Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) (26 page)

CINNAMON RAISIN SCONES

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

3 cups all-purpose flour
(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

cup brown sugar
(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

2 teaspoons cream of tartar
(important)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and ½ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup salted butter
(1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)

 

2 large eggs, beaten
(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

1 cup vanilla yogurt
(8 ounces by weight)

1 cup raisins
(I used golden raisins)

½ cup whole milk

 

Use a medium-size mixing bowl to combine the flour, brown sugar, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir them all up together. Cut in the salted butter just as you would for piecrust dough.

 

Hannah’s Note: If you have a food processor, you can use it for the first step. Cut the half-cup COLD salted butter into 8 chunks. Layer them with the dry ingredients in the bowl of the food processor. Process with the steel blade
in an on and off motion until the mixture has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl.

 

Stir in the beaten eggs and the vanilla yogurt. Then add the raisins and mix everything up together.

 

Add the milk and stir until everything is combined.

 

Drop the scones by soup spoonfuls onto two cookie sheets sprayed with Pam or another nonstick baking spray. Alternatively, you can line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide your dough so that there are 9 scones for each cookie sheet.

 

If you have two ovens, you will bake one sheet in the upper oven and one in the lower oven. If you have only one oven, it will probably have 4 racks inside. Bake your scones on the two middle racks, switching their positions halfway through the baking time.

 

Once the scones are on the cookie sheets, wet your impeccably clean fingers and shape them into more perfect rounds. Then flatten them with your moistened palms. They will rise during baking, but once you flatten them, they won’t be too round on top.

 

Bake the scones at 425 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on top.
(Mine took the full 12 minutes.)

 

Cool the scones for at least five minutes on the cookie sheet, and then remove them to a wire rack with a metal spatula.
(If you used parchment paper, all you have to do is position the cookie sheet next to the wire rack and pull the paper over to the rack.)

 

When the scones are cool, you can cut them in half lengthwise and toast them for breakfast.

 

Yield: Makes 18 delicious scones.