I'm not really a scones kinda girl, but this recipe surprised me with it's goodness. I liked making it because you have to make it gently and with love. Otherwise it doesn't turn out.

The key to this recipe is to be very GENTLE. You don't want the strawberries bleeding and making your scones pink. (Which I suppose could be cute.) So make sure you fold the chopped berries in softly, and with love.

With a cup of coffee and fresh out of the oven, these are really good and not too sweet. One last thing....try to use the freshest ingredients as you can. I use fresh Maui eggs, local strawberries and basil from my garden. It really does make a difference. Enjoy!

(Miss Leah, I'm posting this for you.)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into chunks

3/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries

2 tbsp snipped basil

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/2 cup whole milk (you can use half & half if you feel like it.)

Sugar for dusting (Raw sugar looks good)

Whole milk for basting

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl stir together the flour, the 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently toss in fresh and freeze-dried strawberries and basil. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

In a medium bowl stir together eggs and the half-and-half. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Using a large spoon, gently stir just until moistened.

Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it 5 to 7 times, turning dough a quarter turn after each fold. Transfer to a lightly floured parchment-lined baking sheet. (I didn't have parchment-lined baking sheets so I just heavily floured a cookie sheet.) Pat or lightly roll dough into a 3/4-inch-thick circle. Cut circle into wedges. I like to cut them even smaller than I did in the photo. Also, a larger granule of raw sugar would be more effective for the dusting to give it some texture.

More recipes on their way....