Herb Scones
By: Anonymous
Published: Monday, January 4, 2010 - 6:32am

Ingredients




2/3 cup Flour Unbleached
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
Salt To Taste
4 tablespoons Butter (½ Stick)
3/4 cup Milk
1 teaspoon dried herbs or 2 tsp fresh herbs

Preparation

1 Herb Scones - Add 1 teaspoon dried herbs, or 2 teaspoons (or more) chopped fresh herbs, to the basic dough before rolling out. (We usually use dried minced onion - 2 Tablespoons, and dried parsley - 1 to 2 Tablespoons ). The author suggests: "tarragon is good with a chicken-based dish; basil or oregano are sublime with tomatoes; chopped cilantro and red pepper make a spirited addition to soups of Asian or southwestern origin. For a truly intense herb scone, add 1/3 to 1/2 Cup pesto sauce to the dough along with the milk, keeping in mind that extra flour will be needed on the board to compensate for the extra liquid." 2 Preheat oven to 450F. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside. Sift together the flour, soda, cream of tartar and salt. Using a pastry blender or your hands, cut in the butter (or pulse in a food processor) until the mixture looks like coarse, grainy crumbs. 3 Pour the milk in a well in the center and mix until a soft elastic dough is formed. Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface until smooth. Roll or press the dough out until it is 3/4 inch thick. (If the dough is too thin the scone won't rise properly.) 4 Cut into 2 1/2 or 3-inch rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass and bake on prepared sheet for about 10 minutes or until they rise and are golden. 5 The book lists the yield as 8 scones, I usually get 10 or 12 using the full 3 cups of flour. 6 To make parsley and onion scones add about 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion and 1 or 2 Tablespoons dried parsley flakes with the dry ingredients. These amounts are VERY approximate, I used to measure but now I just dump in the onion flakes and parsley until it looks "right". 7 There are other variations listed in the with the recipe, if there is an interest I can post the variations listed for things like honey, jam, fruit etc.