I often include strawberries at my breakfast table when they are in season. Sliced berries make a great addition to cereal, yogurt and oatmeal, as well as a tasty topping for waffles and pancakes. These Strawberry Scones are just one more way you can enjoy in-season strawberries at breakfast or brunch. The buttery scones are packed with fresh strawberries – and they’re easy enough to make you can whip up a batch in just a few minutes.
As with most scone recipes, this one starts by cutting butter into small pieces, creating a flaky dough. You can do this by hand, in the food processor or with a pastry blender. While I’m usually a huge fan of the food processor, in this case it is typically faster and easier to simply do it by hand. Making scones isn’t as tricky as making a pie crust, so jump right in – even if you haven’t tried making scones at home before.
There are quite a lot of strawberries in these scones, which can make the dough a little bit tricky to knead and shape. I dice them into 1/4-inch pieces (or slightly larger) to ensure a good distribution in the scones. Don’t worry if some of the berries get slightly squished or release a little juice as you shape the scones. That being said, you can keep them a little bit “rustic” in shape (I typically do), so you don’t need to work those berries into submission too aggressively! Use a sharp, serrated knife to cut through the dough when shaping the individual scones to ensure that you get neat, clean cuts through the berries.
I give the scones a generous dusting of coarse sugar before putting them into the oven. The coarse sugar adds a little bit of crunch and extra sweetness, as the scone dough itself is not overly sweet. Some extra sugar brings out that natural sweetness in the berries after baking.
These scones are at their peak straight out of the oven, when they are crisp on the outside and tender in the center. The berries bring in a lot of sweetness and summery flavor, and you’ll still enjoy notes of butter and vanilla in each bite. Since they contain so much fresh fruit, however, the scones tend to be soggy by the second day. Fortunately, this recipe makes a relatively small batch of scones that is large enough to share, but small enough that even just two people can nibble their way through a batch in a day.
Fresh Strawberry Scones
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, chilled
6-7 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
generous 3/4 cup diced, fresh strawberries
coarse sugar, for topping.
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut butter into several chunks and rub in to flour mixture using your fingertips or using a pastry blender. Rub in until no pieces larger than a big pea remain.
In a small measuring cup, combine milk and vanilla. Pour milk mixture in to flour mixture and stir with a fork until a shaggy dough comes together. Add in diced strawberries and gently knead berries in by hand to distribute them evenly without crushing them.
Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and shape into a disc about 1-inch thick. Â Cut dough into 6 wedges. Sprinkle generously with coarse sugar.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until scones are golden brown and set.
Allow scones to cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 5.
Carissa Nelson | Spoonful of Easy
June 15, 2018I like anything that I can call “rustic” because that means that you can play it a little cool with getting everything perfect and it doesn’t affect the taste! These look amazing!
Natalie
June 16, 2018I love strawberry scones! Looks so delicious and perfect for weekend brunch!