Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

I don’t do the frozen butter all the time either. If I have bars unfrozen I used my pastry blender or two forks to work it in. The end results are the same.

I’ve substituted the raisins or currants with 1/2 cup of dried cranberries or dates and a half cup of chopped nuts. I’ve used walnuts, macadamia and almonds thus far. I’ve done a cup of blueberries too. I did strawberries and rhubarb but used only 1/2 cup of each. I’ve  also done a whole 12-ounce bag of cinnamon chips with chopped walnuts. As you can tell the substitutions are endless, just have fun.

I did them once without parchment paper and the bottoms browned too much, so I agree with Pam about using the paper to get a light golden bottom.

The great part in an air tight container they stay delightfully fresh for a week.

If you want to make them fancier drizzle icing on them.