Scones

From: my mom

Preheat oven to 400°

Sift together:

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder < very important

4 Tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

Add:

4 Tablespoons cold, diced butter

use a pastry blender or fork to crumb into flour mixture

Add:

2 eggs

1/3 cup cream

should look like this....

On a floured board turn dough out and knead about 10 times.

Divide in two and shape each into a circle about 1 inch thick.

Brush cream or milk onto tops of dough and sprinkle generously with sugar.

Cut each circle into quarters and move wedges away from each other to bake.

Bake on parchment paper 15 minutes or until golden. If you've gone to your pantry and discover that alas, you ran out of parchment paper but for some reason, placed the empty box back in the pantry, thus not adding parchment paper to your shopping list - you can substitute by using a 9x13 pyrex dish.

looks like someone you might know made that very same mistake!

If you wish, add 1 cup of cranberries or blueberries after kneading.

Sprinkle them over the dough and gently fold the dough over a few times being careful not to crush the berries. Try freezing the berries for an hour or so to make them more sturdy.

Funny story about scones - the first time I made these I bragged and bragged to my friends about how awesome my mom's scones are and how they were in for the best treat of their lives. The scones came out of the oven looking great, smelling great and initially tasting great. But a bitter after taste loomed. My friends were so kind, we all smeared them with jam and ate them anyway. Later on I called my mom and came to find out I had used baking soda, not baking powder! She made me promise to call of my friends back and explain the confusion.

Which reminds me of a certain oatmeal cookie episode I will tell you about later. If you can't laugh at yourself when you are cooking, you are in for a hard life!