Scone Response

Yesterday's apricot-walnut scones.

I've learned over my eight or so years on Facebook that there are two ways to get lots of Likes: (1) post a picture of Joyce (or our son and his family); (2) post a picture of something I've baked.

Pictures only of me don't cut it.

Yesterday was Scone Day at our house. I bake a batch (of eight) about once a week and eat one for breakfast Mon-Sat. (Sunday I have a bagel with Joyce--don't ask: It just is, that's all.)

I've been doing this for, oh, about a decade, I guess? And I find that I most often make maple-pecan, less frequently cherry-walnut, even less frequently apricot-walnut, rarely blueberry-walnut. I never swab icing on them (calories!), and I try to be ... wise ... about the ingredients. (I say "wise" because I sometimes am not.)

(And I should add that Joyce likes to have a fresh one for lunch the first day I bake them--baking time is always in mid-morning. I freeze the rest for the remainder of the week. Later, thirty seconds in the microwave renders them warm and crunchy again.)

Anyway, yesterday I posted the pic you see at the top of this post--apricot-walnut scones--and I got some requests (okay, I got one request) for the recipe. I have posted recipes here before, but since I don't really have anything else I feel like writing about today, scone recipe it is!

Okay, here we go.

• preheat oven to 400F
• assemble the following devices:
• a long knife to cut the dough into 8 parts just before you're ready to bake
• a sturdy spoon to mix the dough
• a shorter knife to cut the frozen butter (more about this below)
• a stiff rubber spatula to gather the dough & scrape the bowl
• oh, a large mixing bowl
• a one-cup glass measuring cup
• a set of measuring spoons
• a small cutting board, lightly floured
• a pan for baking--I bought the one you see below from a King Arthur Flour catalog--available online, too; squirt it with some spray oil (PS--careful: I broke one recently)
• a hot-pad or oven mitt

• Ingredients
• 1 egg (or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters--the latter is what I use, though I occasionally use an actual chicken egg)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 small cup (5.3 oz) of Chobani plain yogurt (any brand will do, of course)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• about 1/2 cup shelled walnuts
• about 1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced
• 1/4 cup (1 stick) butter/margarine--FROZEN
• Preparation/Baking Instructions
• in bowl, put egg, honey, yogurt, and salt; whisk until it's smooth and creamy
• in blender (we use a Cuisinart) put flour, baking powder, baking soda
• in bowl, add walnuts, whisk till evenly mixed
• in bowl, add sliced dried apricots, whisk till evenly mixed
• remove frozen butter/margarine from freezer; cut into eight pieces; drop the pieces evenly on the flour in your processor; blend until thoroughly ... blended
• add flour mixture to the egg/honey/etc. in the bowl; mix thoroughly with the sturdy spoon; it's possible you'll need a little more flour to make the dough fairly sturdy (but not dry); form into a ball; remove ball from bowl and place on lightly floured board
• flatten the ball of dough with the heel of your hand into a circle that (be careful here!) approximates the size of your scone pan (or whatever device you're using)
• use large knife to cut into 8 equal portions
• carefully remove each piece and place it in the pan
• pop pan in the 400-degree oven for about 24 minutes (keep your eye on them--don't over- or under-bake)
• when they're done, put pan on cooling rack for a few minutes until the scones cool off a little, then remove them from the pan (carefully!), placing them on the cooling rack
• CLEAN UP!
• PIG OUT!

This sounds complicated; it's not. I don't even look at the recipe any longer--I just gather it all together and do it every week.

And the elapsed time from Today's scone day! to They're done! is only about a half-hour--clean-up included.

I'm tired now.

No more questions.

Give it a whirl. Mess with it. Add, subtract, alter. Whatever.