Recipe: Lemon Scones

I can't believe I'd never made scones before! They're so easy and fast. I adapted this recipe from one for plain scones I found on allrecipes.com. I also plugged my version into my nutrition app, and can report that one scone (one-eighth of the recipe) is 274 calories and has about 15 grams of fat…but luckily they're as delicious as they are unhealthful.

Not a suggested serving size! Is teh fattehz!!

You'll need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, frozen
zest from 1 lemon
½ cup sour cream
1 egg
juice from ½ lemon

1. Preheat oven to 375° and move the rack to the lower middle position.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and stir. Grate frozen butter into the mixture with a box grater, using the largest holes. Grate lemon zest into the mixture using the grater's smallest holes, and blend using your hands, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together sour cream, egg, and lemon juice.

4. With a fork, stir the liquid mixture into dry mixture until large clumps form. With your hands, knead dough until there's no extra floury stuff at the bottom of the bowl.

5. You have a couple options, now. To use all the dough at once, make a big ball, flour it lightly, and flatten to a 7–8-inch circle, about ¾-inch thick. Or, divide the dough in half, freezing one portion and flouring and pressing the other half into a smaller, 4-inch round, still ¾-inch thick. Divide the dough into wedges with a knife; 8 wedges if you're using all the dough, 4 if you're using half.

6. Place dough wedges on a cookie sheet. You can line the sheet with parchment if you like, but don't use waxed paper like I did, or your oven will fill with smoke. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool before serving. They're best enjoyed the same day they're baked.