One of my guilty pleasures is a traditional English tea.  We used to live within walking distance of the Penninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills which (in my opinion) had the best tea in the city.  I used to take my girls on their birthdays for a special treat and I also remember celebrating my one of my birthdays there with some friends.  When we were in London with the kids two years ago, I could have cared less about any meal other than tea.  I really indulged that week and I enjoyed every glutinous (and gluttonous) crumb.  I love every aspect of a proper tea, from the tea itself to the sandwiches to the scones and clotted cream.  Lucky for me, by the time the small desserts are served, I am usually too stuffed to bother.

My girls always lit up when the scones were served.  And so did I.  I would take a scone over a muffin any day.  Scones are a low-sugar (but high-flour) biscuit, basically.  They are are supposed to be light and tender and not too sweet since they are served with fruit preserves.  What’s funny is that even though scones feel light, they are anything but.  Most scone recipes call for lots of butter and heavy cream to keep them from being a dry hockey puck!

I like plain scones just as much as ones with currants.  And a warm scone with a cup of tea makes me instantly relax for some reason.  Ironically, even though I love classic scones, I don’t make them that way at home.  I think we have spent enough time together to know that I don’t use white flour unless it’s absolutely necessary.  Same goes for sugar.  So naturally my scones will use whole wheat pastry flour or whole spelt flour instead.  I have a taste for the nuttiness of whole grain flours as well as a preference for lower glycemic and more nutritious foods.  But if you don’t, or you want these to taste more like “regular” scones, feel free to sub an equal amount of white flour.  Or use half whole wheat pastry and half white flour.

To further deviate from traditional scones, this recipe includes fresh strawberries and on occasion dark chocolate chunks.  Gasp!  I started testing this recipe with freeze-dried and regular dried strawberries and the scones were amazing.  And then I realized how much money I was spending on bags of dried strawberries and I thought it was a little silly to make such expensive scones.  So I turned to fresh strawberries which are actually a little tricky to work with because they’re a tad wet.  So the scone recipe can actually support 1 1/2 cups of stuff, but not 1 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries.  You can do 1 cup of fresh strawberries + 1/2 cup dried.  Or 1 cup fresh strawberries + 1/2 cup fresh blueberries.  Or you can take this recipe and turn it into blueberries scones, using 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries.

Well, it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday and I’m just saying that moms like a little attention.  They like to feel appreciated.  To wake up on Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed is a very nice way to start the day, especially if the breakfast-makers clean up after themselves in the kitchen, too.  (This is very important!)  These scones would be a good idea.  If you don’t have time to make scones on Sunday morning, why not make them today and freeze them today?  Pull them out of the freezer the night before and warm them in the oven the next morning.  One of these scones with a hot cup of tea and a little love from my kiddos, who would also abstain from bickering the whole day, is my dream morning.  Hint, hint.

GLUTEN-FREE STRAWBERRY SCONES

adapted from King Arthur

makes 8 scones

1 ¾ cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour or 2 1/4 cups brown rice flour blend

¼ cup maple sugar or cane sugar

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter or cold coconut oil

¾ cup diced fresh strawberries

2 large eggs

1/3 cup cold milk or almond milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

optional add-ins: ¼ cup fresh blueberries or dark chocolate chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt.
3. Grate the butter into the bowl with a hand grater.  Use the paper wrapping to hold the butter.  Or cut the butter into pieces and working with a few pieces at a time.  Scoop some flour and butter mixture into your hands.  Squeeze butter with your fingertips pressing your thumbs across your fingers to flatten the butter into petal shapes.  Repeat until all butter is flattened and coated with flour mixture.
4. Add strawberries (plus blueberries and/or chocolate if using) to flour/butter mixture and combine.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Slowly add milk mixture to flour/butter mixture, stirring to combine, just until mixture begins to form clumps.  The dough should be cohesive, but very sticky.
6. Drop the dough by the 1/3-cupful onto the prepared pan.  Let rest for 15 minutes.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes,  until golden brown.