Dried Fruit Cream Scones

[wendelah1]

I made these on Saturday to use up some cream before it turned. Someone blogging about this recipe described it as "life-changing." I wouldn't go that far but they disappeared pretty quickly. The recipe is from Marion Cunningham's excellent The Breakfast Book.

For the Scones:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
½ cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, prunes, or figs)
¼ cup golden raisins
1¼ cups heavy cream

For the Glaze:

3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Use an ungreased baking sheet. [My baking sheets are kind of disgusting (but I'm too cheap to replace them) so I lined it with baking parchment.]

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl, stirring with a fork to mix well. Add the dried fruit and raisins. [I used dried apricots and golden raisins] Still using a fork, stir in the cream and mix until the dough holds together in a rough mass (the dough will be quite sticky).

Lightly flour a board and transfer the dough to it. Knead the dough 8 or 9 times. Pat into a circle about 10 inches round. For the glaze, spread the butter over the top and side of the circle of dough and sprinkle the sugar on top. [If you have coarse ground sugar, it would be pretty but I didn't and plain sugar worked fine.] Cut the circle into 12 wedges and place each piece on the baking sheet, allowing about an inch between pieces.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. EDIT: These can be frozen (see comments below).


© 1987 Marion Cunningham

Comments

[acelightning]

I've made something very similar using diced candied ginger and half a teaspoon of grated lemon zest instead of fruit and raisins, also adding a teaspoon of powdered ginger to the flour mixture. I don't find it overly spicy, but then again, I do love ginger :-)

[wendelah1]

My dad would love that version. He loves candied ginger.

[acelightning]

So did my dad - that's who I learned it from. He's been gone almost fifteen years, but I have a candy dish full of crystallized ginger next to my computer :-)

[laughingrat]

These sound very good. Do you think they would keep a few days, or in the freezer? Of course, I could always just halve the batch or something. :)

[wendelah1]

They are really good. I think you could freeze them although nothing beats fresh from the oven. If you do freeze them, could you let us know how they turn out? I'll add it to the post. I think they'd probably keep a day or two if well-wrapped or stored in an air-tight container.

[laughingrat]

Sure, can do. :)

[laughingrat]

OK, I tried the freezing! I waited until they were completely cool, then wrapped one in plastic wrap and then popped it into a ziploc bag, just for extra protection. It was in the freezer three days; this morning I unwrapped it and popped it straight into the oven at about 300F and left it for, I dunno, maybe 20 minutes. It probably could have been in there for less time and still been hot through. I am happy to report that the only negative effect was a slight drying out of the outside parts of the scone, but the inside was still soft and delightful. Also, it made the outside crispy again, like when it first came out of the oven.

But you're right, the recipe is so fantastic that it was REALLY hard not to eat all the scones right away. I think I demolished three the night I made the recipe!

[wendelah1]

Thank you. I edited the post to let people know.