Currant Scones

Scones again?!! Yep. I can't get enough of these things lately. Hope you're not sick of them yet!! These are pretty darn good scones from Anna Olson's new cookbook Back to Baking. Anna's got a great dough folding technique that lets you work the dry ingredients into the dough without overworking it. The folding technique makes sure you have scones that rise up nice and high with flakey, buttery layers. 

Currant Scones
Recipe minimally adapted from Back to Baking

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• zest of one lemon, finely grated
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup cold milk, plus extra for brushing scones
• 1/2 cup dried currants

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, zest and nutmeg in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.
3. Add the chilled butter pieces to the food processor bowl. Pulse until mixture is crumbly, but pieces of butter are still visible.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the whole egg and egg yolk, then whick in 1 cup of milk. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until dough comes together (do not over work).
5. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and pat into a rough square. Sprinkle currants over the dough, then work them in by pressing them into the dough with your hands, then folding in half, pressing the currants in at the same time (it takes about 4 or 5 folds).
6. Shape the dough into a square and gently roll out into an 8 inch square. Cut the dough into 16 square scones, then place them onto the prepared baking tray, leaving one inch between them.
7. Brush the scones with milk and bake for about 15 minutes, until they are an even golden brown. The scones are best served the day they are baked, but can be reheated the second day for 5 minutes in a 300F oven to refresh them.

I brought these to my friends house in exchange for her sewing me some plastic bag organizers (they're cute btw, I will post the link up here when she gets around to posting about them on her blog). She thought it was more than sufficient payment for her services!! I love how little sugar is in these scones - you can sweeten them up with a touch of jam when serving if they're not quite sweet enough for you. :)

This post has been linked up with Mouth Watering Mondays over at The Sweet Spot. Check it out for some great recipes and inspiration.

This post has also been linked up with Fusion Fridays over at Jennifer Cooks! Head on over there for some weekly inspiration in the form of baking, cooking, crafts and other cool things.
Happy Baking my Friends!