Apple Scones
Apple-flavored baked goods happen to be one of my favorite things on this planet. I look forward to the fall every year in great part due to the large amount of apple items that come into being. When I was on the search for great apple recipes to use with the many apples that I usually pick at the orchard each year, I stumbled across a recipe from Duff Goldman for apple scones. I liked the idea for the recipe, but in my humble opinion, his recipe needed some work. So I got to work on it, and each time made improvements until I got the product that you see in this blog. I am incredibly proud of how they turned out, and I hope you’ll enjoy them.
You start with the dry ingredients. Duff’s original recipe just used cinnamon. I wanted a more complex flavor. I therefore added ginger and nutmeg to the party. The end result is that these scones taste just like the best bites of an apple pie. You won’t be sorry that you added those flavors.
I chop the apples up into a 1/2 to 3/4 inch dice. This is the perfect size to remain bite sized in the scones and not interfere with their shape. In addition to adding the apples after the dry ingredients, you also add the butter. Many scone recipes have you start with cubes of cold butter. I have recently gotten into grating my butter and then freezing it for 15 minutes. This means that your butter with come out in perfect flakes every time, and you won’t have to sit for 5-10 minutes pressing butter between your fingers in the flour to get it to the right consistency.
After adding the buttermilk, I work the dough with my hands until it forms a shaggy dough. You don’t want to overwork the dough as you could start to melt the butter, and make the scones tough, so shaggy is fine. You then put it onto lightly floured surface and press the dough into a square. The thickness is important here is it allows the scones to bake in the right amount of time and still have a decent texture. The size that I cut my scones also matters. In the original recipe, Duff’s scones were gigantic. They were literally double the size of mine. I thought having a smaller size would be more manageable for the calorie conscious, and making the baking time faster for those, like me, who are impatient.
When the scones come out of the oven, it’s important that they be cooled completely before you glaze them. You don’t want to trap excess moisture in and make the scones soggy. Duff’s recipe didn’t have a glaze, I thought that the little extra sweetness would add something. Originally, the glaze I used was much thicker and had no cinnamon. I decided that the thick glaze was just too much sugar and it didn’t have enough nuance. So I thinned the glaze and added cinnamon. This turned out to be the perfect balance, and again contributed to that apple pie flavor that you get when biting into these.
I really hope that you try these scones and share them with your friends and family. If you do, be sure to leave a comment below to let me know how it went! Remember you don’t have to be professional chef to make magic in your kitchen!
Joe the Blue Wizard
Apple Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup (65 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 tbsp. (14 g) Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. (2.5 g) Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. (2 g) Ground Ginger
- 1/4 tsp. (0.5 g) Ground Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. (1.5 g) Kosher Salt
- 10 tbsp. (140 g) Unsalted Butter, cold
- 1 large Baking Apple, chopped to 1/2-3/4 inch dice
- 3/4 cup (180 mL) Buttermilk
- 2 cups (260 g) Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) Water
- 1/4 tsp. (0.75 g) Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grate cold butter onto a plate using the large holes of a box grater. Place grated butter into the freezer for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients until evenly combined.
- Add grated butter and diced apples to the dry ingredients and toss to combine.
- Pour in buttermilk and work with your hands into a shaggy dough.
- Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press into a square about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.
- Cut the large square into square quarters using a sharp knife.
- Cut each square quarter from corner to opposite corner in both directions to create 4 triangle pieces per square.
- Place triangles onto a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 minutes. The scones should have puffed up slightly and be golden brown.
- Set on a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing.
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Dip cooled scones top down in the glaze.
- Place dipped scones back on the cooling rack to drip.
- Enjoy scones when the glaze has dried.
- Store covered with a towel in the open air or in an airtight container.
Nutrition facts calculated using MyFitnessPal and are estimated. If you have dietary restrictions please calculate with your own brands of ingredients.
