Whole Wheat Strawberry Ricotta Scones

Berry season! Quite possibly my favorite of all fruit seasons. It’s scary the amount of money I’ll spend across the month of May on local berries. Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are at the top of my list, with blueberries only being consumed in desserts or baked goods because I’m a weirdo like that. My favorite way to enjoy them is straight up or in a recipe that leaves most of the whole berry in tact. That’s why I’m in love with these gorgeous scones from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (another reason to love this book). So simple. So intoxicatingly delicious. And the addition of the ricotta? I mean, we just need to put ricotta in all our scone recipes- that is a fact. Since you’re working with so few ingredients, the key is to use really good ones. I went all out with local heavy cream, fresh ricotta from Bedford Cheese Shop, and strawberries from the market, and it totally made all the difference. These will be gone by the end of today, I kid you not.

Whole Wheat Strawberry Ricotta Scones slightly adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes roughly 6 scones

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup  all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
• 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together.

Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir the strawberries into the butter-flour mixture.

Add the ricotta and heavy cream together and stir them in to form a dough with a flexible spatula.Using your hands, gently knead dough into an even mass, right in the bottom of the bowl.

With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to a well-floured counter, flour the top of the dough and pat it into a 7-inch square about 1-inch tall. With a large knife, divide the dough into 6 even squares. Transfer the scones to prepared baking sheet with a spatula. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. It’s best to cool them about halfway before eating them, so they can set a bit more