Rhubarb Scones with Strawberry Butter are a delicious way to jazz up your brunch menu.

I love brunch.

Actually, I love brunch food. I’m starving when I wake up, which is usually hours before any respectable brunch is served, so I eat brunch food for breakfast at home. Also, Ralph prefers weekend mornings in our kitchen, after being on the road all week. The last thing he wants to do is eat in another restaurant. It works out perfectly. He gets to stay home and I get to eat when I wake up. We both eat pretty clean all week so when the weekend arrives we’re excited for a little indulging.

Bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, homemade beans, broiled tomatoes, cheeses and breads in various combinations make their way to our breakfast table. With FM radio playing in the background, I cook, he reads the paper and we fix all the problems in our universe – at the very least we come up with a plan! Having missed our ritual last weekend with me being in Calgary, I’m switching out our toast with a special treat with these RHUBARB SCONES WITH STRAWBERRY BUTTER.

For those of you who live in my part of the world, I’m sure you’re wondering where I got my hands on fresh rhubarb.

I didn’t.

I used frozen rhubarb from my garden. It’s the last of my stash from last summer. My garden is still frozen…sigh. For those of you lucky enough to live where spring has sprung, by all means use fresh rhubarb. If you’ve never tasted a fruit butter, you are in for a treat! The STRAWBERRY BUTTER is simple to make and adds a burst of flavour on top of the rhubarb scones. You can prepare them up to the point where you put them in the oven then cover them with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge over-night. When you get up the next day, preheat your oven and pop them in the oven. You’ll have delicious, hot scones in no time flat. Conversely, if you bake them ahead of time like me, just heat them up in a 400*F for 5 minutes. Not as good as freshly baked but still lovely.

Happy Weekend, my friends!

RHUBARB SCONES WITH STRAWBERRY BUTTER

RHUBARB SCONES INGREDIENTS:

3 stalks rhubarb
2½ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
2/3 – ¾ cups heavy cream

STRAWBERRY BUTTER INGREDIENTS:

½ cup butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 tablespoon wild strawberry jam

THE STEPS FOR RHUBARB SCONES:

• Preheat oven to 425*F.
• Slice rhubarb stalks into ¼” thick pieces and place in a small mixing bowl.
• Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of the sugar and toss well.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl.
• Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until butter resembles a coarse meal.
• Stir in sugar.

• Stir in sliced rhubarb.
• Add vanilla extract to cream.
• Slowly, stir in enough cream to form a soft dough.until a nice dough. I used 3/4 cup.

• Transfer dough to floured surface and divide in half.
• To make triangular scones, flatten into 6-inch disks and cut each circle into 6-8 scones.

• Sprinkle with remaining sugar and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake about 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

THE STEPS FOR STRAWBERRY BUTTER:

• Using an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar and strawberry jam, until light and fluffy – 1 minute.
• Transfer to a small serving dish.
• Serve at room temperature or chill until ready to serve.

THE LOVE: If you’re using frozen rhubarb, work as quickly as possible. You don’t want your rhubarb to melt. It will turn your dough into mud.

Thanks for reading.