Cran Strawberry Streusel Scones

It's the perfect time of year to add abundant amounts of fresh strawberries into any meal, from desserts to fresh tossed salads.  It's the season for harvesting berries, which means you can get them more affordably, and enjoy them without breaking the bank.  This also means that I go absolutely bat shit crazy when I find the big flats of them on the cheap and I load up like they're going out of style.  Because of this, I always end up with more berries than I can eat before they start  to lose their life and begin to droop.  But I hate to let anything in my kitchen go to waste, so thankfully baked goods are the perfect platform for using up extra berries that would otherwise go bad and be tossed out, or in my case, fed to the chickens.  Which still isn't really considered waste since anything I feed those beeyotches turns into eggs for us!  Hooray, beeyotches, and thanks again!

Many times when I'm putting together a recipe on the fly, it starts out with me trying to put items I have in my kitchen to good use that have been forgotten or are going to spoil soon.  This was the case with my lonesome bag of cranberries and poor, sagging strawberries that sat in the fridge, reminiscing of their younger, perkier days. (I feel you, dear berries, I feel you)  So once I decided on throwing my cranberries and strawberries a "last of your life scone party", I started pulling out all of the ingredients.  And let me tell you, once you have a good base recipe for a scone, you can pretty much throw in any ingredients to create unique and delicious pastries that make you feel like friggin' Martha Stewart, only hotter and with a more colorful vocabulary, like yours truly.  ;oP  Ok, so let's start with the scone ingredients:

Cran Strawberry Streusel Scones (Print Recipe)


Ingredients

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 1/3 cup granulated white sugar

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into hunks

- 1/2 pint fresh strawberries, roughly chopped

- 1/2 cup dried cranberries

- 1 large egg, lightly beaten

- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half, or milk)

Streusel Topping

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup all purpose flour

- 1/4 cup rolled oats

- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

- 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, thanking the Lord for it's existence and all of the wonderful ways it helps you out in the kitchen.  Next, in a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the streusel mixture and work together with a pastry blender... or two forks, or a food processor, or hell, even your hands.  Whatever method works for you that will result in the mixture resembling coarse crumbs. I can't say enough, though, that if you don't have a pastry blender you should go out immediately and buy one.  Seriously.  It's about ten bucks at most, and worth every penny.  You should see my mad pastry blender skills.  You would be highly impressed and never know that at one time I didn't think it was an important kitchen tool and struggled with my pastry ingredient crumbling method like a drunken caveman with ten thumbs.  Pastry blender.  Buy one. You're welcome.

Set the streusel mixture to the side and begin putting together your scone mixture.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and work into the flour mixture with the almighty pastry blender. This mixture should also resemble coarse crumbs.Gently fold the chopped up strawberries and cranberries into the scone mixture and stir until just combined.  You don't want to overmix the scone dough at all, as the more you mess with it the tougher it becomes.  

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 4 or 5 times until the dough has just come together and then pat it into either a circle or rectangle that is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the scones into even triangles and then brush the top of the dough with a light coat of the heavy cream. Don't be stingy.  It's a sin to be stingy with heavy cream.  Truth!  After the dough has been moistened, coat the entire top surface with the streusel mixture and pat down lightly to help it stick. Then, carefully lift each scone and place it on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Make sure the scones aren't touching.  They expand a bit, but not anything ginormous, so just give them an inch or two between one another to puff up.

  

Bake the scones until nicely browned, between 16-22 minutes.  You want your scones to have a bit of delicious crispiness but you don't want them crunchy.  Unless you're the crazy crunchy loving type, but myself personally?  I like a bit of crisp with soft and crumbly on the inside, and this recipe will give you just that.  You will know that your scones are done once a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  After you take them out of the oven you can transfer them to a wire rack to cool, or be like me and shove one in your face immediately because you're impatient and must savor some of the deliciousness asap, even if the soft, melty strawberries do burn the sheeyit out of your tongue, because they're just THAT good.  They really are. So I'd say it's better to give this recipe a try sooner than later.  You won't regret it.