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Fresh Strawberry Cream Scones

The strawberries I’ve been buying lately have been amazing.

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I only buy organic berries, so when they are plentiful, I’m all in.  I love them plain and could eat a whole bowlful, but today, I took some of that bounty and made Fresh Strawberry Cream Scones. Putting fresh strawberries into scones? Honestly, it was a revelation.  Seems silly, but it was.  I’ve used them in pancakes, but mostly, we eat them fresh on their own, in fruit salads and on top of pancakes or shortcakes.  I don’t usually think of them when I’m baking.

strawberry cream scones

I’ve made lots of different kinds of scones, which I eventually plan to share, but adding fresh strawberries wasn’t on my radar.  My friend texted me a picture of strawberry scones she made last summer and I thought, with all of the scones I’ve made, why have I not made a strawberry scone???  It was the same kind of revelation I had when I made Strawberry Cake.  I didn’t think of it until my son asked me to make it as part of his birthday cake, but wow!  Strawberry Cake and Fresh Strawberry Cream Scones…we had clearly been missing out.

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This recipe is based on my Favorite Cinnamon Scone recipe, but I made a few adjustments. If you read that post, you’ll know that scones were one of my obsessions to perfect.  At the time, I wanted a scone that was dense and rich, a “short” scone, with a high ratio of butter to flour.  That’s perfect for a cinnamon scone.  I’ve used that recipe for many different variations including the Iced Vanilla Sconuts, which really are just vanilla bean scones masquerading as doughnuts.

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Inspired by my friend, I tried that recipe with fresh strawberries in it.  It was DELICIOUS!  It tasted like a strawberry shortcake but in scone form.  I made them that way two or three times.  My family loved them, they were dense, buttery, rich and full of strawberry flavor.  For me, though?  While I thought they were terrific, I wanted a slightly different texture.

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The moisture of the strawberries plus the richness of butter and cream was a bit too much for me. Don’t get me wrong, they were great, they’d get rave reviews if you made them, but I wanted a bit more loft in the batter for the berries to settle into.

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I thought about switching the cream out for another type of milk, but I really wanted to keep the cream for the berries.  So, I decided to swap out 1/4 cup of butter for 1/4 cup of cream.  I thought this switch would still keep it rich, but make it a bit lighter/loftier. (Okay, this scone is anything but light, but it’s all relative :)

Guess what?  It took two years of trials to get the first scone recipe perfected, but this one?  First try worked perfectly!  I got the extra loft I wanted for the berries, but I maintained the richness of the scone.  I’ve tried other “lofty/fluffy” type scone recipes for when I want to add berries.  They’re good, but they often border on a fluffy biscuit for me. One of the reasons I love scones is because they are richer than biscuits. I love a fluffy biscuit, but I like my scones to be rich. Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.  These deliver that beautifully.

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So, what have we learned? We’ve learned that we should never forget about putting strawberries into baked goods.  We’ve learned that butter and cream are a scone’s best friend and changing their proportions can change the texture.  We’ve learned that great scone recipes take time to perfect, but once they are perfected, they can become mother recipes to many other scone ideas.

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So, use this recipe for adding berries to your scones.  Or, use the base short scone recipe I used for My Favorite Cinnamon Scones and Iced Vanilla Sconuts and add berries to it.  They will both give you a delicious scone, one dense and rich, the other a bit fluffier, but still rich.  You really won’t go wrong either way, but this is now my perfected scone recipe for fresh berries.  No pressure, though….

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I know you’ll make the right choice.

Fresh Strawberry Cream Scones

Fresh Strawberry Cream Scones

Yield: 8 large scones

Ingredients

For the scone:

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 heaping cup of chopped strawberries, patted dry with paper towels
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup or more of heavy cream
  • extra cream for brushing

For the icing:

  • 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1-3 Tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  3. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, two knives or you can rub the butter in with your fingertips, until the mixture is crumbly and you have varied size butter chunks no larger than peas.
  4. Add chopped strawberries and lightly toss until berries are coated in flour mixture.
  5. Crack an egg in a glass measuring cup then add cream until you reach 3/4 cup. Mix with a fork until well blended.
  6. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and pour in the egg/cream mixture. Toss gently with a fork until you've distributed the liquid well and mixture begins to hold together a bit. Your mixture is going to seem to be too dry, but try to resist adding more liquid.
  7. Use your hands to gently mix/lightly knead the mixture in the bowl until it comes together. You don't want to crush your berries and you don't want to melt the butter, so if you have hot hands, try using a large spoon or a spatula to fold the mixture onto itself in between using your hands.
  8. Once the dough comes together with no crumbs, on a lightly floured surface, pat it into a large square or circle about 1 inch thick.
  9. If you find your dough has gotten too soft from handling, you can put the bowl back in the refrigerator to firm up the butter or roll, cut and place on the cookie sheet, then slide it into the refrigerator or freezer for 10 -20 minutes.
  10. Using a floured sharp knife, cut into 8 triangles, wedges or your desired scone shape and place on an ungreased baking sheet leaving 1-2" of space between for spreading.
  11. Brush tops of unbaked scones with additional cream.
  12. Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool and set up for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.
  13. Make icing. In a medium bowl whisk together sugar, vanilla and add cream a spoonful at a time until it's thick but spreadable. Place into a zip top bag with a corner snipped off and drizzle over cooled scones. Or, just use a spoon or fork and drizzle directly from the bowl over the scones. Icing will set as it dries.

