Last week’s post with the recipe for Maple Oatmeal Scones received oodles of positive feedback. So this week I’m posting my basic scone recipe which is tasty just the way it is. But, you can also embellish the recipe to create all sorts of variations. A few of my favs are listed below the basic recipe.

Basic Scones

1 3/4 cups flour                                                        2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder                             1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons softened butter                               1 egg, beaten

4 - 5 tablespoons half & half or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add egg and just enough 1/2 & 1/2 or buttermilk for the dough to form a ball. (Less liquid is better than more.) Shape dough into a circle about 1 inch thick on a greased cookie sheet. Cut circle into 12 wedges. Pull every other wedge a few inches out of the circle. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Lemon Scones: Add two teaspoons lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, cutting down other liquid accordingly. (Lemon scones are pictured above.)

Blueberry Scones: Add 1/4 cup dried blueberries to dry ingredients before adding the egg.

Cranberry-Orange Scones: Add 1/4 cup dried cranberries and 2 teaspoons orange zest before adding egg. You could also add a little orange juice.

If you’ve developed other ways to dress ‘em up, please leave a comment.