Scones

My mother has begged me to make scones ever since I came home in May. She buys scones from our local grocery store but refuses to make them herself. Yesterday, boredom struck and I searched for a recipe to make... and my mom asked for scones. Because I am a kind and benevolent god (I was bored, okay?), I relented.

Well, mum, scones are a piece of cake.

These scones take about half an hour to make, from start to finish. They're all from scratch, and there's not much cleanup!

You will need:
 -1 and 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
 -1/4 cup sugar
 -4 tsp baking powder
 -1/8 tsp salt
 -5 tbsp cold butter
 -1/2 cup milk
 -1/4 cup Greek yogurt
 -1/4 tsp baking soda
 -1/3 cup of raisins
 -1 beaten egg + 1 tbsp milk, combined

Oven temp: 400˚. Heat that sucker right up, with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Start by combining the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix together until well incorporated.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of milk, yogurt, and baking soda. Whisk together until completely smooth, then add the raisins.

You can use any kind of dried fruit that you'd like in this recipe. I thought of adding both raisins and craisins, but ultimately decided against it. Also, you could use sour cream instead of the yogurt and baking soda, but Greek yogurt is healthier than sour cream. It's up to personal preference!

Now, because I'm a twerp, I completely forgot to take a picture during the next step. You need to take your cold butter and cut it into the dry mixture with knives or a pastry cutter. Cut the butter in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Then you slowly add the wet mixture to the dry. Only pour in a little at a time, and mix thoroughly (I used a fork) until the dough is just holding together. It will sort of resemble the texture of cookie dough. You don't want it to be super wet! I had about 1/4 cup of liquid left over, but I made sure to add all of the raisins.

Once the dough is holding together, take it and plop it on a floured surface. Using your hands, pat the dough into a rectangle, then fold into thirds. Flip it over and turn it 90˚, and start patting it into a rectangle again. Repeat this just once--you don't want to over-handle your dough.

After you've folded the dough and patted it into another rectangle, it's time to form the scones. Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into two squares. Then cut each square diagonally in half, then diagonally in half the other way. This will make cool triangular scones, like the kind you see in bakeries.

Arrange artfully (ha) on a baking stone. Make sure that the scones aren't touching, and have enough room to rise and expand.

Brush the tops of the scones with the egg and milk mixture. You'll probably have a fair bit of it left, so cook it in the microwave and feed it to your dog. I guess you could throw it out, but I think that's a bit wasteful and our dog is a princess. But that may just be her (or our fault).

Put the scones in the preheated oven until the tops are golden brown and they've risen. They took eleven minutes in our oven, but may take up to fifteen.

I kept mine on the stone to cook the bottoms a bit more, then I let them cool on a rack. My mother and I split one while it was still warm... and it was so delicious.

Everyone in my family ate one for breakfast this morning. Look at that and tell me it doesn't look delicious. Hearty, buttery, and flaky, these are awesome. These scones are a wonderful quick treat!

Now, I'm not going to say my mother was right... but I might be making these a bit more often now!

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