Pumpkin Scones with Do-it-Yourself Cinnamon Chips

Ahh, yes, cinnamon chips. They were one of those newish ingredients I was loathe to try when they first appeared in the grocery store a couple of years ago, because they just sounded too fake to me. I envisioned little waxy textured, synthetically-flavored dots of hardened goo. It wasn't hard to tamp down what was a very moderate curiosity to begin with. I passed them by in the market week after week. No backward glance. Something--I knew not what--would have to legitimize cinnamon chips before I would trade cold hard cash to procure them.

And then, about a year and a half ago, I discovered King Arthur Flour's mini-cinnamon chips--better in quality than what I'd seen at the grocery store, no doubt. I bought a small bag, tested them out in a recipe, and found they were actually pretty darn good. So good, in fact, that I was miffed to realize I was completely out of them when I began assembling my ingredients to make these pumpkin scones the other day.  Not a single King Arthur cinnamon chip to be found on the premises. My choices? Use something besides cinnamon chips in the scones (mini chocolate chips? chopped candied ginger? chopped pecans or walnuts? raisins?); leave them plain (still good, but boring); or take a stab at making my own quick-and-easy chips at home. I picked the Do-It-Yourself option.

I had a sizable chunk of Callebaut white chocolate on hand, so I cut off a modest wedge, melted it slowly and carefully in the microwave, mixed in a scant teaspoon of ground cinnamon, spread the mixture thinly onto a piece of plastic wrap, sprinkled more cinnamon over that, laid another piece of plastic wrap over that, and slid it into the freezer for less than five minutes. Once rigid as a board, I broke the cinnamon-chips-to-be into a zillion tiny pieces, added them into my scone batter, and voila! Homemade cinnamon chips in homemade pumpkin scones. Sensational.

What, I ask you, is autumn without a nice warm batch of pumpkin scones cooling on the kitchen table? I dare not think.

About this recipe . . . 

Adapted from a King Arthur recipe aptly titled Harvest Pumpkin Scones, I made only a couple of small changes to the formula. I used a little more pumpkin than called for, along with a smidgen of 1/2 and 1/2; my dough, otherwise, would have been extremely dry. I also reduced the amount of allspice by half. I used homemade cinnamon chips, and I reworded the recipe to reflect my actual steps.

Pumpkin Scones with Do-it-Yourself Cinnamon Chips

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Yield: 8 large scones.

No mixer needed for this recipe (yay!).

Ingredients for the homemade cinnamon chips:

3 oz. of good quality white chocolate, or white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
and
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Ingredients for the scone dough:

2 and 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I use fresh grated, and buy the whole nutmeg at a Penzey's spice store.)
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tablespoon 1/2 &1/2 (or use milk)
2 eggs, large

A few tablespoons coarse white sugar (aka sanding sugar) to sprinkle on the scones before baking
2 tablespoons of 1/2 &1/2 or milk

To make the cinnamon chips:

Melt the white chocolate slowly and carefully in your microwave, or melt it in a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water on the stove. If you do it on the stove, be sure no water at all gets into the bowl with the white chocolate. Stir the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into the melted white chocolate thoroughly. Spread out a small sheet of plastic wrap on a flat surface. While the chocolate is still very warm, spread it out thinly on the plastic wrap using a spatula or bowl scraper. Sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon over that. Cover it with another sheet of plastic wrap. Put it in the freezer for five minutes. Take it out when it's stiff as a board. Break it up into mini-chip-size pieces.

To make the scone dough:

Whisk together, in a large mixing bowl, the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

Using a pastry blender, a fork, or even your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly. It's fine if some small lumps remain. Toss all of the homemade cinnamon chips in and stir to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and canned pumpkin. Pour all of this into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until it comes together into a solid dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and pat it into a ball.

