Orange Glazed Strawberry Scones

I have finally been able to use a real kitchen again! It has been way too long since I baked and I was thrilled to get my hands covered in sticky dough again. Since summer fruits and berries are starting to taste better and are more readily available, I decided to make these strawberry scones. I also wanted to bake personal sized pastries as opposed to a large pie or cake since right now there are only 2 of us at home and I knew I'd be sharing whatever I made with our neighbors. I found this recipe and it sounded like the perfect way to use up some of the strawberries I had just bought.

As I mentioned in my easy scones recipe, I don't always have the best of luck with scones. I often find them boring, dry, and unexciting. This recipe was the opposite of all those things. The orange zest adds great flavor to the dough (I may have eaten quite a bit of it raw) and the strawberries make the scones moist. I really like that the butter is grated in this recipe and you don't need to fuss over cutting it into small chunks. It may seem like there's a lot of sugar in this recipe when compared to other scone recipes, but I found it to be the perfect amount. The strawberries become soft and jam-like after they're baked, so I ate these without any extra toppings, like the usual butter and jam. The glaze is a nice addition, but not totally necessary. It makes them look really pretty if you're baking for looks, but if you're impatient not to worry, the flavor is in the scone, not the glaze. I opted against making the egg wash, but I'll add it in the recipe in case some of you prefer that look. I ate these fresh out of the oven and was in homemade pastry heaven.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten via La Petit Brioche
Make 6 large or 12 normal scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping tablespoon orange zest (about 1 orange grated)
1 stick (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, coarsely grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup diced strawberries
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons milk (for egg wash)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat your oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Mix at low speed until combined. Add the butter and mix on the lowest speed. In a small bowl, mix together the egg and cream. With the mixer running on low, add the egg and cream in a slow, steady stream. The dough will be lumpy looking. Add the strawberries to the dough and mix on low until just combined. Some berries will not make it into the dough mix, so incorporate them in the next step

Generously flour a work surface. Place the dough on this surface and knead it into a ball. It will be really sticky, so flour your hands. Pat the dough into a circle that is about 1 inch (3 cm) thick. You can either use a biscuit cutter to get circular scones or cut the dough into triangles (like a pizza). The triangle method is easiest. Place cute dough onto your baking sheet. If using the egg wash, brush the top of the scones with the wash.

Bake for 20 to 25, until the tops of the scones are slightly golden. They will be firm when touched. Mine were in the oven a couple minutes too long since I never heard the timer. Allow the scones to cool for about 15 minutes.

In a smal bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and orange juice. Drizzle it over the scones or slather it on top, whatever suits your preference. Pin It Now!