Sunday Servings: Strawberries and Cream Scones

Baking is an act of generosity. It is love and kindness and sorrow and hope baked into a loaf of generosity. Sunday Servings is an attempt to spread the generosity a little further by sharing stories and recipes. If you would like to share your own story or recipe, please do so in the comments section or tweet ideas to @AmandaEPeterson.

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My favorite store bought scones come from Dogtooth Coffee Company just north of downtown Colorado Springs and very close to my old basement apartment on Wood Avenue.

Some of my best memories of living in Colorado take place in the autumny brisk air on the walk from my apartment to Dogtooth--the trees dressed in splendor of reds and oranges and yellows and the faint smell of coffee roast growing ever stronger as I draw nearer.

A bottomless cup of coffee and a warm buttery scone baked fresh that morning.

It was the perfect place for a little writing, reading or catching up with a friend.

Photo credit ColoradoConnection.com

I've thought a lot this week about Dogtooth and my other favorite Colorado Springs hangouts--Jack Quinn's and Kimball's and the Manitou Incline and Poor Richard's and Garden of the Gods and Phantom Canyon and my quirky basement apartment with it's iron 1909 water pipes you had to duck under to avoid a nasty headache and it's hobbit-height doorknobs. I've thought of these places as I've scrolled through pictures on Facebook and tweets for aid and prayer. I've thought of these places as I've watched a different kind of splendor of reds and oranges and yellows light up the mountains against the night sky on tiny screens that simply don't do justice to what my friends have seen firsthand. I've thought of these places and prayed for Colorado Springs and the Waldo Canyon Fire.

Working a community outreach event this weekend, I wanted to bake a special treat for all of us who were giving up our Saturday to be there and to do a little PR for child abuse prevention and our organization. I came across these scones a few weeks ago on Smitten Kitchen (if you are a foody, Smitten Kitchen is a must read), and I had been waiting for the right opportunity to try them out.

Biting into one, hot out of the oven, I was for a moment back at Dogtooth and in the quiet and hope and healing Colorado had been for me. I was wrapped in the smell of fresh brewing coffee and ever so chilled by the fresh autumn breeze. I was with my friends around a small table sharing stories and life and good things.

Colorado Springs and the lives of my friends there have been set aglow in the shadow of a fiery mountain this week and the road to recovery will be long and painful.

It's been wonderful to see a glimpse of the community coming together to care for the evacuated and the now homeless and those whose lives have been forever changed. An amazing testimony to community and neighborliness and kindheartedness. And I'm thankful I once called a community like that home.

Colorado Springs, my friends there and everyone you love--you are in my heart and my prayers as you now begin to pick up the charred pieces and find healing and hope.

Strawberries and Cream Scones

Check out the original recipe on
Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp cold, unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped, very ripe strawberries*
• 1 cup heavy cream 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with knives or a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny chunks of butter. Gently stir in strawberries, so that they are coated in the dry ingredients, then stir in heavy cream. When mixed, knead once or twice in bowl to create one lump of dough. Do not overwork.
3. Generously flour counter. Transfer dough to counter, generously flour the top and with hands or rolling pin, gently press or roll dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or top edge of a drinking glass, pressing straight down as you cut (do not twist). Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each. Re-roll scraps of dough, cut and transfer. Dough will be more wet as strawberries have released more of their juice.
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:

*Hand picked berries or those from a farmer's market will melt better than those from a supermarket as they are more fragile.