Press the dough with your hands into a large circle, at least 10 inches in diameter and 3/4" thick. Using a sharp knife or a pastry wheel, cut the circle, pie-style, into 8 even triangles. Lay the triangles on a parchment covered baking sheet. I bake my scones so they're not sitting right next to each other, and they have a chance get golden brown all over; you may also choose to bake them about 1/2" apart from each other so they'll end up slightly attached and less crispy on the sides. Brush the tops of each one with half and half, and sprinkle generously with coarse/sanding sugar or regular granulated sugar (coarse sugar will be more sparkly, once baked).

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Now put the scones, still on the baking sheet, into the freezer for about 20 minutes. (This step is a recommendation from KAF, and I think it really does seem to add to the scones' oven spring. They puff up nicely.)

Bake the scones for at least 20 minutes. They are done when they're golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out completely clean. Serve them warm or cold. Best the first day, but still pretty good the second!

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Spelt Scones with Dried Tropical Fruit . . . Taking Spelt for a Spin!

I wasn't sure just how I was going to feel about these scones, never having used spelt before, but I'm  pleased to report that they exceeded all of my expectations. Strange word, spelt. What the heck is it anyway? Sounds like something you'd find piled on the ground in a greenhouse, doesn't it? "Just dump that load of spelt over there, right next to the cedar mulch."

The first thing one tends to hear about spelt flour, it seems to me, is that it's an ancient grain dating back to the 5th millennium BC and, secondly, that it's quite nutritious. Made from the whole grain, spelt flour is uniquely mild and subtly sweet. It works well in recipes mixed with some white flour, and it doesn't add nearly the same heaviness as typical whole-grain wheat flour.

Spelt's flavor doesn't come on strong. If regular whole wheat flour struts up to your taste buds like a muddy paratrooper, spelt flour saunters up slowly, like a waiter in a white jacket who doesn't want to interrupt the conversation.

I actually made two slightly different batches of scones using this recipe. First, the wedge-shaped scones that are pictured with chopped, dried, tropical fruits (kiwi, mango, papaya, and pineapple; I didn't end up liking the taste of the dried star-fruit, so I left that one out).

And then, pictured below, I made a  softer dough (I added in a bit more cream) to make drop scones; for those I used only dried, sweet, Michigan (of course!) cherries. I brushed cream on the top of all the unbaked scones and sprinkled them with sanding sugar. Both varieties were very good. All of my males (that would be the hubby, the almost-15-year-old, and the 18-year-old) liked them a lot.

Like all scones--well, all the scones I've ever had the pleasure to meet--these are definitely best the first day, as they tend to dry out quickly. Second day, they benefit from being warmed before serving. Warmth revives them.

About this recipe . . .

From the 2010 book, Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce, this recipe is one of many from that source I'd love to try. Cleverly organized by flour type, it recently won the James Beard Award in the baking and dessert book category. I changed the recipe slightly (it originally included only currants, and wasn't patted out and baked in wedges, among other things), and reworded it to reflect exactly what I did.


Spelt Scones with Dried Tropical Fruit (Kiwi, Mango, Papaya, and Pineapple)

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Yield: 8 or more good-sized pieces, formed either as wedges (cut pie-style) or as drop scones

1 and 1/4 cups spelt flour (I used Bob's Red Mill brand.) 
1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar (Doesn't sound like much, but the sugar on the dried fruit, along with the fruit itself, lends sweetness as well.) 
1/2 tsp. coarse kosher salt

2 oz. cold unsalted butter (1/2 of one stick), cut into 1/2" chunks
1/2 cup (Or add a little more if you like!) mixture of chopped, dried, tropical fruits (I used chopped, dried kiwi, mango, papaya, and pineapple; or, try sweet dried cherries instead.)
1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream, plus a couple extra tablespoons for brushing on the unbaked scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the first five ingredients, putting back into the bowl anything that didn't sift through (like, perhaps, some of the kosher salt).

