I planted a rosemary bush in my herb garden a few weeks ago, and as I walked by garden yesterday morning, the wonderful aroma of the fresh herb made me think of these scones.  So after a quick snip off the plant, I whipped up a batch of them for breakfast.

The crunchy, golden crust on the outside and the warm, flaky inside with just the right blend of sweet and savory from the rosemary and lemon zest, made the perfect bite!

If you’re old-school like me and you still have a hand-held pastry blender, you can use it for this recipe.  A food processor will work too.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ sticks, light butter
½ cup light cream
½ cup fat free half-and-half
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons raw sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Zest from one lemon

Directions:

1) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, rosemary and lemon zest in a large bowl.

2) Add the butter, sliced into tablespoon sized portions, to the bowl and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until a course mixture remains with some small pieces of the butter still visible.

3) Stir in the cream and ¼ cup of the half-and-half until you have a loose dough.

4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work it into the shape of a log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for one hour, until firm.

5) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with Parchment paper.

6) Remove the log from the refrigerator, discard the plastic wrap and cut the log into two inch rounds.

7) Place the rounds on the Parchment paper, brush with the remaining ¼ cup of the half-and-half and then sprinkle the raw sugar on top of all of the scones.

8) Bake the scones in the oven for 25 minutes, until they are a light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow them to cool before serving.