Scones for all & sundry ~ Ham Pie Sandwiches

26 September 2012

Scones for all & sundry

maple oat multigrain scones

My friend Jen is having her kitchen remodeled this fall. So a few days ago she brought over a crate of her displaced baking supplies. A crate of supplies that I needed to fit into our already largely full kitchen cabinets. Hmm.

Clearly, I needed to bake with my newfound bounty immediately, so I poked around until I found a recipe that used quite a lot of our new stash. Flour? Check. Oats? Check. 10-grain cereal mix? No, but I could sub it for some of the oats for more interest. Brown sugar? Check. It's time for scones!

I tend to shift recipes around to use whatever we have, so it's not a surprise that I switched out ordinary AP flour for whole wheat cake flour, or that I used milk instead of heavy cream, or that I omitted the pecans (which we might have actually had buried somewhere in the freezer). Also, since we're not particularly into sweets, I decided to cut the maple glaze from the original recipe. I also wanted to be able to put the finished scones in the toaster oven without worrying about glaze dripping everywhere. So.

These guys were easy to make, but a bit sticky to shape and cut. I'm thinking this was because 10-grain cereal mix is quite a bit less powdery than the ground oats given in the initial recipe. Next time, I'd probably knead in 1/4 cup more flour. Still, the end product turned out just about perfect--just barely sweet, with a bit of a toothy crunch from the corn in the cereal mix.

maple oat multigrain scones

Maple oat multigrain scones
Adapted from Eating Out Loud

1 1/2 cup whole wheat cake flour (or AP)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup 10-grain cereal mix (or oat flour)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1 beaten egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C. Prep a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Mix together your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add your cold butter, cut into small chunks. My butter was frozen, so I grated it into the bowl instead of breaking my arm trying to blend it manually. Mix your butter into your flour mix, using a pastry cutter or two forks, until the butter bits are the size of small peas.

In a separate bowl, beat an egg and mix it with the maple syrup and milk. Pour the wet mix into the dry and gently fold with a large spoon until the dough comes together. Flour your hands and the counter, give the dough a few quick kneads, pat it into a circle an inch or so thick, and cut it into eight sections. Deposit your scones onto your baking sheet, spaced a bit apart to give them room to rise.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until your scones are just golden brown around the edges. Cool on a rack for as long as you can stand it.

These guys are good all by themselves, but they're especially good warmed, split apart, and slathered with butter. Jam is also an excellent option. I like apricot best with oats, personally.

Hooray! The next several days of breakfast are all taken care of!

6 comments:

Jes said...

Those scones look almost savory--definitely along the lines of what I love!

kristina said...

These sound almost like a cross between oatcakes and scones, which is no bad thing, since I love both!

I'll have to go get some apricot preserves, that does sound really good. Or maybe laziness will prevail and we can just pour over more maple syrup? :)

Michelle said...

Scones are one of my favorite pastries!

Caz said...

I bet they would be great for breakfast with some jam. Hungry now!

Stacy G. said...

I must have scones and hot tea now! And maybe a LOTR marathon to go with them.

fabiola@notjustbaked said...

Scones are the best!