Apricot Scones with Mock Clotted Cream

I love Tea...wait, let me clarify, I love the food that is served at Tea.  Those delicate Cucumber Sandwiches, the light and delicious quiches, the Scones, the fragrant teas, the Scones...wait did I say Scones twice?  Yes!   I REALLY love scones.  Or maybe it's the mock clotted cream that I smother my scones in..but either way, I love them.

I had gone to Tea not to long ago with two of my girlfriends and had an apricot scone.  I made a mental note to come home and find a recipe for them.  So I searched and came across one from MyRecipes.com .  I was lucky enough to have all the ingredients on hand.  Now the problem is that this recipe yields 12....I've already eaten 3 and have tucked the rest away.  I will bring them into the office...I promise I will.

Here is a direct link to the recipe.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup chilled butter cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots (I put a tiny bit of flour in the bowl I put them in so they wouldn't stick together)
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• Cooking Spray
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine flour & the next 4 ingredients (flour through salt)
3. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal )I just used my kitchen aid mixer)
4. Stir in the apricots
5. Combine the buttermilk and eggs, stirring with a whisk
6. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky)
7. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times
8. Pat dough into a 9-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray
9. Cut dough into 12 wedges, cutting into but not through the dough
10. Combine 2 tsp. sugar and the cinnamon, sprinkle over dough
11. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden
12. Serve warm

Mock Clotted Cream

Now this was a little harder to come by...there are a TON of recipes for it online.  From what I've been told true clotted cream is more on the bitter/sour side like sour cream.  The Mock Clotted Cream I've had has always been sweet, like whipped cream.  I really had nothing to go by...so I combined a few different recipes and what I came up with was pretty good.  This uses sour cream although I did see some recipes that called for cream cheese (I assume that would yeild a sweeter cream)

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar (I would probably use 1 more Tbsp. next time)

1. Combine sour cream and vanilla in a small bowl
2. In a mixing bowl whip the heavy cream until it starts to form peaks
3. Fold the sour cream mixture into the heavy cream gently
4. Sprinkle in the confectioner's sugar
5. Serve alongside scone...my kids also loved dipping fresh strawberries in it!