Basic Scones

Check out my new favorite cooking blog: http://www.ourbestbites.com/.  I have been visiting this blog more than once daily for the past couple of months and have tried many (MANY) recipes.  Most of them have been total winners.  I'm sure that there has been something we didn't like, but I can't think of anything right now. 
Today, I made the recipe for Basic Baked Scones.  I guess a LITTLE back story is appropriate here.  I LOVE scones.  I fell in love with the scone the first time I tried one, which was when I was about 25 years old at an afternoon tea held in celebration of my best friend's upcoming wedding.  Since then, whenever I've found a scone, I've tried it.  I enjoy the cranberry orange scones I get at the Publix bakery.  I've had scones at Disney World.  I bought a packaged scone mix from Harry and David's and tried that.  All good.  I looked up a scone recipe and bought the supplies to make them, but the directions were so complicated that I didn't have the heart to try.  Then the buttermilk I had to buy for the recipe went bad, and that was the end of my desire to make scones.
Then, I stumbled on the our best bites website.  Those girls are incredible.  I have browsed through the recipe index so often that I know the repertoire of recipes almost by heart.  When I found the scone recipe, I was intrigued but cowardly.  Then, just last night, I decided that today I would give them a try.  I have a rare weekday off and knew we could run to McD's if I totally failed. 

I didn't.

As soon as the dough came together, before I even patted it into a circle, sprinkled with sugar, or cut into wedges, I smelled it.  I love the smell of dough, and wanted to see what this one was like.  It smelled scone-y!  I was elated by the intoxicating scent of what was created by the purposeful mixture of ingredients in certain proportion.  The ingredients are not unlike what I would put in the bread I make about every other morning, but the smell is so different!  (Of course, I do use yeast in the normal morning bread batch.  Obviously, the smell would be different -- not yeasty -- but it was so very different than what I expected.) And I didn't have to purchase any special ingredients.  All the ingredients are staples in any well-stocked (or even moderately-stocked) pantry.  I am THRILLED with the results and can't wait to make them again.  I'm making some for my husband's work crew soon.  They will think I am a goddess; they already think I'm a bread-baking fairy.
I hope to figure out how to upload pictures from my iphone to this new blog so you can see the beauty that is the scone.  (I did upload the picture to my other blog: http://www.wannabecheapskate.blogspot.com/) In the meantime, here's the approximate cost breakdown:

1/3 c. real butter -- $.66 (Why is butter so darned expensive these days?  I need to check the price at Sam's again, and see if we can't get a better deal.  It's almost $4 a pound at Publix! Walmart might be better, but I just refuse to shop there unless desperate.  Who's with me?)
1 3/4 c. flour (I used bread flour.) -- $.78
3 T sugar -- $.02
2 1/2 t baking powder -- $.04 (estimation)
1/4 t salt -- $.01 (estimation; I used pink Himalayan sea salt that I received as a gift, so it didn't cost me anything.)
1 beaten egg -- $.14
6 T milk -- $.06

Total cost for the batch of 8 scones: $1.71
Cost per scone: $.22

Considering that I happily pay $1.75 for ONE scone at Publix, I think this clearly qualifies as a cheapskate meal!  I should note that, while I coupon almost obsessively, I am using non-coupon prices here.  These are all basic ingredients that I have a hard time finding coupons for.  Sometimes butter goes on sale at Publix; I think it needs to do so again so I can stock up!  I go through enough flour (about 5 lb. a week) that I wish I could buy it in a not-quite-bulk size.  I bought the giant industrial sized bag from Sam's last year and still have some of it, but I don't get good results anymore when I use it.  I think I just need to pitch it.  Anyway, all that was to say that the cost might be significantly less when using coupons!
We ate them plain and loved it.  The girls at http://www.ourbestbites.com/ say to serve right out of the oven with butter and jam, lemon curd, or honey-butter; but I really liked them plain. 
On my next shopping trip, I will price dried cranberries and orange to see if I can come up with a Publix-like version.  (I really do love those overpriced cranberry orange scones from the bakery.)
Thanks for reading my first post on this new blog endeavor.  Check out my other blog, which I don't update nearly as much as I should. For more info about me and my family, see our family blog: http://www.fltupua.blogspot.com/.