Dried Fruit Scones

Was in the mood to bake something yesterday and I didn't want anything sweet... so figured scones would be the best choice and they were.

Ingredients

All purpose Flour: 200gms

Baking Powder: 2 1/2 teaspoons

A pinch of salt

Sugar: 4 or 5 tablespoons

Cold Butter: 50 gms

Milk: about a cup

Dried fruits like currants, apricots or prunes.

Getting started, sieve the flour, with the baking powder, salt and sugar.

Now cut your cold butter into tiny cubes and drop them into the flour.

Gently using your fingertips break the butter into the flour... you'll get a coarse texture.

Now add your dried fruits and mix it in the flour. I had only prunes at the moment, so chopped them up and added to the flour.

With a long spoon slowly stir the flour as you add in the milk. Stir till everything is combined and you'll get a messy sticky dough.

Dump this sticky dough onto a floured surface and knead it using a little flour till it forms a smooth dough on the outside. Be careful to knead very lightly and just for 3 or 4 times, to maintain the texture. Apparently if you knead it too long, the scones tend to turn out denser.

It has been shaped into a smooth thick dough, now we just have to cut out little round pieces.

Using a cookie cutter ( I don't own a cookie cutter, I have used another small container I had at home) cut out circles and place them on a baking sheet. Knead the leftover dough into a smooth patch and cut out more circles. Keep using the leftover dough until everything is shaped and placed on the baking sheet.

Brush with a mixture of milk and egg yolk to give it that glossy come hither look. Then slide the tray into the oven to bake for 15 to 20 minutes. (I used only milk to brush these scones, ran out of eggs yesterday)

Here they are just out of the oven and smelling great. I love the smell of something baking... its uplifting and therapeutic, and these smelled really really good.

I had some strawberry preserve at home so dabbed a bit onto these scones and they were great. This is my first time making scones, and my first time eating them too... and they were really fabulous. I have no idea why I hadn't made them before...