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Berry season is
great time for scones

It's a good season for Heather Oshiro's request for a recipe for strawberry scones. Strawberries are just showing up in the markets, and lately they've been on sale. It's a good time to experiment.

Oshiro is trying to hone in on a scone served at a now-closed cafe on Fort Street Mall -- a simple scone with a crusty top. "The only recipe I've seen online has preserves and fresh strawberries baked in between two layers of scone dough," she wrote.

That fancied-up recipe seems to have originated with the California Strawberry Commission and is posted on various Web sites. But one of the reasons Oshiro likes making scones is because they're a simple baking project, so here's a recipe that whips up really fast and easy.

These scones are soft and light -- biscuit-like in texture. Keep the strawberry pieces small, or they tend to fall out of the dough. They'll still be plenty prominent in your finished product.

A sprinkling of sugar over the top for the last few minutes of baking creates a simple, sparkly topping.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Sprinkle strawberries with 1/2 tablespoon sugar; set aside.

Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in butter (you may want to use your fingers to be sure butter is evenly mixed into flour). Stir in strawberries; then add milk all at once. Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently so you don't break up the berries. Sprinkle dough with flour if it gets sticky. Form into ball.

Place dough on cookie sheet and press into a circle 3/4 inch thick. If any berries peek out, push them into dough. Cut circle into 6 wedges, then push wedges apart so there is at least 1/2 inch of space between them. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5 more minutes. Serves 6.