wild blueberry scones

as i grab my morning coffee, meander around town, and guzzle my best friend, i can't help but overhear conversations about blueberry picking. someone had some luck at their favorite spot up the trail. another hit the jackpot up the caribou trail. wherever you pick, the picking is starting! addie and i harvested a few handfuls right outside our backdoor, with very little effort, and we'll more than likely be making a batch of wild blueberry scones.

anyone who has made scones, or in my case, worked for a meticulous, austrian trained pastry chef, you know that there is an art to making scones. there is a certain amount of technique that needs to happen to make scones wonderful. scones are meant to be shaped, so forget those 'drop' scones that has you just dropping piles of dough on a baking sheet, and don't go near the scone pre-mixes. but don't fear scones, as they are a breeze to make! here's our basic recipe we use at the co-op.

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbl baking powder
6 Tbl sugar
10 Tbl butter
1 cup wild blueberries
2 cups heavy cream

in a large bowl mix together the four, sugar, and baking powder.

next, cut in the butter. this is an important step. you want to work the butter into the dry ingredients, but not too much. when the butter is worked down into pea sized chunks, stop working the butter. to work the butter, i like to use my fingers and mash and sift the butter and dry ingredients through my fingers.

next, add the fruit. wild blueberries are our choice this time.

make a well in the center of your ingredients, and pour in the cream. with a spoon, stir the ingredients together, and when they start to come together, ditch the spoon, and use your hands to gently work the dough into one giant dough ball mass. take this dough ball, and gently knead it about 2 or 3 times. now put the dough down, and don't mess with it anymore!

place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and gently pat it into a disc, about an inch and a half thick.

cut the disc into 8 wedges-like you would cut a pie. sprinkle turbinado sugar on the tops of each scone and place on a baking sheet.

bake in a 425 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. devour while still warm! save a few for your neighbors! belly up!!