Make your own scones
BRATTLEBORO —
3 cups unbleached white King Arthur flour
½ cup white cane sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh, double-acting baking powder
pinch of salt
3 fresh eggs
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
¾ cup fresh cream
½ cup dried fruit, candied ginger, or 2 teaspoons each dried orange rind and fennel seed
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
You have a bowl of dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder. You have a bowl of wet ingredients: eggs and cream. You have a stick of cold butter. You must very quickly cut that cold butter into the flour mixture.
I use a pastry blender until there are no pieces of butter larger than a kernel of corn. I toss the flour around with the blender to make sure the butter is equally distributed. I then add any extras like raisins, dried fruits, diced candied ginger.
Then I make a little depression in the flour/butter mixture and pour in the eggs and cream. Taking my large rubber spatula, I very quickly work from the outside of the bowl in, tossing the flour mixture onto the liquid, while I turn the bowl, until there is no more dry flour visible, but the mixture is still clumpy.
I then throw a generous amount of flour on my counter and dump the contents of the bowl on top. I make sure my hands are covered with flour. Using my open palms, I very gently and very quickly gather up the clumps of dough until they form a mass.
I pat the mass into a sort of rectangle of dough. I toss some flour on top of the mass, and using a dough scraper or a large spatula, I fold the dough over itself four or five times, like folding a letter. Then I throw a bit more flour on top, make sure the dough is not sticking to the counter, and very gently pat it out again into a rectangle that is about 1½ inches high.
I flour the cookie cutter and cut as many round shapes as I can, then quickly shape the scraps into another rectangle and repeat cutting out round scones. There is always a little orphan left that I pat out by hand. This one is always for me.
Bake for 15 minutes or until risen and golden brown.