Tuesday, September 20, 2011

White Chocolate-Sour Cream Blueberry Scones

These scones come together quickly if you have a food processor. If you don’t have one, go ahead and make the scones by mixing together the dry ingredients , cutting in the butter, then adding the liquid ingredients. I loved the flavor and texture of these scones—as well as the potential they hold for variations. Next time I’m going to try using dark chocolate and raspberries instead of the white chocolate and blueberries.


White Chocolate-Sour Cream Blueberry Scones

Scones:

3 cups (13 ½ ounces) all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 ¾ ounces) sliced or slivered almonds, blanched or unblanched
3 tablespoons (1 ¼ ounces) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher or fine-grained sea salt
4 ounces (8 tablespoons, 1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped into small chunks
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup (5 ounces) fresh or fresh-frozen blueberries

Garnish:

1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon Demerara or turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Briefly pulse together the flour, almonds, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the mixture. Pulse until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces, about 30 seconds. The texture should be sandy with very tiny lumps throughout. Add the white chocolate chunks and pulse a few times to mix.

Using a fork, lightly beat the sour cream and egg together in a small bowl. Add this mixture to the food processor along with the blueberries and process until the dough forms itself into a ball, about 30 seconds.

Dust a large piece of waxed or parchment paper with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Pat the dough into a round or rectangle about 1 inch high. Use a 2 ½-inch round plain-edge cutter dipped n flour to cut out the scones. Cut straight down without twisting, which seals the edges and keeps the scones from rising. Transfer the scones to the baking sheets, leaving at least an inch of space between them so they have room to expand as they bake.

For the garnish, use a pastry brush to coat the top of each scone with cream, taking care that it doesn’t run down the sides and under the scones. If it does, wipe it up because it can cause the bottom of the scones to burn. Lightly sprinkle the top of each scone with Demerara sugar.

Bake the scones for about 15 to 18 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking time, until scones are light golden.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and transfer scones to racks to cool.

Serve the scones warm or at room temperature.

Recipe from: Intensely Chocolate (by Carole Bloom)

No comments:

Post a Comment