Apple Scones

I am currently desperate for ways to use up apples.  I have about two dozen sitting on the table in our kitchen.  These scones were an excellent way to make use of two of them.  I stuck pretty close to the original recipe, here, because I don’t think I’ve ever made scones before and didn’t want to go too far out on a limb.  I doubled the amount of shredded apple the recipe called for.  As a consequence, these have a very pronounced apple flavor.  They turned out great – tender and crumbly.  They were delicious warm out of the oven and I look forward to making use of them as an on-the-go breakfast snack drizzled with some honey.  In the future, I would probably keep this as one bigger, thicker disc to make some larger scones.  However, these are really great for snack time and were absolutely delicious.  So delicious, in fact, I was inspired to make a savory scone version, which I will be posting in the near future.

The idea to make scones reminded me of that one of my very early culinary inspirations were squirrels, mice, otters, and moles cooking up victory feasts.  Whenever I hear the word scones, I think of the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques, which I was obsessed with as a girl.  The woodland creatures were always holding feasts for all sorts of things, and scones of both the sweet and savory variety were a prominent menu item.  I know I made several recipes I found on the internet way back in the day – back when it took several minutes of screeching and beeping followed by a “Welcome!” to connect to your favorite websites.  There is, to this day, an entire website devoted to Redwall culinary delights – The Redwall Kitchen.  I did not make use of the website with this particular recipe, though now that I am perusing the website I got some pretty good ideas.  A bonus is that almost all of the recipes are vegetarian or pescatarian.

Apple Scones

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Makes about 12 small scones

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup butter, chilled (4 tbs.)

2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and shredded (yields about 2 cups)

1/2 cup plus 2 tbs. milk

2 tbs. white sugar

2 tbs. ground cinnamon

Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450º.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until crumbly.  Fold in shredded apple.  Using your hands, slowly work in 1/2 cup milk.  Combine by hand until it just comes together to form a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to combine.  Pat into two 6″ circles about 1/2″ thick.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet sprayed with nonstick.  Brush tops with remaining 2 tbs. milk and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.