Cream Scones

This recipe is almost identical to the scones we usually make. It's written with  volume measurements, which is nice for sharing as well. Recipe from chinesegrandma.com, adapted from The Breakfast Book. Further adapted by me to get them the same size as ours.


Ingredients
scant 2 cups flour, plus additional flour for kneading
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit (chopped if large)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 +/- cups heavy cream

Sugar topping
1 Tbs cream mixed with 1tsp vanilla, for brushing on scones
2 tablespoons sugar (raw/coarse sugar gives a nice crunch if you have it)

Preheat oven to 425 and line you baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and dried fruit (see notes below). Set mixer to a medium speed and slowly add the cream, adding just enough to form a soft dough (for me, this is usually about 1 1/8 cups). 

Roll the dough into a log, about 6" long and cut in half so you have two disks. On a floured surface, pat each disk out to be about 1" thick. Using a bench knife, cut each disk into 6 pieces and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush each piece with some of the cream mixture (just enough for the top to let the sugar stick-- too much and it will pool on the pan and burn when it's baking). Sprinkle each wedge with sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 min, or until golden brown. Cool on a rack. Makes 1 dozen.

{notes} Use any combination of dried fruits, nuts or chocolate chips. Classic scones use currants. You can also mix in things like coconut and add coconut extract to the cream you put on top to make coconut scones. As long as you maintain the ratio of 1/2-3/4 cups (4 ounces by weight for fruit) of add-ins, it should work.

This recipe was written to make 24 mini-scones. You could still do that by making 4 disks and dividing them into 6 a piece. If you do that, bake at 375 for 15 min.

Reheat these in the oven- 250 for about 5 min for the fresh-baked effect.