Strawberry Scones with Lemon Curd

It's been a few weeks since I made one of the gazillion recipes that I've been pinning on Pinterest.

Eenie-meanie-miney-moe...........for today's recipe I picked Strawberry Lemonade Scones by Munchkin Munchies.

The recipe says to drizzle them with prepared lemon curd.  I know, you're just. like. me.  You're thinking, "why used prepared lemon curd when I can make my own?"

I'm so glad that we think alike!

Make the lemon curd the day before you make the scones.  It's not difficult at all to make, but you need to give it time to chill before you use it, and chill time takes at least an hour.

Unless you like to get up at an ungodly hour so you can make your homemade lemon curd and give it an hour to chill and then make your homemade scones in time for breakfast.  In which case, we don't think alike at all.

Today's Playlist

"Troublemaker".......Weezer

"Teenagers".........My Chemical Romance

"Somebody Told Me"........The Killers

"Lump"........The Presidents Of The United States Of America

"Knock-Down Drag-Out"........Weezer

"She".........Green Day

"Sheena Is A Punk Rocker".........The Ramones

"Your Surrender".......Neon Trees

"Kick Drum Heart".........The Avett Brothers

Lemon Curd

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Gather your ingredients.

Gotta love a recipe that only has four ingredients.

Zest one of the lemons.

Then juice the lemons until you have 1/2 cup.

Cut the butter into small pieces.  Imagine you are looking at the picture of butter pieces that I forgot to take.

In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, zest,

sugar (1/2 cup),

and eggs (3 eggs plus 1 yolk) over medium to medium-low heat.

Keep an eye on it, stirring to keep it smooth and prevent it from getting chunky.

As soon as it starts to simmer, add the butter, whisking constantly.

After about 5 minutes, the mixture will thicken.  You will know when it's done when it coats the back of a spoon.

Don't worry if you see tiny little lumps.......

because you are going to banish them by straining them.

Place a small mesh strainer over the container you are going to store your lemon curd in.

Pour the lemon curd into the strainer.

I stir it around to help it find its way through the strainer.

And all the gunk gets left behind.

The good stuff is now sitting in your container.  Cover it and refrigerate it for at least an hour before using it.

Strawberry Lemonade Scones (adapted from Munchkin Munchies)

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into cubes
• 1 cup diced strawberries
• 1/2 cup dried strawberries
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

extra cream for brushing

sanding sugar

prepared lemon curd for topping

Gather your ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, place your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Whisk to combine, and set aside.

Chop your strawberries.

Chop your dried berries.  I'm using a mixture of berries and cherries.  It's what I had on hand.

Zest your lemon.

Chop your cold butter into pieces.

Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.  You can use a pastry blender, or use two sharp knives using the criss-cross method.  I have never been able to get the hang of a pastry blender, I always end up with a gunky mess.  I'm a two-knives criss-cross kind of a girl.

Add the zest and all of the berries (fresh and dried) to the coarse-crumb flour mixture.

Stir to combine.   Make a well in the center of the mixture.

In a small bowl, add the 1/2 cup of cream to your two beaten eggs.

Whisk to combine.

Pour the egg/cream mixture into the center of the well you made in your flour mixture.

 Gently stir until moistened.

 Place the dough onto a well-floured surface.

Gently knead the dough by folding and pressing it about 7 times, turning the dough a quarter turn after each fold.  That is what the Munchkin Munchies recipe said.  Seven times.  Not six.  Not eight.

 Here is my dough after 7 folds and presses.  It is perfect!  Seven is the magic number.

Move the dough onto a lightly-floured parchment-lined baking sheet.

Pat the dough into a thick circle.  The Munchkin Munchies recipe said to make the circle about 3/4" thick, but I left mine about 1 inch thick.

 Cut the circle into wedges, and separate the wedges slightly so that they are not touching and have room to expand.

 Lightly brush the tops of the wedges with cream.

Then sprinkle with the sanding sugar.

Bake in your preheated 400-degree oven for 16 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

They will puff up nicely when you cook them.  Remove them to a wire rack to cool.

 Drizzle with the lemon curd.    This is the picture of the scone that I drizzled nicely so that I could take a picture.  Then I decided to eat half of it.

It was so, so good...........the scone was perfect but the lemon curd was beyond perfect so after the first bite I did this:

To heck with the dainty drizzle, I put a big ol' spoonful of that lemon curd onto that scone half.  I suggest you do the same.

Enjoy!