Pumpkin White Chocolate Scones

It is notoriously difficult to get a true scone texture when making pumpkin scones due to the use of pureed pumpkin–these come the closest to a proper scone texture as any I’ve made.

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
freshly grated nutmeg to taste
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ground allspice and ground cloves
pinch of salt
6 tablespons unsalted butter
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients and then cut in butter until fully incorporated. Stir in white chocolate chips.

2. In a separate bowl, combine 1/3 can pumpkin, 1 egg, 1teaspoon chia seeds (optional). Add to dry ingredients and mix/knead until the dry ingredients are fully incoroprated–this will take longer than with a regular scone dough and the dough will be sticky, but not too wet.
3. Next, microwave 1/3 cup white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon cream until just melted and able to be stirred–about 30 seconds. Let cool slightly and then gently knead into the dough.

4. Place 10 roughly shaped balls (about 1/3 cup in size) on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Top with a bit of demerrara sugar and bake for 25 minutes.

Nectarine Scones

2 organic nectarines, peeled and cut into small pieces

1C wheat flour

1.5 C all-purpose flour

1/3 C light brown sugar

1T baking powder

1/2t kosher salt

1/2t baking soda

6T cold, unsalted butter

1/3 C oats

1/2C sour cream

1 egg

1/8-1/4C half and half

turbinado sugar for dusting tops

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix wheat flour, regular flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in the butter until the size of small peas. Mix in the oats and the nectarines. In a separate bowl combine the sour cream and the egg. Gently mix into the nectarine mixture and begin to gently knead. Add the half and half, a little at a time until the dough comes together. Knead just until all the flour is incorporated.

Place mounds of dough, about 1/3 C in size, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press turbinado sugar onto the tops. (Alternatively, if you like a sweeter scone you can leave off the turbinado and instead make a glaze of 1 C powdered sugar and 1-2T milk that can be drizzled on the scones after they’re done baking and slightly cool).

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes. Scones will be light brown and firm to the touch.

Coconut Date Scones

Pre-heat oven to 400

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup sugar*

1 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 cup coconut powder

1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut

1/2 cup chopped dried dates

5 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup coconut milk (I used Trader Joe’s light coconut milk)

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut in butter.  Mix in chopped dates.  Add Coconut milk and mix until dough starts to come together.  Turn out on lightly floured surface, knead a few times.  Pat into a circle about 3/4 inch thick.  Cut into 8 triangles.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.  Enjoy.

*The next time I make these I will cut the sugar by at least a tablespoon as they were a bit too sweet for my liking.

Almond Scones

I’ve been making variations of THIS recipe lately.  So many possibilities.  I’d promised not to make scones until the weekend (something to do with being near the end of a 50 pound bag of flour in under 3 months and realizing how much we’ve been consuming).  But then my dear friend and I got together yesterday afternoon to make jam.  You see, we just bought vanilla beans in bulk on ebay (50 beans for $14.00) and we wanted to make a few recipes.  Lemon Vanilla Bean Marmalade and Strawberry Vanilla bean jam.  I really didn’t have a choice then, to wait all the way until Saturday.  We needed to sample the new product.

I came up with this recipe this morning:

1/4 cup raw whole almonds

1/8 cup sunflower seed kernals

1/2 cup oats

2 cups all purpose flour

3 Tbsp sugar

pinch of sea salt

2 Tbsp baking powder

5 Tbsp butter

1 tsp almond extract

1 egg

milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Add almonds, sunflower seeds, and oats to a food processor  and pulse a few times.  The almonds will be a bit chunkier than the other items but there shouldn’t be any large pieces.  Add in flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and pulse to mix a few times.  Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour.  Pulse till it resembles coarse crumbs.  In a glass measuring cup crack egg.  Add almond extract.  Mix together a few times.  Pour in milk/cream/ liquid of choice to make 2/3 cups total.  Add an additional 1 Tbsp of milk.  Mix into flour mixture.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead together a couple times.  Divide dough into two equal parts.  Pat each section into a circle that is approxomately 1/4 inch thick.  On one half spread jam of choice.  place the other half on top.  Move to lined cookie sheet.  Cut into 6-8 triangles.  Bake 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Cocoa Dessert Scones

I admit I’m venturing into cynical territory.  I once had chocolate chip cookie dough scone and thought they were okay but not what I wanted with morning coffee.

