Here’s a basic recipe for simple, professional-looking scones and you can add any dry ingredients you want to jazz up the flavor. I modified the idea from the March Eating Well (pg. 94). You can see that I added shredded carrot, lemon zest, and flax seed to mine; these were a side on chili night when I didn’t feel up to making cornbread. Add just a few tablespoons of whatever you like, or up 1 1/2 cups. Some ideas for add-ins are: ham and cheese, dried fruit, raisins, coconut, sun-dried cherries, onion and smoked salmon, bacon bits, nuts or seeds, cacao nibs, and any herbs like dill, chives, cinnamon, etc.
After I grated the lemon peel, I cut up the lemon and squeezed a couple of slices into 3/4 C powdered sugar to make icing, but for a breakfast scone, or depending on your add-ins, I would leave out that step.
Scones
2 3/4 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 t salt
5 T cold unsalted butter
1 C milk or buttermilk
1 egg
Preheat oven to 400. Cut butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender. Stir in your add-ins.
Whisk (butter)milk and egg; stir into the dry ingredients and knead about ten times until the dough come together. Cut the dough in half and make two balls.
Put one dough ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top with a little flour, and press or roll into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges and transfer them to a sprayed parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the scones 20 minutes or until firm to the touch.
