Scones are one of those treats that can be eaten any time of the day but are best with hot tea or coffee. I will feature many scone recipes on my site since I'm in search of the perfect scone recipe. This one ain't bad. These scones are fairly light in texture and are only slightly sweet. Don't skip the lemon peel sugar topping, it really adds a nice sweetness and lemon flavor to each bite. I've made these twice now and didn't use any dried fruit in it, apricot or otherwise. I can tell you for sure that you can live without it.

Lemon Cream Scones
From Epicurious.com

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 - 425°F.
• Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl.
  
• Stir in apricots and 1 tablespoon lemon peel.
• Add whipping cream and stir just until dough forms.
• Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently just until dough holds together.
• Form dough into 10-inch-diameter, 1/2-inch-thick round.
• Cut into 12 wedges.
• Transfer wedges to large baking sheet, spacing evenly.
• Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon peel in small bowl.
• Brush scones with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar mixture.
• Bake scones until light golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Transfer to rack and cool slightly.
  

Notes about this recipe: First of all, as is true of most scones, you bake these in a pretty hot oven for a short period of time. I have a hard time not burning the bottoms of my scones. I've reduced the temperature to 400 degrees and found that it works a little better. I also move the rack in the oven to the top half to move it away from the heating coil on the bottom. If you get any sugar on the cookie sheet while you're sprinkling the scones, which you will, it will melt and burn during cooking. So, chances are it's not the scones that smell burnt but the errant sugar.

I mix this dough in a large metal bowl and can pretty much knead and shape it without resorting to the counter top. You don't want to over knead it--really just enough to get it into a ball is good enough. I do roll it out with a rolling pin. If you don't have a rolling pin, a bottle of wine will suffice to get the job done.

You can cut the dough into wedges as the instructions suggest or use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a large glass to make circular scones. These scones don't hold their shape very well. I've tried little tea pot, heart, and flower cookie cutters and they come out resembling those shapes but are far from perfect.

This is a great tasting, easy recipe for beginners. The only part that requires a specialty tool is zesting the lemon. In case you are really new to this: zesting means removing just the colored outer skin off the lemon (or other citrus fruit) without getting any of the white pith underneath. It's this skin that contains all of the aromatic and tasty oils that will make your baked goods taste wonderfully. You zest the lemon using a tool for this purpose, either those small pokey teeth on a box grater or using a much more elegant instrument like the microplane zester. The zest of one medium lemon will be plenty for this recipe.

Anyway, I really like these scones a lot, and as they are one of the highest rated scone recipes on epicuriuos.com, I think you will like them too.