Although strawberry season here is drawing to a close, I figured I’d share my recipe for strawberries and cream scones while there are still berries left to grab at your local farmer’s market. Yay!
First, let’s talk briefly about finding the right strawberries, both for making these and general eating purposes.
- Eat and purchase strawberries in season. They’ll taste better, because fruits and veggies picked and sold in-season are, well, what they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be. If you can’t smell them from across the market or store, don’t buy them.
- Purchase strawberries from a farm near you (50 miles or less). Get to know your farmer and their practices. Strawberries are one of the most pesticide-ridden crops you can purchase or pick, which can be detrimental to your health, but is more detrimental to the health of pollinators and crops in general. Support local farmers who use minimal or no pesticides in their growing practices.
- Or grow your own strawberries! Pick your varietals, and control pesticide use yourself. If you let them and provide the right conditions, you could have a strawberry patch taking over your yard in a couple of years. Sweet.
Use ripe strawberries for these scones – as usual, the scones themselves are not particularly sweet, so the little bursts of sweet strawberry pieces are an excellent complement to the rich butter, cream, and buttermilk in the dough. Oh, and I can’t emphasize this enough – don’t overwork the dough. Err on the side of falling apart, lest ye get tough, doughy scones. Big meh.
Got it? Good. Let’s scone!
Strawberries and Cream Scones
Like biscuits, you don’t want to mess with this dough too much - just mix, pat, and bake. Be sure to use ripe strawberries for best, sweetest results without extra sugar or honey.
you will need:
- 2 c all-purpose flour (you can sub up to 1 c wheat flour), plus more for sprinkling
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2-3 tbsp honey, plus more for brushing (you can also sub ¼ c sugar)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 5 tbsp cold salted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½-¾ c chopped fresh, ripe strawberries -¼-½ c buttermilk or sour milk
- ¼ c heavy cream, plus 1-2 tbsp for brushing
- ¼ c strawberry jam (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. (If you’re using sugar instead of honey, mix in the sugar with the flour, too, and omit the honey in Step 3.) Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also do this step in the food processor, with 3-4 pulses.
- In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk the egg and honey with ¼ c buttermilk and the cream, then fold into the flour mixture enough to get a solid, fairly sticky dough. Fold in the chopped strawberries and jam, if using. (If your dough is still very dry, you can add up to ¼ c buttermilk to achieve the necessary consistency.)
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured countertop, sprinkle the dough with flour, and lightly pat the dough until it just comes together. There may be dry and wet spots, and that’s okay – don’t overwork the dough, or you’ll end up with tough scones. Pat it into a circle about 10 inches diameter and 1 ½ inches thick. Cut the dough into eight equal wedges.
- Transfer each wedge to the prepared baking sheet, spacing each wedge about 2 inches apart. Whisk about 1 tbsp honey with 2-3 tbsp cream in a small bowl (or the same measuring cup you used to mix the milk, honey, and eggs), and brush the tops of the wedges with the cream. Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack, allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the scones to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
The Crunchy Baker 