Oat Scones with Strawberries

The heat has set in and the temperatures are soaring in Bombay and Delhi both. Feel like eating something sweet but light and dreamy without the calories (ofcourse!) 'coz summer clothes do not hide pounds! I saw an Oats and Maple Syrup scones recipe on the SmittenKitchen page and ever since then I haven't been able to think about baking anything else... there is something about healthy food that has me obsessed but the 160gms of butter used in this recipe doesn't make it very healthy! Ever since I have been a child hooked on to Enid Blyton books - I have always dreamed of munching on scones for tea like the Secret Seven or Famous Five. When I went to London with my parents I kept looking for scones. Little did I know that one day I could actually be able to bake them in my kitchen and without much running around with simple ingredients on hand. If you have ever read Nigella's recipes, she always like to use cream of tartar to add an extra lightness to her scones but for the life of me I have no idea about how to get my hands on it in Gurgaon!

Anyways, I was hooked on to the idea of baking the scones but was almost out of maple sugar and didn't want it too sweet so googled a few recipes and came across one very nice one from www.marthastewart.com - a mish mash of both recipes is what I am going to present here and it tastes mighty good except my lil toddler didn't seem to like it (Not sweet enough, Mom!). With the hubby away - I have about 8-9 scones to eat my way through and am enjoying each and every bite I must say :)!!!!!

I had this done and in the oven in about 15 minutes and it was great way to start the day knowing that the hubby is away for the week. I am hoping they last in the fridge and don't taste too stale tomorrow but I have been warned...

You can serve these with clotted cream, whipped cream, jam or butter or have as is with just a sprinkling of powdered sugar. How do you like your scones?????

Ingredients:
13/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1 heaped tablespoon baking powder
1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cold butter cut into cubes

Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Now you can add the butter to the dry mixture and rub it with your hands till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs or you can pulse it together - apparently both work equally well.
Then add the milk to this mixture and work it together into a dough softly.

Now, I divided the dough into two equal halves and brought it together. In one 1/2 of the dough I added some chopped strawberries that brought a lovely sweet and tart flavor to the scones. The other ones I left as is.

You can be fussy and cut it out with a a round pastry cutter or shape the dough into a large rectangle or square and then just cut it into traingles... that worked for me! Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes after giving the tops of the scones a quick wash of milk, cream or egg whites.

I must say with a cup of coffee, my breakfast was divine. And with a sprinkle of icing sugar and some jam it was a lovely after lunch treat!

Now I am sending my entry to the Oats Recipe Event - though my scones are not 100% oats - you can look up the event at http://myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/03/oats-recipes.html