Notes

*Store at room temperature covered. I wrapped mine in foil. They are best day one and two. They reheat nicely in a toaster oven, even after being iced.

*You don't have to go crazy patting your strawberries dry. I just chopped them up and pressed them gently between paper towels to soak up excess moisture. Then I let them sit on the paper towels until I was ready for them.

*If you don't want to ice your scones, you can sprinkle with raw or coarse sugar after you brush them with cream before baking.

*If you like a sweeter scone or if you're not using icing, you could increase the sugar in the scone recipe from 1/3 to 1/2 cup.

The Merchant Baker Copyright © 2015

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Dianne

Sunday 27th of November 2016

I've been using your recipe since you posted it and it is truly the best scone I've ever had!! I do add an 1/8tsp of strawberry extract however. At Christmas I substitute peppermint soft melts and a dash of peppermint oil.... Just a lovely recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!!!!!??

Ramona

Sunday 27th of November 2016

Dianne, thanks so much for stopping by to leave such a lovely comment :) We really love this scone recipe. I've never used strawberry extract, but I bet it puts the berry flavor over the top! It's a very versatile recipe, as you've mentioned with your peppermint version at Christmas. Sounds delicious!

145 – Crooked Teeth Collective

Tuesday 27th of September 2016

[…] do. If you find the scone I devoured right after those photos were taken delicious looking, it is this recipe from The Merchant Baker.  I always double the sugar and sub the fruit to whatever I have on […]

Sue Conner

Saturday 25th of June 2016

Ramona, We got some amazingly sweet cherries at the Lynchburg, Va farmer's market this morning and my husband is thinking about substituting them for the strawberries in your scone recipe. Strawberries were nowhere to be seen this morning! What do you think? How should he vary the recipe to use cherries? Do you have any favorite recipes that use fresh cherries? They won't be available very long. Unfortunately, the peaches he brought home were very, very tart. He did make some fantastic cherry ice cream with some of the cherries and shared with neighbors. Can you share ideas for using fresh cherries? Thanks for all your great ideas!

Ramona

Saturday 25th of June 2016

I just used this strawberry scone recipe to make peach scones this week and it worked out great! We had some very juicy sweet peaches and I really had to pat them dry but they worked beautifully. I think cherries would also work. I would slice them in half or quarters and pat them dry just as I did the strawberries and peaches. Adding juicy fruits to scones makes for a gummy scone, so just pat them dry well. I would add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the wet ingredients for a delicious cherry almond flavor. Then, after you bake and cool them, you could glaze them with a bit of powdered sugar mixed with water, milk or cream (you could add a drop of almond extract to that as well.) Then, you could sprinkle sliced almonds on top of the glaze. You could go the pie route and use my blueberry galette recipe and sub in the cherries for the berries. I also like to take fresh cherries, cut them up and cook them on the stove top with some orange zest and orange juice (I don't have any exact measurements for you), sweeten to taste with white or brown sugar and let them cook until thick and syrupy. This is great on top of ice cream, pancakes, oatmeal, on top of a plain pound cake or angel food cake or even as an accompaniment to a chicken or pork dish. Your husband's ice cream sound fabulous! Hopefully, one of these ideas will work out for you :) (I'm jealous of the great cherries you found!)

Sue Conner

Sunday 15th of May 2016

Ramona, Your fresh strawberry cream scones are fantastic and reheat very well. My husband has made them numerous times and is making them for my birthday breakfast tomorrow. He has made no changes to the recipe but uses farm fresh cream which he thinks has heavier butterfat than store cream. Thanks for a fantastic treat! Our neighbors and friends love them. too. Do you ever make them with frozen strawberries in winter? Another treat I like is the Blueberry Gingerbread that appeared in the Penzeys spice catalog. Give it a try sometime. Sue

Ramona

Sunday 15th of May 2016

Sue, what fun feedback! I'm sure the farm fresh cream makes them even more delicious! I have not made them with frozen strawberries. I've often heard that you can use frozen berries in muffins as long as they're still frozen when you use them. But, muffin batter is a wet batter and this dough is not. I would worry that they would create a gummy texture when they hit the flour, but I suppose it might be worth a try. I'm so finicky when it comes to the texture of the scones, I don't know if I'd be happy. I usually make other flavors in the winter months like my Cinnamon Scones or Brown Sugar Butter Pecan. I love scones so much, I have some for all seasons. I haven't even posted half of them yet! If you try frozen berries with success, please come back and let me know how it works out. The Blueberry Gingerbread recipe sounds fantastic! I'm definitely going to check it out. Have a lovely birthday, Sue!

Jessica

Friday 11th of March 2016

I just made these scones and they are a hit!!! Thank you for this recipe :) they are moist and tender on the inside with just the right crunch on the outside! My girls say they are in heaven!!

Ramona

Friday 11th of March 2016

My kids love these too! They say they taste like strawberry shortcake! Thanks for the great feedback!

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