Strawberry Scones

    I have a lot of recipes for scones and this is one of my favorites. This recipe works well with raspberries too (I cut my raspberries in half for this recipe, if they are larger then I quarter them.)  It's important to refrigerate these once cooled, for longer storage. We pop the scones in the toaster oven to warm them up and serve with a little butter or strawberry jam on the side.  Enjoy! Diane  

Homemade Strawberry Scones
makes 16 scones 

Ingredients
Scones:
2 cups strawberries; cleaned, stemmed and cut into small pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup milk

Topping:
1 egg, whisked for egg wash
2 Tablespoons demerara sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
Clean and cut the strawberries into small pieces, add to a bowl with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar.
In a separate large bowl, place the flour, salt, baking powder and remaining sugar. Add the butter and using 2 knives or a pastry blender start cutting into the butter. Use your hands if necessary but the mixture needs to resemble small peas.
Add the strawberries to the bowl and coat well with the dry mixture. In a small bowl mix the egg and milk together then add to the flour bowl. Using a spatula mix everything well. Add in more flour, as needed, if dough is too wet (if it sticks to your hands too much.)  Turn dough onto a  well floured surface and shape into two equal  rounds.
Cut each round of dough into 8 triangles, just like you would cut pizza and place the triangles over a cookie tray lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with demerara sugar.  
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Kitchen Tip:  The butter in scones needs to be super COLD.  IF you've handled your dough too much, you will want to set your scones in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before baking.  In the Winter, its cold enough here that can I set my baking tray, covered in saran, outside on our patio table to chill before baking.