Butter makes everything better or Basic Scone Mix

This recipe is courtesy of my restauranteur neighbors Tommy and Eddie Golden (original owners of the Beachgrass Cafe and Parkhouse, now they operate Iris in Del Mar). Most scones are tough and dry but these are so tender and yummy you will never buy another one from Starbucks/Peets etc. I like mine plain with fresh fruit (mangos and berries sweetened with a little vanilla sugar) on the side but you can probably add your favorite ingredient as long as you are careful not to over mix the dough.

Some helpful hints:
Make sure your butter is very COLD.
Use a food processor on the pulse setting to mix in the butter, it gets the right consistency in a fraction of the time so the butter doesn't warm up before you need to mix in the wet ingredients.
DO NOT OVERMIX once you add the buttermilk and eggs, just mix until the dough just starts to hold together. Roll it out onto a floured surface and work just a little bit before shaping.
Another secret from Tommy: keep a small container of sugar with some vanilla bean skins in your pantry. The resulting "vanilla sugar" is a great addition to coffee, berries etc.

3 1/2 cups of Flour
1 tbs Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 lb of chopped butter, chilled (yes, that's right a CUP of butter, hmmm butter...)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs beaten, plus one egg beaten for egg wash
2 tbs of turbinado sugar (raw cane sugar)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Sift dry ingredients then add chilled butter and cut in.
Butter and flour mixture should resemble small crumbs when done.

Mix wet ingredients then add to flour mixture till dough just holds together.
Roll onto flat floured surface and cut into desired shape. (I usually shape it into 2 rectangles, maybe 9 inches long, 3 or 4 inches wide and about an inch + thick.)

Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I use silpats), brush with egg wash and sprinkle turbinado sugar over the tops. Bake for 12-15 minutes.