Strawberry and Cream Biscuits

These biscuits (or scones, as I kept calling them) are absolutely, hands down, no questions, AMAZING. I made them last Saturday morning when we had a few friends from out of town sleep over and I would be lying if I said I've stopped thinking about them. 

Strawberry's are perfect right now. Don't cheap out and buy the weird ones that are the size of your first, shipping across the world, with the white centers in them. Pay the extra money for fresh, ontario grown, juicy, dark red kind. extra points if you buy them from a farmer market. 

this recipe took about 20 minutes to prepare and only about 12 minutes to cook. Perfect for hungry guests or ..ahem...you and your boyfriend to scarf down. 

recipe shamelessly stolen from Smitten Kitchen. That girl knows how to do it. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold, unsalted butter
1 cup (about 130 grams) chopped very ripe strawberries (I quarter small or medium ones and further chop larger ones)
1 cup heavy cream

A couple of notes about the ingredients. I have no idea what aluminum free baking powder is but the crappy no name stuff thats been in my fridge for approximately a year tasted fine. also, if your using kosher salt, which I was, I was light with the measurement. I find kosher salt has a much stronger taste then table salt. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Add butter, either by cutting it in with two knives or a pastry blender (alternatively, you can freeze the butter and grate it in on the large holes of a box grater) cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. (I like to use a rubber spatula to gently lift and turn the ingredients over each other.) When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. Do not worry about getting the dough evenly mixed. It’s far more important that the dough is not overworked.

Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or top edge of a drinking glass, pressing straight down and not twisting (this makes for nice layered edges) as you cut. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.

You can re-roll the scraps of dough, but don’t freak out over how wet the dough becomes as the strawberries have had more time to release their juice. They’ll still bake up wonderfully.

Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.