Baking: Drying Strawberries and Strawberry Scones

I made scones for my niece's wedding brunch, a special request from my sister-in-law and brother. However, dried strawberries and blueberries are very expensive, if you can find them at all. I paid $12 for 16 oz. of dried blueberries in the store. I dried 16 oz. of strawberries for $3.34. The dehydrator was $49.95 and I used a 20 percent off coupon. Total cost of dehydrator is $41.95 plus tax. It will pay for itself half way through the first summer of using it. Well worth the investment.

Start with gorgeous strawberries


Wash thoroughly and trim stems


Set up dehydrator


Slice the strawberries and place on trays.


Dry at 135 degrees for 8 hours, these were dried for 12 hours and I needed to reconstitute them slightly.


Here are the blueberry scones.




But they looked pretty at the brunch.



All the food looked wonderful and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Basic Scones

3 cups self-rising flour

½ c. sugar

3/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1 c. of heavy whipping cream

1 t. vanilla extract

½ cup dried fruit

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Sift together the flour and sugar in bowl, cut in butter and sugar mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add ½ c. whipping cream, vanilla and dried fruit. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Add a little more whipping cream if it seems too dry. Turn out on a generously floured surface and knead five times or until it all comes together. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Roll out with a rolling pin to ½ inch thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Lightly brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.