I’ve been making a lot of scones recently.  And I do mean a lot. It’s actually starting to become somewhat of a problem.  There were a couple days in a row where I had scones for breakfast… and lunch… and dessert…  I think Steve might be staging an intervention.  Or maybe not.  I haven’t heard him complaining about the fact that I’ve provided breakfast every day for the past three weeks.

I don’t really know where this whole scone obsession came from, but I’ve wanted to make a batch for a long time.  I kept book-marking recipes online or flagging them in cookbooks, but I never got around to making any.  It wasn’t until I stumbled upon this archive post by Joy the Baker about delicious raspberry oatmeal scones.  Clearly, I’m a sucker for raspberry.  In the end it was this one little ingredient that finally got me off my butt and into the kitchen.  I admit, it’s been a lazy few weeks in between semesters.  Basically, I was a couch potato and puppy pillow.  Good for puppy.  Not good for me.  Well okay…. Good for me too.  I can’t think of anything better than having a warm fluffy puppy keep you warm in the dead of winter.

But back to scones!

These scones are quick and easy to make.  Maybe that’s why I’ve been making them so often.  From scone craving to munching is only about 35-45 minutes depending on how long it takes my oven to heat up.  I find making them by hand is just as easy to do as having to wash the food processor repeatedly, but I included a method by food processor below.  I’ve also included some of the variations I’ve been making at the end of the recipe. Of course the original raspberry gets my vote.   But mixed berry was also very good.  And lemon blueberry?  Well that’s just a classic.

Raspberry Oatmeal Scones

(adapted from Joy the Baker)

• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 10 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter
• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 1 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• ¾-1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Add egg to buttermilk and beat.  (Or in our case, prepare buttermilk with milk and ½ Tbsp vinegar… wait 5 min… then beat in egg)  Set aside.

Hand method: In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Grate the cold butter on the large side of a grater.  At this point I usually throw the grated butter in the freezer for a minute to make sure it’s really cold.  Quickly work the butter into the flour mixture with your hands.  Add in buttermilk mixture and work in with a fork.  When the dough starts to come together gently mix in the berries.  Note: any raspberry juice will turn the dough purple, so if using frozen work quickly and gently (although I like a little purple on mine).  If using fresh, good luck.

Food processor method: Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in food processor and pulse to combine.  Add in cold butter, cut into pieces.  Pulse until butter chunks are pea-size or smaller.  Turn out mixture into a bowl and mix in oats.  Add in buttermilk mixture and work in with a fork.  When the dough starts to come together gently mix in the berries.  Again, work quickly so as to minimize juice.

Turn out dough and form into large flat circle.  The height should be roughly equal the depth of a large cookie scoop.  Using the cookie scoop pull out domes of dough and place on the cookie sheet.  Although sometimes I get lazy and just skip this step and pull domes of dough straight out of the bowl instead.  Just make sure you get enough dough to hold the berries in (it helps if you have more dough than berries on the outside of each scone – I’ve had a few runaway berries that I had to press back in).

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.  Makes 12-14 scones.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Variations I’ve been making

• Blueberry: substitute ¾-1 cup blueberries (I used frozen) for raspberries
• Mixed berries: substitute ½ cup blueberries for ½ of the raspberries (1 cup total)
• Lemon- raspberry: substitute zest of one lemon for nutmeg
• Lemon-blueberry: substitute blueberries for raspberries and zest of one lemon for nutmeg