If I am compelled to garden, my sister Doc is compelled to bake.
And bake she does...pies, biscuits, cookies, scones. Unlike moi, for whom baking is more of a winter activity, she bakes all year long and often.
The trick to the 'often' part she tells me, is to memorize the recipes so you don't have to hunt down a recipe card or cookbook...and of course bake often enough so as not to forget the recipe...something I need to work on.
Doc has a beautiful lake house in Michigan that hosts a constant stream of family and friends...family and friends that won't turn down a freshly baked piece of pie or a hot-from-the-oven scone.
Now I've had scones from Dublin to London and back again, and
none of them come close to hers.
Granted, part of it was that hot-from-the-oven part, but even at that, they were unbelievably moist with just the right density, right level of sweetness, and a certain melt-in-your-mouth quality that makes them unforgettable.
So, straight from Doc's lake house recipe...
BLUEBERRY SCONES
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Measure 2 cups flour into a mixing bowl and add 1/2 tsp salt with 2 1/2 tsp baking powder. Whisk together with your pastry blender and add in 3 T sugar.
Cut 5 T butter into smallish pieces - I usually use a sharp knife and cut the 5 T into fourths lengthwise and then cut those into 1/4 inch pieces. Throw that into the flour mixture and cut it in with the pastry blender.
Add blueberries or nuts or chopped apricots or whatever fruit you have on hand and stir with spoon-spatula.
Then add in 3/4 c. milk. ( I used soy milk and it worked just fine). Blend in the milk with the spatula first then use your hands to shape into about a 8" or so disk.
Place it on a buttered cookie sheet. Use a dough scraper to cut the disc into 6 or so pie-shaped wedges. Use the milk left in your measuring cup to wipe over the dough. I use my fingers. Just makes it brown nicely, not a mandatory step.
Then bake at 400 until you go upstairs, put your make up on, get dressed, curl your hair - which for me is about 10-15 minutes...they should be about done when you come back down! If they are not done.......just wait longer.
Then you can make a drizzle out of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of milk or lemon juice for a change. You can sprinkle nuts on top if you want to be fancy.
Trust me, nothing is better with a cup of hot tea than one of these scones!