These scones weren’t winners in any Pillsbury Bake-Off competition, but still have a tie-in to the contest (like my other recipes this week). They were made with a recipe that I was working on for that last Pillsbury Bake Off competition, the one that Anna won. Although I met the criteria for ingredients, it may not have been “original” enough to become a finalist recipe. Did you know that they compare entered recipes to a huge library of recipes that have been entered in the past to check for originality?

While this may not be a winning recipe, it’s still a very good one. The scones are perfect for spring with the bright flavors of strawberries and orange. The scones are a bit more moist than what I’ll call a “traditional”, plain scone thanks to the addition of yogurt. They also keep a bit better than some other scones, making them ideal for serving at a large brunch or party when you can’t eat then right out of the oven.

Since I was trying to use contest-approved ingredients when I wrote the recipe, I originally used both frozen strawberries and orange-flavored yogurt. Plain and vanilla yogurt are in my fridge much more often than orange is, and a good - possible better - substitution is to use either plain or vanilla yogurt with some fresh orange zest mixed in to it. This will give the orange flavor a bit of a boost and should make the scones much brighter than the orange-flavored yogurt did.

If you can find fresh strawberries - they’re in season right now - you can easily chop some up and use those in the scones. If not, frozen strawberries will work well. They don’t need to be thawed before using, as long as you are able to give them a quick chop with a sharp knife before stirring them in.

Strawberry Sunrise Scones
Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, cold
6-oz (1 container) orange-flavored yogurt*
1 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen

Drizzle
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp [fresh] orange juice

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse for 5 seconds to combine.
Cut butter into 4 or 5 pieces and add to food processor with flour mixture. Process for 10-15 seconds until no large pieces of butter remain.
Add yogurt and frozen strawberries to food processor. Pulse for 10-15 seconds until mixture comes together into a ball.
Divide dough in half and shape into two balls. Place the balls on the baking sheet and press down until dough is 1-1½ inches thick. With a knife, cut a cross into the dough so that each disk is divided into 4 pieces.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until scones are lightly browned. Let the scones cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes. Divide the scones along the lines you cut before baking and remove to a wire rack to cool.

While scones cool, prepare the glaze. Combine powdered sugar and orange juice in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. When scones are cool enough to touch (it’s ok if they’re still a little warm, especially if you still want to serve them warm), drizzle glaze onto scones with a fork.

Makes 8 scones.

*I opted for orange flavored yogurt as a qualifying ingredient for the bake off. Alternatively, use plain or vanilla yogurt with 2 tsp orange zest added to it.

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