perfect my scone recipe

Beat together 1 C buttermilk, 1 egg and 2 T sugar.
Sift together 3-1/2 C flour, 2 t baking powder, 1 t baking soda, 1/2 t salt. Add 2/3 of this dry mix to the buttermilk + egg + sugar. Melt 1/2 C of butter and gradually stir it in. The butter won’t completely assimilate – the mixture will be sticky. Add 1/3 C of currants to the remaining dry mixture and stir slightly to mix it in. If you think the dough needs more mixing – knead it a couple times gently. Split the dough into three equal parts. Shape each part into a ball, then flatten so it’s about 1” thick. Cut each ‘disk’ into quarters. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes, until lightly golden. The scones will rise to about double the initial 1” thickness. I’ve made this recipe three times now – hot out of the oven they taste like County Fair scones to me. The dough is pretty forgiving, you can “work” it quite a bit without getting a tough, chewy result. For some reason stirring in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients produces the best texture. I kneaded this last bit of flour in once and the scones were still good, but not as light and fluffy.

and it occurred (quick spellcheck? yep two c’s and two r’s) to me that if I’m so flipping picky about scones I could always bake my own. I’ve taken two tries at this so far. The first batch was too tough, I worked the dough too long. Scones are like pie dough in that if you mess with the dough too much after the wet ingredients are added it gets tough. The second batch was from (I love this) King Arthur’s Orange Currant Scone Mix (from Vermont)(the mix, not King Arthur). You add 1 egg, cream and salt to the mix – they taste very good and the texture is much better. I had trouble getting the dough shaped though. Another benefit to this is saving money – bringing scones and tea from home for my afternoon pick-me-up instead of going out.