It is evening in Los Angeles.  The husband and I are readying to have a date at home–throw the kiddies in bed and eat alone for a moment of peace and togetherness and likely bad TV.

I wanted dessert.  I wanted chocolate.  While driving I felt inspired to attempt a chocolate scone that could suffice as dessert.

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 oz dark chocolate, grated

1 cup  plus 2 T  heavy cream

Pre Heat Oven to 425

Mix Dry ingredients and chocolate.  Cut in butter until it looks like coarse crumbs.  (You could alternately make this in a food processor).  Mix in dried cherries.  Stir in heavy cream until you get a shaggy mess (it will be crumbly).  Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead gently a few times until it comes together.  Pat with your hand into a round that is about 3/4 inch thick.  Cut into 6-8 triangle.  Brush with heavy cream.  Put triangles on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 min.

These scones were not sweet at all.  You could increase the amount of sugar or do what I did: 

 Mix mascarpone (or cream cheese) with a little softened butter, powdered sugar and a Tbsp or so of milk.   Add a tsp of amaretto (optional).  Heat up a bit of raspberry jam on the stove and add another tsp of amaretto.  Spread mascarpone on scone, drizzle with raspberry sauce.  Remember, these are for dessert so it’s okay to be a bit indulgent.

*A note about dried cherries.  I don’t know much about cherries.  I bought dried bing cherries.  I would buy a different variety next time that are more sour as a matter of personal taste.

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

This is my favorite blueberry scone recipe. I found dried blueberries and thought they might make for a better scone texture than using fresh berries and boy was I right! I love these!  They were absolutely perfect and the texture only improved with time.

Cover 2/3 C dried, sweetened blueberries with warm/hot water while you make the dough:

2 C unbleached,  all-purpose flour ( I used King Arthur organic)

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 C packed brown sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

zest of 1 lemon

2/3 C buttermilk*

7 T cold, unsalted butter

Demerara (or other coarse) sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425. While blueberries are soaking, mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture is coarse crumbs. Stir in zest. Strain blueberries, then mix into dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk and knead to bring dough together. Pat into a 1.5″ round, press a good amount of coarse sugar onto the top and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to allow dough (which will be a bit soft, but will still hold its shape) to firm up. Remove from fridge, cut into 8 wedges, separate them on the baking sheet and bake for about 14 minutes or until tops are golden brown.  Enjoy!

*I use Kate’s buttermilk which is vastly different from other brands I’ve tried. Kate’s is thinner in consistency and thus if using another brand the amount required will likely vary in that you will need more. You want the dough to be able to be brought together into a cohesive mass–neither too dry nor so wet that it won’t hold its shape. How’s that for ambiguous?

Whole Grain Orange Currant Scones

My scone fixins cabinet is sadly bare. I have run out of a number of my usual add-ins which necessitated some invention this morning. The use of wheat pastry flour as opposed to plain old wheat flour has made a tremedous difference in the quality of scones like this. Whereas regular wheat flour tends to make scones a bit chewy, dense and grainy, the pastry version makes a supple (yes I said supple in a scone post, I am slightly obsessed) dough and an end product that strikes the right balance between moisture and crumb. I am eating as I type and the scone is getting better.

1/2 C currants soaked in enough orange juice to cover (it’s best to use the juice of the orange you’ll zest below)

2 C whole grain pastry flour (I used Arrowhead Mills)

1/4 C raw, demerara sugar

1T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6T cold, unsalted butter

1/2 C oats

zest of 1 orange

1/2 C sour cream

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is coarse crumbs. Stir in oats, zest and currants (drained of excess juice, juice reserved). In a separate bowl mix sour cream, egg and vanilla. Mix into dry ingredients and knead until dough comes together. Pat into a 1.5 inch round, sprinkle with more raw sugar and drizzle with about 1T orange juice. Cut into 8 wedges and bake for about 12 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

A Vegan Scone that won’t make you gag

I’ve tried making vegan scones a couple times.  I’m not a vegan.  I’m a big believer in the power butter and cream have in making a scone a scone.  I have never liked the end product I’ve ended up with until today.  Why vegan you ask?  I’ve got a couple friends that adhere to strict food limits due to health reasons.  (And who am I to argue with my 80 year old, wise old lady friend who is a breast cancer survivor and cautious eater in the aftermath of chemo and masectomies and the widow of a man who died of leukemia?)  The vegan versions I’ve tried in the past have been okay but not scone-like.  They were chewy.  Scones are not meant to be chewy.  After this morning however, I think I have a winner.  I used my darling older sister’s New Year’s Scones as my base.  So, without further ado, here is the vegan recipe:

