I always love scones, but you never know that you are going to get. Cake-y springy scones, tough dried-out scones, or the perfect kind that are soft (but not like cake) and with a crunch when you bite into them.
These fit the bill. I did change the recipe. See below. I had a cup or so of leftover cream cheese frosting (from the carrot cake I made last week.) King Arthur uploaded this recipe to Facebook yesterday, so here we are.
The best part about baking these this morning while we having a downpour all day in Florida, was that I got all the ingredients together last night. I grated sweet Florida carrots and stored them in a plastic container. I mixed the flour, salt, ginger, and baking powder together in a covered bowl. I chopped the butter into tiny squares and put it in the freezer. I measured the cream and refrigerated it with the egg. I measured the 1/2 c. brown sugar and set it aside in a Ziploc. I toasted the pecans and chopped them.
I slept late this morning because I had been up since 2:15 am yesterday (woke to a circling helicopter and found out it was a manhunt!) When I got downstairs this morning, it was a perfect time to make the scones.
- 2/3 c. pecans
- 1 very large Florida carrot grated or 1-1/4 cups
- 1/2 - 1 cut up candied ginger bits (cut from candied ginger or commercially packaged)
- 1/2 heavy cream
- 6 T unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 2-1/3 flour
- 3/4 t salt
- 1 tsp ginger
- 2-1/4 tsp baking powder
Set oven temp for toasted pecans to 400 degrees. (You will turn this down to 375 degrees right as you place the baking sheet in the oven.
*Original recipe called for 1/2 tsp ginger, and1/2 tsp cinnamon and King Arthur Cinnamon Sweet Bits. I left out the cinnamon and Cinnamon Bits and replaced with more ginger and candied ginger.
Mix the flour, salt, ginger and baking powder well. Add the butter and mix well with your fingers or with a pastry blender until all butter has been mixed in. I suppose you could do this with a food processor, processing just until the mixture looks like flour but there are no butter chunks visible.
Whisk the cream, egg and sugar together. Make a well in the flour/butter mixture and then use a
flexible spatula or your buttered hands to mix just until no more flour shows as separate to the dough.
Mold 1/2 the dough on parchment into a round about 4" by 1". Do the same with the other 1/2. Place the rounds in the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes.
Cut the rounds with a large knife into 8 triangles each. Place on parchment on a baking sheet and turn oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool off the baking sheet.
Frost with a cream-cheese frosting. If not using a frosting, use a pastry brush and extra cream on the scones and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar.
