Recipe: Easy Scones with Home-Churned Butter

Is there anything better than the smell of fresh baked goodies on a Sunday morning?

I baked scones for Sunday breakfast the past two weekends, one in Colorado with my girl Christie and another brunch in Palo Alto with my parents. These scones are similar to biscuits; however, you can add ham and cheese or currants or any dried fruit if you like. The home-churned butter is very simple; you can also add vanilla and a little sugar during the whipping process for a sweet spread on a simple scone.

This recipe comes from my CIA classmate Roxanne Rosensteel, and I thank her for sharing these with me.

Roxanne's Scones

3 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
½ cup unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (you can omit the shortening and add a little more butter if you don't have it. I tried both ways with minimal difference in the finished scone.)
1 cup milk
1 egg (for egg wash)

1 quart heavy cream

2 ½ in. round cookie cutter
Baking pan

Preheat oven to 425˚F.

1. Sift flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar into a large bowl.

2. Rub in the fats until the mixture goes damp like sand. Add the milk all at once; mix briefly and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly to form a dough.

3. Roll out to 1 ½ in. thickness. Cut out rounds and place on baking sheet.


4. Brush with beaten egg (if you don't have a pastry brush, use the rounded back of a spoon to smooth the egg over the scone). Sprinkle with sugar.

5. Bake for 10 minutes, until tops are golden brown.









Serve with home-churned butter.

How to Make Cream into Butter
1. Take a quart of heavy whipping cream and pour in an upright mixer with the whisk attachment. If you don’t have a counter-top mixer, you can use an electric egg beater with two whisks, but this will take a little longer; it’s still easily do-able though.
2. Whip the cream well past whipping cream texture, about 12-15 minutes. The butter fat will separate from the water, which will start to splash around the bottom of the mixing bowl while the yellowish butter clumps on the whisk.
3. Pour water from bowl. Spread on hot scones. Revel in delight.





















Here's a photo of this morning's spread: fresh-churned butter, poached eggs on tomato-gouda toast, fruit and these scones. Nice little Sunday...