Hiatus

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Strawberry Cream Scones

I love scones. Don't you? But I never thought scones could taste so good! I've always been eating scones bought from bakeries like Sweet Secrets and Four Leaf because they're not expensive to get, and taste, well, really quite good. But that was all before I decided to have some scones bake in my oven. I'm not boasting about my baking or whatsoever. Most definitely not. Rather I'm just so glad I found such a good recipe!

I was searching for scone recipes online, when I saw this recipe on Lara's blog. Reading through the post, Lara had nothing but praise for the recipe (like "nearly fell on the floor after I tasted them" and "simply amazing"). Running through the ingredients list, I was a little reluctant as it asked for really quite "an epic amount of cream". But I still decided to give it a go. And I'm so glad I did! It was just as what Lara had said, very moist and light and just oh-so good. Stand aside, you dry and dense store-bought scones! Whipping the cream created such a fluffy texture for a scone that I never knew could or should be in a scone.

The only problem I had was shaping these babies. Because the dough was so wet, I kinda gave up trying to shape and cut them and just dropped tablespoons of them onto the baking sheet for fear of destroying all the effort of incorporating whipped cream for a fluffy scone. The thing is, also because they're so wet, they spread a little too much and ended up quite thin and looked more like a cookie than a scone. Still, they tasted great warm from the oven! If it ever lasts till the next day, I always like to toast them for a while to warm them up and the outsides will get a little crisp while the inside is still fluffy and moist. A very flexible recipe, I substituted blueberries that Lara used to diced strawberries and made only 1/3 of the full recipe. While these scones are great on their own, I drizzled them with melted chocolate to dress them up a little and made them all the more delicious. I finished the baking and shooting late in the afternoon and by the next day, they were gone. Even though there was only 6 scones, considering the rate food disappears from my kitchen, it really is quite an amazing feat.

Strawberry Cream Scones
(Makes 6)

1 cup strawberries, hulled and diced
140g flour
50g sugar
2/3 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
200ml whipping cream

Melted chocolate (optional)

- Preheat oven to 180 degC.
- Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Mix in the strawberries.
- Whip, with a standing mixer or a whisk, the cream until medium soft peaks form.
- Gently fold in the whipped cream into the flour and fruit mixture, taking care not squash the strawberries.
- To shape, turn the dough onto a floured working surface. With floured hands, shape the dough into 1" thick rectangle and fold it in half. If it is still too wet, dust with a little more flour and shape and fold again. Cut into triangles or squares and place on a lined baking sheet 1cm apart. This is so that they will hold their shape even if they spread.
- If like me, you're afraid of dealing with the mess and don't mind awkwardly-shaped scones, drop tablespoonfuls of the scone mixture onto a lined baking sheet.
- Bake the scones in preheated oven for 20 - 25mins or until browned on top.
- Let cool for 15 mins and drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.