Toss the cold butter chunks into the bowl, and begin pinching the butter into the dry mix with your fingertips. Keep doing this until it's the texture of fine cornmeal (Or, if you're squeamish, do this with a hand-held pastry blender, or even an old-fashioned potato masher. I've done it all three ways for scones, and it always works!) 

Pour in all of the dried fruit and stir it in evenly. Make a well in the center and, if you want your dough to be quite moist for drop scones pour in all of the cream.

If you want your dough to be slightly firmer in order to pat out a circle and make wedges, hold back 3 to 4 Tbsp. of the heavy cream.

Stir just until the dry mixture is more or less evenly moistened.

For drop scones, simply drop 8 large spoonfuls onto your parchment covered baking sheet, being sure to leave adequate space between each one. (No need to tidy up each "drop" but you certainly can if you wish. Might want to flour your fingers first.) For wedge scones, first dust a sheet of parchment lightly with flour. Plop the entire amount of thick, doughy batter onto the center of the parchment, and flour your hands well. Pat the dough into a circle about 10" in diameter.

Using a sharp pizza/pastry wheel (or a very sharp chef's knife) dipped first in flour, quickly cut the circle into 8 wedges, pie fashion.

Using a thin metal spatula if needed, gently lift each wedge and place it evenly on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Using a pastry brush, lightly brush heavy cream onto the tops of the scones and then sprinkle them with coarse/sanding sugar (granulated sugar will do fine as well, but the coarser sugars look more sparkly once baked). 

Bake the scones at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or so, until the scones are golden on top and bottom.

Let them cool a few minutes on a rack before diving in. (Excellent served warm with butter--you heard it from me.) Best eaten the day they're made.

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Blueberry Buttermilk Scones . . .

I can hardly believe that the new school year begins in just over two weeks. My younger son, the 14 year old, prefers that I refrain from even bringing up this topic. Whenever I happen to do so, he glares at me as if I've just suggested it might be fun to tour a maximum security prison.

He's going to be in the 9th grade, just entering high school, and the scuttlebutt he's heard regarding the increased homework load has him a little less than enthusiastic about the whole scenario. I suppose it's fear of the unknown that's driving his mood, and you know what they say  about that--our imagined fears are almost always far, far worse than any reality.  Luckily, he's a highly capable, intelligent kid and I know he'll be just fine but, in light of his frame of mind, I've decided to try and lay off the school-related comments for now. We'll let the illusion of endless summer continue on the home-front for a few more days. I figure it can't hurt.

So, in that spirit, and probably up until summer's officially packed it in, I'm going to keep on baking summery foods, like today's blueberry buttermilk scones. These are tender and mellow, just like a lazy summer afternoon.

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)


2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 and 1/2 cups All Purpose flour (I used unbleached)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (if using kosher salt, add in a pinch extra)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
1 egg, large
1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen Maine blueberries; they're small and sweet)

3 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter, for brushing on the scones
3 Tbsp. coarse/sanding sugar, for sprinkling

In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk, whipping cream, and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the large bowl of a food processor, blend the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda by pulsing quickly a few times. Add in the butter chunks, and pulse to form a coarse textured mixture. (Or, if you prefer not to use a food processor, do these two steps by hand, cutting in the butter with a pastry blender.) Dump all of this into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Into the well add the egg, the extracts, and the buttermilk mixture. Stir to make a soft dough. Fold in the blueberries and stir just to combine.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough gently a few times, incorporating more flour as needed until the dough is firm and no longer sticky.

Pat the dough out into a circle that's 1" thick all over. Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 to 12 wedges, like a pie. Place the pieces on the parchment covered baking sheet. Brush melted butter over the top of each piece and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake the scones for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Definitely best the first day, when they're very fresh. 

