Friday, May 13, 2011

Saturday, May 7th - Bestest Butteriest Berriest Scones

Butteriest Berriest Scones
Last summer, D and I bought 2 pallets of fresh Blueberries at a farm south of Surrey.  We had originally planned to go picking but with the mandatory charge for the boxes and picking fee, it actually cost less to buy the picked ones they had.  Isn’t that mad?  Anyhoo, after nearly half a day of washing, drying, flat freezing (on a sheet) and packing, we had enough Blueberries to get us through a whole year.  And believe you me, we were not holding back.  They were in our baked goods, yogurt, jams, cereal all year.  D wants to buy three pallets this year.  The process I followed does sound daunting but it results in berries that freeze as separate Berries and defrost like separate Berries rather than a Blueberry iceberg.  But if you’re not fussed, then simply wash, dry and freeze them. 
Well, anyhoo, we discovered this weekend we had finally run out.  We bought some frozen berries so my visiting folks could make their regular smoothies with.  Dad has one every morning.  Well, as it turned out, they did not want to have them on ‘vacation’ so we had these store bought Berries leftover from their visit.  So D woke up early and made them for us for Mother’s day weekend.  You gotta milk the guilt holidays while you can, right?

Butteriest Berriest Scones

8 T (1 stick) Butter, frozen solid + 1-2T melted
1 c Frozen Berries, your choice (Blueberries or Raspberries work best)
¾ c Milk (cut in Sourcream if you have it for upto half)
2 c All Purpose Flour
½ c Vanilla Sugar + additional for topping
2 t Baking Powder
¼ t Baking Soda
½ t Salt, fine
½ Lemon, zested (or Orange)
1 t Lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425

Butter must be frozen solid and not just cold.  Grate your butter on wide mouthed grater.  Place back into freezer until needed.

In a small bowl, whisk wets (Milk, Lemon Juice and Salt) together.  Keep cold.  In a large bowl, whisk dries together (not including berries).  Add the grated butter to the dries (Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Zest*) and toss until well incorporated and dusted.  Add the wets to the dries. Fold in gently until it just holds together. 

On a clean surface, liberally dust with Flour.  Turn out the dough until the surface. Dust your hands with flour.  Knead until the dough just holds together in a ball buy pushing out with the heal of your hands then gathering back in, turning quarter turn then repeating.  Do not knead more than a minute or so or you’ll develop gluten and have tough Scones.  Add additional flour to the surface as needed.

Wrap in plastic and chill in freezer for 10 minutes. 

On a floured surface again, roll out the chilled dough to 12 inches (30 cm) square.  Spread out the frozen Berries.  Do NOT defrost.  In fact, if you are using fresh, I recommend you clean and freeze them while you’re doing the first steps.  We have done this with fresh, defrosted and frozen and frozen works best!  It also keeps the Butter in the dough stay cold longer.  Press the Berries into the dough slightly with a rolling pin.  If you have larger berries, you may want to chop them up (i.e. Strawberries).  

Roll up the dough like a jelly roll with the Berries on the inside of course.  Form into a tight log about 4” wide and the original 12” long.  Slice the log into 4 even pieces, 3” long.  Then cut each of the pieces in diagonal. 

Place on to a baking sheet.  Brush with the melted Butter and extra Vanilla Sugar.  Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a rack slightly or risk molten Berry burn.

* I like to add the Salt to liquid often to avoid large ‘hits’ of Saltiness. Works well for dips like Guacamole too!

.

3 Leave a / Read COMMENTs:

Sarah said...

OHHH these so look the bestest! I have big plans to freeze our blueberries this year!

Hester aka The Chef Doc said...

Hooray! I totally know what you're talking about with the blueberry iceberg; I've made it :-) So, I shall try the proper way in freezing blueberries next time. I'm so glad they freeze so well and last a long time, though! These scones look absolutely amazeballs!

Yummo said...

Update: I replaced 2/3 c of AP flour w Cake flour for crispness. Also I added 1/4t Soda bc I replaced half the milk w Sourcream. We now have a convection oven so I turned down the temp to 410/405.