my fingers until a wet, course texture is achieved and set aside
4. Combine the egg, sour cream, vanilla in a separate bowl and whisk until smooth
5. Pour the mixture into the flour mixture and combine with hand or spatula (I start with a spatula and progress with my hands to incorporate any rogue dry ingredients)
6. Gently fold in the berries
7. On a lightly floured surface, dump the mixture and shape into a disk (about 8-inch round and ½ inch think) and cut into 8 wedges with a large knife
8. Place each wedge on lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until just about golden brown; when done, place in a cooling rack
If you’d like to add the glaze:
1. Whisk the confecitioner’s sugar and cream together until desired consistency is achieved
2. Pour over cooled scones