1 C oats

1 1/2 C all-purpose, unbleached flour

3T flax seed meal

2T wheat bran

1 T chia seeds

1/4C packed brown sugar

2T granulated sugar

3/4t kosher salt

1T baking powder

1/2 C dried cranberries

1/4 container of earth balance natural spread (aprox 3.3 oz)

1t vanilla

1/2 C soy cream

3/4 C frozen mixed berries

turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425.

Cut earth balance into smallish pieces and put in freezer until needed.  Earth Balance has a much lower melting temperature than butter so this step is quite important.  You don’t want to be putting melted or soft spread into your flour mixture.

In a food processor add the oats and process until finely ground. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and pulse a few times. Add the earth balance and process until mixture is like coarse meal. Stir in (do not process) mixed berries.  In a separate bowl  vanilla and soy creamer. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix by hand (not in the food processor) until dough comes together–if it is too dry, add soy cream by tablespoons until it forms a cohesive mass.  (Dough should be wet and sticky–more so than traditional scone dough). Scoop out 10 mounds of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Gently press sugar into the top of each scone. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden and slightly firm to the touch. Once out of the oven, let sit for 15 minutes before eating. Warming leftover scones on subsequent days in a 300 degree oven for a few minutes yields great results.

Enjoy!

*Note:  Don’t be fooled into thinking that vegan means healthy.  These scones have just has much fat as traditional scones.  Earth Balance and Soy cream do not have lower fat contents than butter and heavy cream. 

Also, some strict vegans would not consider this vegan because I used sugar.  Sugar is not considered vegan by hardest core vegans because of the way it is processed.

Vanilla Scones

1 Cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 Cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 Cup Oats

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup vanilla sugar* (see note)

1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)

4 tbsp chilled butter

3/4  cup heavy cream plus more if needed

Combine dry ingredients, cut in butter.  Add 3/4 cup of cream and mix in bowl with wooden spoon, (could also use a food processor).  Add more cream by the tbsp as needed to achieve proper consistency, batter will be dryer than some scones.  Turn out onto a lightly floured counter, knead a few times and pat into a 6 inch round circle.  Cut into 6-8 triangles and bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

*Vanilla sugar is easy to make if you have vanilla pods on hand.  Last year I purchased 30 organic vanilla beans for less than $15 on ebay.  I made vanilla extract among other things.  As I would use a bean in recipes I would save the pod.  Once I had a few I threw them into the food processor with a couple cups of sugar and processed it until it was fragrant fine mess.  Then I sifted it (there were still some bigger pieces of pod remaining) and stored it in an airtight container.  The sugar seems to be more vanilla-y than extract.

*Chia seeds are my new favorite thing to throw in scones.   Think of them as flax seeds on steroids.  With an appearance and texture similar to poppy seeds they add a nice crunch to any scone.  I found mine at Whole Foods in the supplement section.

Vanilla Oat Scones

I was in the mood, oddly, for a dry, simple scone. I think I really wanted to savor my coffee but of course needed something to go along with it without stealing the show. I found these perfect. If you like the idea of these but not of the dry factor, simply increase your oven temp to 425 and cook for only about 12-15 minutes–I think that would do the trick. I however, loved these as written below.

1/2 C sour cream, mixed with 1/2 t baking soda

1 C wheat pastry flour

1 C unbleached, all-purpose flour

2T raw sugar (plus more for sprinkling)

2T Flaxseed meal (optional)

1T baking powder

1/2t kosher salt

7T cold, unsalted butter

1/2 C oats

1 t vanilla

1 egg

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the sour cream and baking soda and set aside. Stir together the flours, baking powder, sugar, salt and flaxseed meal if using. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse meal. Stir in oats. In a separate bowl, add egg and vanilla to sour cream mixture and stir to combine. Stir into dry ingredients and knead to form a nice, smooth dough. Turn onto parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten into a disk about 1.5″ thick. Gently press more raw sugar or sprinkling sugar on the top of the dough, cut into 8 wedges, separate them slightly from each other and bake for about 25 minutes until golden and fragrant. Enjoy!