I have made muffins, biscuits, crepes, rolls, you name it. Scones...big nope. Am I the only one that finds them intimidating? Scones seem like the perfect hybrid of a muffin and a biscuit (purely opinion, don't come at me) so I figured this could be manageable if I actually followed a recipe to a T for once in my life. Saturdays are for sleeping in and baking, so here is the play-by-play of how I did just that.
I slept in and preheated my oven way earlier than I needed to, hey I'm eager. I made it a point to always be using the recipe as a reference and not lean on my own flare. Going into this I knew I was lacking certain ingredients like buttermilk and fresh baking soda. Yikes. I could not validate running to the store for a few ingredients so my scones were already off to a great start :) I decided to combine 1% milk and a dash of coffee creamer to create this combo in hopes that it would supplement the lack of buttermilk (absolutely no science behind it, I just assumed it would make it richer).
I prepped my kitchen laying out all the ingredients and utensils. Really guys, I tried. I even leveled out my measuring cups for dry ingredients with a knife. Usually, I just eyeball and hope it is enough. The dry ingredients were looking promising. I added the cold stick of butter without a pastry cutter even though the recipe said it would make it easier. Hmmm noticing a common trend yet with me? The mixture was looking crumbly and I was digging it. Come to find out, it was salted butter unlike what it had called for. In an attempt to counteract the savory, I added more brown sugar and the rest of the apple I had peeled and cut.
My "buttermilk" mixture almost ruined my precious scones! You know when you are in the middle of cooking or baking and you say to yourself " I done messed up"? ME! The dough was so wet and sticky. I even Googled what scone dough (batter, hell I don't know) should look like and the stock photos didn't help. I couldn't use these examples of perfection as a reference. Was this from the liquid concoction I had added or the extra apple I wanted in my scones?
Taking a note from what I learned from my mother, if something isn't thick enough add more flour so I did. It made it easier to manipulate and semi form a ball. The recipe didn't give a suggestion on thickness of the dough just the diameter (maybe I missed it) so tried and true I guesstimated. I like the coffee shop jumbo scones so I wasn't aiming to roll them out in the fear they would become crunchy.
I cut my lump of a dough ball into eight pieces and knew I had to stick them in the freezer to keep the butter chilled. JOKES ON ME. I live in an apartment with a small freezer that made it impossible to fit the pan. I settled for the fridge to keep them cold followed by a Google search if that is was an unforgivable sin. I Google everything from baking do's and don'ts to WebMD to diagnosis myself, I'm that girl.
Even if you don't like scones bake this for the pure aroma of it in your apartment. WOW. Despite all the issues I created for myself, the texture and flavor of these scones were spot on.
From the hot mess baker to the introverted baker, thanks for the recipe!
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Source:
Apple Cinnamon Scones Recipe:
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