Raspberry Cream Scones

You might already know this, but summer has finally arrived in Vancouver. We're not baking too much these days; rather we're trying to enjoy the sun, the music, and the hustle and bustle of Vancouver's awesome beaches.

Having said that, every so often we can't resist the urge to mix some flour and water and see what comes out.

The other day we had guests for breakfast. Two very discerning little girls needed to be fed and, if at all possible, impressed. So, we decided to bake some scones. Easy, fast, and quite effective.

We decided to go with Michel Suas' tried-and-true Cream Scones recipe from his Advanced Bread and Pastry book. We just had to make a few little adjustments to his formula:

• we cut down the amount of sugar(s) to approximately 2/3 of what the original recipe calls for
• we replaced the heavy cream with whipping cream (33% fat content), mostly because it's almost impossible to find any heavy cream around here
• we replaced the "nuts, dried fruits, etc." part with fresh raspberries, that are in season right now and are incredibly yummy
• we realized just before putting the scones in the oven that we had no eggs in the house; so, instead of egg wash, we just sprinkled some sugar on top

This is the end result:

For six scones

340 gr all-purpose flour
75 gr light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
354 gr whipping or heavy cream
170 gr raspberries

Combine flour, sugar and salt  in a bowl and mix well. Then add the cream and stir in gently. Try to keep the mixing part to a minimum, the dough shouldn't be developed. Gently roll out in a 9" (23 cm) round and cut into six triangles. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until golden.

The results were spectacular. The scones came out very fluffy and just sweet enough, with just a hint of sourness from the fresh raspberries. Needless to say, the girls were very impressed!