Blackberry Cream Cheese Scones

A long time ago, during my past life in a land called Santa Cruz, California there used to be a fabulous pastry shop called Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins on Front St.  Rebecca and her crew baked up some of the tastiest organic, homey, completely over-the-top muffins known to the human race.  Personal favorites included her California Glory and Zucchini Millet–but by far, my favorite pastry to accompany a double latte and the Sunday SF Chronicle, was her Blackberry Cream Cheese Scone.

This delectable crisp-on-the-outside, tender-and-crumbly on the inside piece of pastry perfection has haunted me since I first bit into one at the tender age of 19.  At the age of 28, on the day before I moved from Santa Cruz for good, I screwed up my courage, marched into Rebecca’s, and using all my powers of persuasion, tried to convince the cute counter boy to get me the recipe.  I was politely, but resolutely, denied.

Ten years later I am still trying to re-create that scone.  The following recipe, though not as delectable as Rebecca’s, is still pretty darn good–at least good enough to grace the pastry case at my own bakery here on the island; and, I’m proud to say, have attracted their own passionate followers.

Black Dinah Cafe Blackberry Cream Cheese Scones

Ingredients:

• 1/2-3/4 c. buttermilk
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 c. flour
• 4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 8 T. cold, unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 oz. frozen cream cheese
• 1 c. frozen blackberries

Method:

Heat your oven to 400°.

Whisk together buttermilk and egg and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  On the large holes of a hand grater, grate cold butter into dry ingredients, tossing the flakes into the flour mixture with your hands as you go.  Pour in the sugar, and with cold hands, quickly rub the sugar into the flour/butter mixture.  Don’t over do it–leave some nice fat flakes of butter in there.

Next, cut the frozen cream cheese into rough 1/4-inch chunks, and toss them into the dry ingredients.  Same deal with the blackberries.

Pour in the buttermilk/yolk mixture and mix very quickly with a rubber spatula.  Tumble all this stuff onto an unfloured board (or a nice cool granite counter if you have one) and gently and quickly knead together using a bench scraper.

Pat this gorgeous purple-bejeweled dough into a rough disc, about 7 inches in diameter.  With a very sharp knife, cut the disc into 8 triangles and place on two cookie sheets, 4 to a sheet.  Space them out, so they have plenty of room to crisp up, unencumbered by the releasing moisture of its neighbor.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets once, about halfway through the bake time.

Remove the scones from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack.  Allow to cool until you can’t stand it anymore, and then dive in.