Strawberries, Strawberry Scones And Summer With Miss Read

Isn't that a wonderful strawberry collage? It is from Beth Style Book. Love her work...
I love strawberries, and they are on our menu as much as possible this time of year... from atop the breakfast oatmeal, on french toast, in salads, or on the tea table.
I have strawberry scones for tea today...actually had it all ready last week, but...good thing I had photographed it already as the goodies are all gone!

As I was deciding what to use for this tea, I got to a Shelley tea set I have and decided to use it, because I love the aqua and white of the Drifting Leaves pattern...

This set is in the Gainsborough shape and so the teapot is very curvy...

which I love!

The pattern was a true mid century design with it's stylized leaves a "snow crystals? and was only made from 1956 to 1966 when the pottery closed. The pattern number is number 13848.

The teacups are so sweet...I love the Gainsborough shape...actually one of my favorites!

 The mark again...the set was made late enough in Shelley's history that the pieces are always marked with the pattern name.

Many earlier china only had numbers, not marks, and then they became more consistent with marking with the name.

I am using another of my embroidered tea cloths...this has multicolored Daisies. It has a few stains, so I have a project next week to see if I can get those out. I recently found a forgotten box of linens in the back of the closet I brought home from an England trip just before a move that I had completely forgotten about! Just like Christmas!

I also have luncheon plates in the Drifting Leaves pattern, and a creamer and sugar basin and a cake plateau which I forgot to get out, although I remembered the sandwich tray!....

And a rectangular sandwich tray...those are really hard to find... on the tray are the fresh Strawberry Scones I made...the recipe is below...

And a perfect book to read for tea time...

Summer At Fairacre by Miss Read.

I have collected the entire series of her books. The series features school teachers in small Cotswolds villages of Fairacre, Thrush Green, Caxley and surrounding areas and cover from the late Victorian to the 1970s in various books. They are wonderful! I was first given one by my new sister-in-law after marrying my husband in 1974 and visiting his family in England, and was instantly hooked.

I think I have all Miss Read books...and regularly re-read them, whether seasonally... like this one for summer, or just by what appeals... The stories are so charming!

But back to strawberries!

We get 2 kinds of organic strawberries here...the larger American variety seen at the top of the blog...perfect sliced for pies or dipped in chocolate...and the smaller English variety seen in the photo above, with a different and more intense strawberry flavor that we love. They are the straberries I used in this recipe, although both are good!

The Strawberry Shortcake Scones recipe I used is from the blog BellyFull at

http://bellyfull.net

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE SCONES

PREP TIME

20 minutes

COOK TIME

18 minutes

TOTAL TIME

38 minutes

Tender flaky scones with fresh strawberries throughout and a dreamy glaze!

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 12 small strawberries, hulled and diced
• 3/4 cup half and half

For the glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender (or your hands) until mixture resembles crumbs.
3. Toss in strawberries and coat lightly with the flour mixture. Add half and half and fold together gently until the mixture just begins to come together and form a soft dough. (Do not knead or over mix the dough.)
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 1-inch thick rectangle. With a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into 6 squares, then cut the squares on the diagonal to form 12 triangles. Place scones on prepared baking sheet and bake 16-18 minutes or until cooked through and golden.
5. Place a sheet of parchment on a work surface, then place a cooling rack over top of parchment. Remove scones from pan to cooling rack. Cool about 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, make glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, vanilla, and half and half until smooth. (If glaze is too thick, add a bit more cream. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar.)
7. Generously drizzle scones with the glaze. (Glaze will firm up when scones are completely cool.) Eat and enjoy!

There you go! They didn't last around here! Moist and tender...delicious!

Thanks so much for dropping by!