Scones

Maybe I've just been watching too many UK tv shows lately, what with going to a friend's house to watch an episode of Torchwood every week and getting caught up with new episodes of Sherlock, but I've found myself having a real hankering for scones lately.  A week ago I made some really tasty cherry almond ones using dried cherries and today I decided to try my hand at apple scones.  To make them, you'll need: 2 C flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 tbsp sugar, 5 tbsp cold butter, 1 egg, 1/2 C heavy cream, plus some to brush on the scones before baking, two apples, another couple tbsp sugar and about a tbsp cinnamon.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Peel and core your apples and chop them into little bits and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon on them, stirring to coat them.  Set them aside.

Maybe eat just a few, to make sure they're good

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Using a pastry blender, or your fingers, cut in the butter.  Now stir in the egg and the 1/2 cup of cream. 

It should look kind of like this now

On a floured surface, dump out the dough and toss the apples on top. 

Huh.  Maybe I went overboard on the apples again

Now you're going to knead the apples into the dough.  Only knead it enough to get the apples all mixed in; don't overdo it--you don't want these to end up getting tough.  At this point it occurred to me there might be a very good reason my original recipe used dried fruit rather than fresh.  Fresh fruit is somewhat...moister than the dried stuff and makes for a distressingly sticky dough.  Well, nothing to do now except soldier on!  Once you're done kneading the dough, form it into a disc about 3/4 of an inch thick or so.

I'm sure this will turn out fine

 Now cut this into eight wedges.  Using a pasty brush, brush the tops of your scones with cream and then sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar on top.

Definitely fine

Put the scones on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes, or until they're golden brown.  Let them cool on a rack for a couple minutes and they'll be ready for eating!

I knew they'd turn out fine

These are supposed to be eaten the same day you make them, but I, for one, don't have it in me to eat eight scones a day.  I've found, however, that if you just put them in the toaster oven for a few minutes, they'll be almost as good for the next couple of days.  This is also a pretty versatile recipe; you can put pretty much anything you want in the scones and that'll keep you from getting sick of them too quickly.  You can use all kinds of different sweet things, like other fruit or chocolate, or you could put cheese in them instead (though I'd leave out the sugar in that case, if I were you).  Just have fun experimenting!  And, because I can, here's a picture of my cherry almond scones (which were made with 1/2 C dried cherries and 1/2 C sliced almonds):