mmmmm....Gibbs......

When we were growing up, my mom would go through stages of food and we would eat a specific food type or group for weeks on end. One of those that happened when we were living in sunny California was bread. All different kinds of bread, including homemade pita and one that I fell in love with, scones. Like a biscuit, but richer and sweeter, I just couldn't get enough of them. Anyway, when I decided to make strawberry shortcake the other day I really wasn't looking forward to the hohum biscuit cake that is usually the base for this dessert. That's when I remembered scones. Oh yeah, that dog'll hunt.

Strawberry Shortcake
6 scones, warm or room temperature
2 lbs strawberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Marsala or other fortified wine (optional)
2 cups heavy cream
powdered sugar, to taste

Hull and slice the strawberries. Mix them together in a bowl with the granulated sugar and Marsala (if using). Allow to macerate for at least an hour. Whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar to taste. Split the scones in half, slather bottom half with whipped cream and spoon over strawberries with juice. Top with the other half of the scone. Enjoy.


About those scones my mother use to make, I never did write down the recipe for them. And then I received as a gift Biscuits and Scones by Elizabeth Alston. The book has a plethora of amazingly delicious recipes that I've made...and it has a recipe for ordinary scones that taste exactly like the ones my mother use to make. Divine.


Simple Sweet Scones (Biscuits and Scones, Elizabeth Alston)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut up
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg white
sugar

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Put flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir to mix well. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers, until mixture looks like fine granules. Add sugar; toss to mix. Add milk and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms. Form dough into a ball, put onto a lightly floured board and give 10 to 12 kneads. Pat dough into a round 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick. Cut round into 6 or 8 wedges. Place wedges on baking sheet lined with parchment. Beat egg white until frothy and brush over tops of wedges. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 12 minutes or until medium brown on top.

To make smaller scones cut dough ball in half and pat each half into a round about an inch thick, then cut into wedges.

The scones you see in the picture were made from a recipe and a half of the dough. I usually spread them liberally with butter and homemade jam and that means they need to hold up. My mother makes the best jams and jellies I've ever had, a teaspoon or two just isn't enough.

Oh, and sorry for the post title, I was watching NCIS while I wrote this. Gibbs makes my heart pitter-patter.