Have you ever wondered what happens if you mistake baking soda for baking powder? I have not.
But, now I know. In the grand tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Jo from Little Women, and the going-blind cook from Downton Abbey, I mistook one ingredient for another, resulting in some very dry, nearly burned, metallic-tasting scones. My error was not as egregious as theirs, I think (salt for sugar, blech), and at least I discovered it before I served it to anyone else.
The thing is, I've made these scones before! This was probably my fourth or fifth time making them, that's how much I like them. I was over confident? Or just distracted? Who knows.
When made correctly, these scones are not the crumbly, dry sort of scone, but fairly soft with just a hint of sweetness, and small bursts of juiciness from the strawberries. I got the recipe from the King Arthur Flour blog.
Start with cutting up some strawberries - part will be blended with 2 tbsp of half-and-half and 1/4 cup of sugar to make up the wet ingredients, and part will be used in the scones themselves. I cut these up pretty small because if they are too big, I have trouble incorporating them into the dough.
The blended strawberry mixture (which smells divine) is mixed with an egg and 2 tsp of vanilla.
Then mix together 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1 tbsp of baking POWDER. I substitute some of the white flour with wheat (1-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour) because I'm trying to incorporate more whole grains into my baking. I like it in these scones too - it adds some heartiness. Cut in 6 tbsp of butter, then add the blended strawberries as well as the diced strawberries. Mix just until the wet ingredients more or less are absorbed.
It doesn't matter if everything is incorporated because I dump the whole mixture onto my rollpat and then pat it quickly into a rectangular shape. I've always been a little scared of making scones this way (in the past, I would just use an ice cream scoop), but I kind of like having control over the shape of the scones I make, and also with a little practice, this isn't as scary anymore. Well-floured hands help, as does a bench scraper, which I use to make sure the scones are not sticking to the rollpat and to help shape the edges.
This dough in particular tends to be rather wet, which is good I think, in helping keep the scones tender and not dry. This particular batch was a little drier (although I try to keep the blended strawberry portion consistent, it can sometimes vary), so I didn't need to use as much flour on the rollpat.
Depending on what size scone and quantity I want to make, I will make it more square or rectangular. I wanted to make 12 scones in this batch.
Then I baste each scone with a glaze of sugar and vanilla (sometimes I just use some half-and-half and a little sugar) and pop them into a 375 degree oven for about 15-16 minutes. These can be a little soggy in the middle if there are too many strawberries, so after 16 minutes, I'll turn off the oven then leave the scones in for a few more minutes as the oven cools down.
I made a second batch at the same time, cut these a bit larger (9 pieces) and froze them by laying the cut pieces on a parchment-line cutting board. Once completely frozen, I sort of wrapped the parchment around the scones and stored them in a freezer bag. Then, when I feel like it, I can pull out one or two and put them into my toaster oven for about 20 minutes (I make a tiny amount of glaze with a splash of vanilla and a sprinkle of sugar).
Even my dinky little toaster oven will bake these frozen scones to perfection. It is so awesome to be only 20 minutes away from a freshly baked scone.
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