Orange Date Scones

Using part cake flour, plus sour cream and butter makes these the most tender scones I have ever eaten. Omit the dates and orange zest, and you have a wonderful plain scone. Substitute raisins for the dates and orange zest, and you have a great raisin scone. Possibilities are endless. The hardest part of this recipe was converting it from pounds and ounces to standard American measurements. This makes an enormous amount of scones, so you may wish to cut it in half. Served with orange butter . . . they are stand outs at the table.

3-1/2  cups cake flour
2-3/4  cups  all purpose flour
13 tsp baking powder (4 Tbs plus 1 tsp)
1/2  cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling tops*
1 tsp salt
12 Tbs cold butter (1½ sticks)
 2  cups  cut-up dates
 4  oranges, grated peel only
 2  cups  sour cream
 2  cups  milk

In a food processor, mix the flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add dates and grated orange rind.

Cut butter into small pieces and add to dry ingredients. Pulse until mealy. Dump all into a bowl. Whisk sour cream and milk together. Add to dry ingredients, mixing gently by hand until just barely moistened. This will only take a few strokes, as the mix will be quite soft.

Roll out to about 1" thickness (or more) and then cut into 3" squares. Brush tops with milk or egg wash, if you want to, but I just sprinkle them with a little sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet @400° for about 15 minutes. Serve hot out of the oven, and freeze any left-overs, as scones do not keep well. Spread with some plain butter and a little dab of jelly . . . or some orange butter . . . delicious.

*I use turbinado or raw sugar to sprinkle on top, but plain sugar will work as well.

Cooking Tip: Toss those sticky cut-up dates, into a bowl with about 1/2 cup flour. Toss the dates in the additional flour to coat them, so they won't stick together. Knock off the excess flour before adding to the scone mixture.