Lemon Poppy Seed Scones...my first post!

As a loyal reader of multiple blogs, I thought it would be quite easy to make my own. This initial post may be a bit rudimentary, but I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly. I love baking for other people, especially the Hospitality House of Charlotte (http://www.hospitalityhouseofcharlotte.org/). I haven't baked scones in awhile and noticed that I had a container of poppy seeds on hand. Even though they don't have much taste and take days to get out of my teeth, I love them, especially in lemon poppy seed scones. This is a recipe I found and fell in love with when I first made it with my mom in 2003 (my mom loves dating recipes and she photocopied the original for me- thanks!). I checked the fridge and didn't have any lemons, so I went to the "Teet" (Harris Teeter, a local food store), but not the Taj MaTeet (the large HT by my office).

My beautiful ingredients...don't the lemons look juicy?

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tbs poppy seeds

1 tbs baking powder

2 tsps grated lemon peel

1 tsp salt

10 tbs chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup (or more) whole milk (I used skim and it was just fine)

Icing:

Juice from lemons

Powdered sugar

Water as needed (for desired consistency)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Position rack in top third of oven (this is important!)

Mix flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt in processor. Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Grating lemons - a stress reliever that smells nice!

I love my food processor. Reliable and has an on/off switch...is he single?

Whisk egg and lemon juice in medium bowl to blend. Add to flour mixture. using on/off turns, process until moist clumps form. Add 1/3 cup milk. Using on/off turns, process just until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry.

Using floured hand, gather dough into ball. Flatten into 8-inch round. Cut round into 8 wedges. Transfer scones to a large baking sheet. Bake until scones are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. While the scones are baking, make the icing. Sift the powdered sugar and add lemon juice and water as needed.

GIANT SCONE!!!

Ready for some lovin in the oven!

Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.) While the scones are still warm, drizzle on the icing. Makes 8 scones.

Iced and ready to go!

Don't worry, I was brave and sampled them- they were AMAZING!