Scones- I didn't even realize we were missing them!

     Scones were never really on my radar to make because I'm guessing like some of you, to me, they kind of had a bad wrap.  Dry, crumbly, boring, not the first choice when sitting beside a decadent pecan roll.  Then I was approached to see if we could make them for a new business opening, so I thought I'd give them a go. 

      After a lot of recipe testing and tweaking and of course tasting I landed on a very versatile scone recipe that we can morph into many flavors.  These beauties do not fit the boring bill!  They hold true to a scone with a biscuit like texture, slightly less sweet, yet offer a melt in your mouth flavor that is irresistible.  Full of butter, heavy cream, and berries they now shine as one of our best selling items.  

      From start to finish, they are done by hand.  These are now another one of Maggie's specialties!  While I bake them most mornings, she is the one who does the delicate process incorporating the butter into the flour as if you were making pie dough. She then continues by adding the eggs and heavy cream.  Once incorporated, she weighs the dough out into even chunks awaiting berries. (Pro tip: If you are making these or maybe even pie dough at home, shred the cold butter using a food processor.  This allows you to more evenly spread the butter throughout the dough while working with the flour less and developing less gluten to keep the scones as tender as possible!)  She then folds the berries into the dough by hand and forms the chunks of dough into a 7" circle.  Each batch makes 56-64 scones.  Precision and consistency in our processes are what create the product that you know and love!  We then freeze these raw scones. 

Image: Shredded butter

     On the mornings that they are baked, we pull however many we need out of the freezer, let them thaw just a bit, cut the round into 8 triangles and put them on a sheet pan.  They then get a brushing of heavy cream and are sprinkled with the crunchy crystal sugar that helps add to the overall feel and complexity of the finished product.  After about 20 minutes in the oven, they have transformed into a delicate pastry perfect for those who want something decadent but maybe a little less sweet.  

    Currently we offer lemon blueberry and white chocolate raspberry.  I would love to hear what flavors you would like to see!  In the past we've done cranberry orange, chocolate chip and lemon poppyseed.  I'm also considering just a simple cream scone with no additional fillings.  Imagine a sweet buttery pastry with that finishing crunch from the crystal sugar.  What are you craving!?

      Lastly, you may be wondering about the business we were developing these for.  Things may not always work out and they didn't end up going with them.  But actually, it worked out perfectly. We ended up with an amazing product that I didn't even realize we were missing on our shelves!  Sometimes it is all about perspective.  :)

 Should we bring the chocolate chip scones back?