blueberries and cream

My extremely lax posting schedule has sort of rendered this particular post out of context. The making of the scones actually occurred… something like a month ago? But I was reminded of these awesome blueberry scones today, since the Boy and I went to Istria and split one of their scones.

My inspiration for the scones actually came about because of Istria in the first place. For a few successive weeks, each time I got some scone variation, I was sorely disappointed. They were dry, had the texture of muffins (if I wanted a muffin, I would have ordered a muffin), or had some other nit-picky little problem (I’ve been reading too much food criticism as of late). In any event, tired of all the sub-par scones from my favorite coffee place, I decided to make my own.

I settled on a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen (originally from the America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook), and… Well, basically, you should probably read on long enough to get the recipe and then go make these for yourself because they are awesome. Golden brown on the top, moist with perfect crumb and melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness on the inside. And because I have no self-control, I immediately ate two once they had cooled enough to be handled. By the end of the day, between LotR, the Boy and me, they were sadly all gone.

(Blueberry) Cream Scones
adapted from Smitten Kitchen (originally – America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook)

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably a low-protein brand such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup currants (substituted fresh blueberries here)
1 cup heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in large bowl or work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Whisk together or pulse six times.

3. If making by hand, use two knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips and quickly cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. Stir in currants. If using food processor, remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. Cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second. Add currants and pulse one more time. Transfer dough to large bowl. (When adding blueberries, be relatively gentle mixing them in. They squish rather easily.)

4. Stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

5. Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Form scones by either a) pressing the dough into an 8-inch cake pan, then turning the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, cutting the dough into 8 wedges with either a knife or bench scraper. (I shaped the dough into a rough square that was pretty much evenly thick – about 1/4 in. – before cutting the square into eight wedges with a metal spatula. Because I’m high tech like that.)

6. Place rounds or wedges on ungreased baking sheet and bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.