I call the scones that I make little jewel boxes. They are full of bite-sized fruits plumped up with orange-zested water. Their colors peek out the sides of the pastry and when cut into, dot the cooked dough with precious gem-like colors.
These scones are delicious. It is a recipe by Martha Stewart from a long time ago. My sister passed it along to me, and like so many other recipes we have passed on to one another, we have adapted it to make it our own.
I start by preparing my fruit additives. I use 1 1/4 cups total of golden raisins, currants, cut-up dried apricots and dried blueberries. I add a touch of orange zest and 1/4 cup warm water. I let them plump while I make the dough.
all purpose flour and cake flour 
remaining ingredients
Whisk 2 cups cake flour and 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour together. Take 1/2 of that and put in a Cuisinart mixer (or whatever you might have). Add 1 stick cold, cut-up unsalted butter to flour in cuisinart. Pulse until largest size of butter is no more than the size of a small pea.
Add 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon coarse salt (I use kosher), to the remaining flour in the bowl (not mixer) and mix together. Then add the flour-butter mixture to the same bowl and with fingertips work the ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Whisk together 1 cup heavy creme and 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (reserve the extra egg white for later).
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
add half of creme mixture and incorporate 
add remaining half and gently mix until just incorporated. don’t overwork.
turn dough out on lightly floured work surface and…
press dough into a 6 x 9 inch rectangle
sprinkle dried fruit mixture on top of dough and press down a little.
With the short side facing you (as pictured), fold rectangles into thirds like you are folding a letter. This can get a little messy as some of the fruit likes to fall out the side. I just press it back in.
first fold 
folded from bottom up, then rotated a quarter turn
Roll out the dough into another 6×9 inch rectangle and fold again in thirds, then rotate again. Pat dough into a rectangle that is 1 1/4 inch thick and using a 2-inch biscuit cutter cut out as many rounds as you can. The recipe says it makes 16. This can vary depending on the size of your cutter. I use a 2-inch and a smaller-sized cutter, and I have even used triangle shaped biscuit cutters. You can gather scraps, reroll, and cut more.
place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper 
whisk the set-aside egg white and brush tops. I add sparkling sugar to the top
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Mine take a little less time. You want them to be golden brown. Take out of the oven and let cool on sheet pan or cooling rack.
Eat the first one warm with butter and your favorite jam. Honey is delicious also! They can also be served at room temp but I always like to warm them in the oven for a few minutes (wrapped loosely in tin foil.)
Enjoy!
#baking #bakingscones #scones #comfortfood #pastry
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