Blueberry Scones + Clotted Cream

Hello world! *waves awkwardly*

WELL. I've been talking about "maybe" making a blog "someday" for months... And I finally did, so this is kiiiinda nerve-racking. Or at least it is for me. I mean, keep in mind that I was an easily frightened child who broke into hysterics the first time I met Mickey Mouse in Disneyland, mmkay?

... I was two, and let's be real, he's totes scary. C'MON. A six-foot mouse? I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about him.

ANYWAY, let's move on to something that's less frightening and loads more delicious. Also, I feel like you're probably laughing at me and I really need to redeem myself.  I present to you my recipe for...

Blueberry Scones!

Recipe adapted from: All-Recipes

3 Cups all-purpose flour
1/3 Cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp of salted butter, frozen and cut into cubes (I know this sounds weird, but trust me. It works better to cube your butter first, then place it in the freezer to firm up)
1/2 Cup blueberries (either fresh or frozen)
1/2 Cup Greek yogurt (I used blueberry flavored)
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and baking soda together. Once it's all combined, dump in your cubes of ice-cold butter. Using your hands, incorporate your butter in until the dough looks like coarse meal. Add in your blueberries, and be careful not to squish them.
3. Add the Greek yogurt and the egg to your dough. Use a fork (and your hands) to gently but firmly mix everything together. The mixture might look too dry at first, but trust in Princess Cupcake. Keep mixing - your dough will be VERY sticky and clumpy.
4. Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour. Put your dough on the baking sheet and press it until it forms an 8 inch round. Using a knife, carefully cut the round into 8 wedges.
5. Move the wedges apart until they are not touching and are evenly spaced. If you desire, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the scones.
6. Place your scones in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. The bottoms should be brown, but not burned. I'd say "bake until golden-brown," but the blueberry yogurt changes the color of the scones...

I like scones because they look fancy, sound fancy, and taste fancy, but in reality they're a cinch to make. PLUS my recipe is easily adaptable so you can make any kind of scone your heart desires. Want strawberry scones? Use strawberry yogurt and pieces of strawberries! Want chocolate chip scones? Use plain Greek yogurt and chocolate chips! The list is basically endless.

I always associate scones with England (not only because scones are British, DUH), but because I visited Europe with my family when I was about twelve. We ended up going to a place in the English countryside for afternoon tea... I can still remember the scones and the freshness of the clotted cream, which had been made just that morning! Our tour guide joked that we would know that we'd put the proper amount of clotted cream on our scones once it touched the tip of our noses. I don't think he really expected me to take that to heart, but believe me, I did. It was magnificent.

HOWEVER, clotted cream is super hard to find in most stores! Here's an easy-peasy recipe to make an acceptable substitute. My favorite version is the one with mascarpone cheese... you can find it in Trader Joe's! 

Homemade Substitute for Clotted Cream:

3/4 Cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 Cup (4 oz) of either sour cream, cream cheese, OR mascarpone cheese (if you're lucky and you can find it in stores!)
1/8 Cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dump all of these ingredients into a medium bowl, and whip it (either with a whisk or with a hand-held mixer) until the mixture is completely combined, smooth, and fluffy. Add more or less sugar to taste.

Deeelicious. And there you have it!
These scones make a great breakfast, lunch, snack, or anything in-between. Your friends and family will definitely be impressed and start treating you like the princess you are.

OR you can just eat them all yourself, and have daydreams about being royalty and having tea with the Queen. I have included some imaginary dialogue for you if you choose to take this route: "We ARE amused! Pip, pip, cheerio, these scones are QUITE charming!"