Strawberry Cream Scones

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

~Louisa May Alcott

I've had a bit of a hard time lately. Last week I was in a car accident. Not a big one, but it did cause me pain. So yesterday, Saturday afternoon, I told my husband (who works for the next week, so he's no help), "I want somebody to come over here tomorrow and make me French Breakfast Puffs for my breakfast with some coffee, and I want them to sit here in bed with me and watch the finale of Saturday Night Live that will be on the DVR." That doesn't seem so much to ask, does it?

When I'm not feeling well I feel like I need pastry for breakfast. Especially on a Sunday. So I thought about it, and I decided I could make scones. You make them the night before, and it barely takes 10 minutes, if that. I decided I had enough strength for scones.

Now it's Sunday, and all I needed to do is take them out of the freezer, preheat the oven, slice them up and put them on baking sheets. I'm so glad I could muster even that little effort. They are so light, and tender. I've never had a scone so light. It's remarkable. I just adore this recipe. It comes from the good folks over at Culinary Institute of America, so it figures it's a good recipe. They say freezing them overnight makes for a tender scone. They aren't kidding.

This time it was strawberry, last time it was blueberry. This recipe is quite versatile. You can use raisins, currants, dried cherries, dried cranberries, nuts, chocolate chips, the list goes on.

Another great thing about this recipe is you don't need to bake them all at once. You can cut up as many as you want, wrap them individually in plastic, and throw the rest in the freezer, so potentially, you could bake up fresh scones in the morning for days. Isn't that great?

With a recipe like this, I don't need someone to cook for me after all. Too bad the scones won't watch Saturday Night Live with me, I guess they will, but I doubt if they will laugh.

Want some more strawberry recipes?

Hawaiian Bread and Strawberry Butter

Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse

Strawberry Bread and Butter

The Hummingbird feeder outside my kitchen window

This is the only bird that uses it, I consider him part of the family now.

Strawberry Cream Scones


This recipe is adapted from the book,  Breakfast and Brunches, The Culinary Institute of America. A great book I highly recommend.

Ingredients

3 cups (450 g.) all purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 g.) granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups (500 ml.) heavy cream

1 1/2 cups (320 g.) fresh strawberries diced small, if you have just washed them, dry them with paper towels.

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.

You need a cake pan for this recipe, 10 inches preferably, I used a springform pan. I'm sure a 9 inch would be fine as well. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper the size of your pan. (10 inches if using a 10 inch pan.)

Use one to line your pan. Set the other one aside.

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 diced strawberries and stir together.

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. If the mixture seems dry, go ahead and add a few tablespoons more cream. It's o.k. if the mixture is wet, but it's not o.k. if you over mix it. (This will depend on the fat content of the cream you use, if you use a cream that has less fat (in the 30 % range), it will be more liquidy, you won't need to add more, but this time I used the really thick stuff (40%) so I needed a little more cream.)

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.