Dried Wild Blueberry Scones with a Mustard and Chef!

Mustard and Chef!, a photo by French Tart on Flickr.

A clue as to what I am planning on using in the Kitchen today! Good old Colman’s of Norwich! More recipe news on this later………

Friday 1st July ~ 2011 ~ Canada Day

Vendredi 1 Juillet ~ Sacre Coeur

Another bright and sunny day in the Charente Maritime – I have already been down to the bottom of my garden and have picked a handful of late berries. Most of my blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants have already fruited, and there are just a few of them left to collect on a daily basis now. The raspberries are just coming in and my strawberries are also starting to fruit. Oh I DO love a good Berry Day! More news on what I will make with these little beauties later.

Summer Berries ~ My early morning booty!

I also picked a few goosegobs ~ that’s goosberries! They are the pink variety and are one of my favourite fruits ~ I do have some green ones already tucked away in the freezer, so I feel a Gooseberry Fool coming on, perfect for a light and foolish ending to a summer lunch.

Foolish Berries ~ Gooseberries

You may have seen my late night hankering for toast! It’s strange how the “Toast Fetish” creeps up late at night; we ate well and I was replete, but visions of toast were definitely dancing in my head last night! With toast in mind, I am thinking of the “jamming” season ahead……………..not the dancing, but the preserving! I need more apricot and strawberry jam, so I will soon be on the hunt for Farmer’s Market bargains ~ large trays of slightly bruised fruit that is always cheap at the end of a hot and dusty day!

Last year’s batch of Strawberry Jam

Whilst I am here, waxing lyrical about jam and jamming, here is a wonderful recipe to share with you:

Recipe:

Dried Wild Blueberry Scones

Faced with what to do with some dried wild blueberries I was sent by a kind Californian friend, I made SCONES – of course!!! This recipe is based on a recipe from 1801 First Inn in California. I used American cups for this recipe.

3 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup dried wild blueberries
egg wash made from one egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 200C/425F.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter butter pieces over the top. Briefly pulse the mixture a number of times until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with small pea size pieces of butter remaining.
Add the buttermilk and the dried blueberries. Pulse the mixture again until the dough just starts to come together. Transfer to a lightly floured counter. Gather together into two equal sized portions. Form each into a disc, about 1 to 1 ½ inches thick. Cut each half into six wedges and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. OR, cut into rounds using a biscuit cutter.
Brush each wedge with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden and the scones just spring back.
Serve warm with butter and assorted jams and confitures.