English Scones

With the Olympics around the corner, and the Queen celebrating the diamond Jubilee, I felt it was appropriate to post a recipe from my home town- London! So, usually when most people think of food and England the first thing that comes to mind is tea, crumpets, scones and delicate sandwiches. All of these items are yummy, but English scones is one of the things that I miss over here in the States. Now English scones are different from the scones you get here in the U.S. English scones are not very sweet, usually have some dried fruit and served traditionally with jam and clotted cream (As they're not very sweet, I recommend eating the scones with a sweet and tart jam/preserve and a little butter). I used fresh blueberries in this batch, and though it tastes good, the blueberries burst in the oven and start to bleed so I would definitely stick to dried fruit! So while you're watching the London Olympics whip up a batch of these, pair with some earl grey and enjoy! :)

Recipe
1-2/3 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 TSP salt
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 TSP baking powder
1/2 cup your favorite dried fruit
4 TBSP cold butter cubed.

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Sift all of the dry ingredients together.
- With two forks or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add dried fruit and mix.
- Add buttermilk and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula (it should come together easily)
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, pressing lightly with your hands form a disk and saran wrap the dough. Place in fridge for at least an hour.
- After you have chilled the dough, on a lightly floured surface - roll out dough so it's 1-1/2 inch thick.
- use a cookie cutter/biscuit cutter to mold your scones, and place on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
- brush each scone lightly with milk
- Bake for about 12-14 minutes (oven times will vary) or until it is lightly browned on the top.
- Serve warm with your favorite jam!

Makes approximately 20 (2-1/2 inch) scones

Serving suggestion
- serve with your favorite jam
- Serve with butter or some sweetened fresh whipping cream.