Friday, June 24, 2011

SCONE IN NO TIME!!




The newest Brownievillers on the block have been raving about the delicious scones with raspberries they had when they were visiting my sister in Galway recently,  I just knew they had this one right - like having the jam inside the scone - nice one!!!

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge was to create something delicious with both chocolate and strawberries - wonderful timing, our local strawberries are just perfect at the moment, deep dark red and brim full of flavour (I actually find it hard to use them in a recipe - I just want to gobble them up straight from the carton!!)  I decided to try my hand at some scones, with nuggets of strawberry and grated white chocolate within - figured it would please the little ones anyway!!

As regular readers will know, I have been striving to find the perfect scone recipe for some time - I have finally decided the the two things necessary for really good scones are: frozen butter and slightly sour cream!  You might think I'm mad (join the queue!!) but try it and see  - I'd love to know how you get on.


It is much easier to cut scones into these shapes then the usual rounds - no rerolling of the dough!


The scones turned out really well, the soft sweet nuggets of strawberry were just about prefect - no jam necessary!  The chocolate on the other hand didn't really have any impact on the taste - next time I plan to use chunks of chocolate (similar in size to the strawberry pieces) - but these were so nummy, that there will definitely be a next time!


Strawberry and White Chocolate Scones
adapted from the Avoca recipe

450g/1lb          self raising flour
pinch                baking powder
pinch                salt
50g/2 oz           caster sugar
110g/4oz          frozen butter (I keep a few weighted out butter blocks in the freezer for when the scone mood strikes!)
1                     egg, beaten
50ml/2fl oz      cream (I think it's best if slightly sour)
200ml/7fl oz     milk (more if necessary)
10                    medium strawberries
100g/4 oz        white chocolate (grated or chopped into chunks)
1                     egg - to make the glaze

Preheat oven to 180 C


Sieve the flour into a large bowl.
Add the salt, sugar and baking powder.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour - I use the large grate size on my box grater.
Add the chocolate and mix gently with your hand.
Add the egg, cream and most of the milk.
Mix well until it has a soft texture - it's important that it's not too moist.
Add more milk if necessary.
Gently add the strawberries.
Gather the mixture into a ball and place on a floured surface.
Press out into a rectangle shape about 2.5cm/1 inch thick.
Cut into your preferred shapes - keeping everything to a similar size.
Make your glaze with a beaten egg and a tiny amount of water, and brush over the scones.
Transfer to a greased/lined baking sheet.
Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until well browned.

Enjoy.



21 comments:

Anna's kitchen table said...

BVG, your strawberry scones look so tasty. I like the fact there's no rolling out. Ooo and can just imagine them with chocolate chunks in!

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

They look delicious! I'll have one with a cup of tea please!

Our strawberries in New England are just at peak! I'm dying to get some! Strawberry short cake is my favorite dessert.

Just thinking, how would the chocolate be if it was drizzled across the top?

Have a great weekend!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Mmmmmmmmm, these look good. I haven't made scones for absolutely ages. Such a great idea to add strawberries and chocolate.

Unknown said...

bally good show my dear!... I would say pretty much perfection... I love the idea of the strawbs going directly into the scone mix, that's genius!... and frozen butter is a new one on me... i must give this a try, love it!

Rhyleysgranny said...

Now that is good thinking. Self jamming scones. I must try the iced butter. I already use buttermilk. Do you think the soured cream is better? They look yummy. x

Anonymous said...

I'm so in because of the white chocolate. Can't wait to try them. They look tasty!

Maxine said...

*drool* - as always BVG your food and presentation is supurb.

Maxine

Choclette said...

Your scones look sooooo good and sound even better - lovely idea. Haven't come across the frozen butter concept before so will have to try that. Sour milk was always the recommended liquid of yore so I can see that sour cream would be good. Thanks for participating.

Gloria Baker said...

Love scones and these look amazing!! gloria

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

I just made strawberry scones and boy were they delicious. Strawberries are ripe for the picking around here so I have been making lots of things that include strawberries. Yours look wonderful and I bet mouth watering delicious.

Caroline said...

They look absolutely delicious. I've made scones with fresh raspberries in before, and they were really difficult to mix cos the raspberries fell apart, but I bet strawberries would be more successful.

They must have been gorgeous warm, like have warm strawberry jam in them, and I can just imagine chunks of melting dark chocolate too - I'm sold!

Coby said...

Cream that's on the turn was the done thing in the old days as far as I knew - or sour milk for that matter, never waste anything:) Spooky BVG as I did a scone (next blog entry) of a similar shape and I am used to the round version. I agree, anything that saves overworking the dough is a good thing! Great idea on filling the scones, shame the chocolate wasn't all it could have been, sigh, guess you'll have to do some more baking to perfect things:):)

Mary said...

These look wonderful, but I'm like you: I can't stop eating all the fresh strawberries and never get anything baked with them. I'd love one of these though!

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

this looks very very good...I am mouthwatering..:P
Tasty Appetite

Shu Han said...

scones in no time? sounds fantastic!! definitely wish to give this a try. haha the shapes of those scones just remind me of cake, perfect teatime treats.

Jo said...

White chocolate and strawberries, yummy! Those look so good. I knew about cold butter for scones, but not sour cream. May have to try that!

Johanna GGG said...

love a scone with so much flavour it doesn't even need butter - have visions of you taking the cream out of the fridge, smelling it is not quite right and deciding to make scones with it - I think I would prefer to have some sour cream on hand - though I suspect occasionally I might have just the cream for these scones

Catherine said...

Made these this morning with blueberries and leaving out the chocolate - they are fab! I definitely think the frozen butter made a world of difference, have just put another 110g into the freezer in preparation for the next batch :)

Unknown said...

These look great! And i love the idea of not having to re-roll and cut out :)

Brownieville Girl said...

Thanks everyone :-}}}

I do think that the cream gives you a richer scone - and really does mean that you don't need to butter them - so not so unhealthy(!)

Catherine, I'm delighted they worked well for you - the grated frozen butter is so much easier isn't it?

The Viking said...

Jam already in the scones it's a delicious scientific breakthrough. Love it