Recipe full disclosure! This recipe was adapted from one in Marcy Goldman's book, A Passion for Baking (2007, Oxmoor House). Her original recipe is for a blackberry-blueberry scone made largely with heavy cream, and topped with a honey and butter glaze. I changed the formula by using only blueberries, by reducing the amount of heavy cream and adding in buttermilk instead, by adjusting the extracts used, and by omitting the honey-butter glaze and opting for melted butter and coarse sugar on the top of the scones.

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Honey & Lemon Oat Scones . . .

Walking past the pristine and pricey merchandise, their aroma was evident well before they were actually in view. Scenting the air with the warmth of toasted nuts, melting chocolate, fresh berries, and citrus--they could only be scones. Casually displayed and generously portioned, Britt's cafeteria produced dozens of them day in and day out. Office workers and attorneys, parking attendants and bankers alike beat a weekday-morning path to procure them. Intent and determined, Britt's customers bore the expression of pilgrims on a crusade--they weren't fooling around. Once having obtained the object of affection, they'd scurry back out of the big glass doors, each one securely clutching a small paper bag, an expression of modest accomplishment on every face.

That's what I thought of this morning as I was trying to remember when I'd tasted my very first scone. I was in my twenties, and working for a publishing company in downtown Detroit. Britt's was a small restaurant of sorts, tucked oddly into the far corner of an upscale office supply store. It was a quick walk from my desk to the elevator, down eight floors, out the door of the historic Penobscot Building, then right around the corner.

Britt's scones were not necessarily traditional. Made from dough that was neither rolled nor cut, they were obviously prepared quickly, like drop biscuits, thus their irregular shape and often varying size. But, oh, were they good. Floury and soft within, crumbly and tender crisp on the outside. My favorite was the strawberry scone, plump with rosy chunks of fresh ripe berries throughout. If memory serves correctly, they also offered currant, chocolate chip, blueberry, and lemon poppy-seed. I must have tried them all.

No one was pleased when Britt's, after several years in that location, closed its doors for good. It was a shame in every way, but at least that unique little place left a firm and fond impression.

And so began my love affair with scones . . .

These particular scones don't fall into the fluffy and tender category. They're more along the lines of substantial and chewy. Definitely on the healthier end of the vast scone spectrum. (Recipe attribution info is included further down, under Recipe Full Disclosure!)

Honey & Lemon Oat Scones

(For a printable copy of this recipe, click here)

2 cups All Purpose flour (bleached or unbleached is fine)
1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats (I used quick)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, very cold, and cut into small chunks
2 tsp. fresh lemon zest

1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup honey (I used wildflower honey)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter
2 tsp. sanding, or granulated, sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk. Add in the lemon zest and stir it in with a fork.

Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter chunks well, until there are no large pieces left.

In a small bowl, whisk together the beaten egg, honey, buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Pour the liquid mixture into the well, and mix together with a spoon just enough to evenly moisten the dry ingredients and form a soft dough.


With floured hands, gather the dough into a clump and dump it onto a lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a circle roughly 9" in circumference.


Using a sharp knife or a pizza wheel, cut the pieces into 12 triangles, like you would a pie.


Place each piece about an inch apart on the lined cookie sheet. Melt the 1 Tbsp. of butter, and brush some of that on the top of each piece. Sprinkle a pinch of sanding sugar, or granulated sugar, on top of each buttered piece of dough.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until just lightly browned on the top and bottom. They bake quickly, so check on them early.

Serve warm or cold, with honey, of course!


Recipe full disclosure! I adapted this recipe from this link, at The Herb Companion.com.
It called for lemon verbena leaves, which I have never even seen let alone used, so I left those out. It also called for the use of more lemon zest and juice than I thought expedient. Yogurt was included but I had none on hand so I decided to substitute buttermilk. I added in the part about brushing melted butter and sprinkling sugar on the top of the scones before baking. I rewrote the directions, too.


P. S. If you liked this honey & lemon oat scone recipe, you might also like the recipes in these past posts:

Apple Oat Scones

Cream Scones with Sweet Dried Cherries

Strawberry Scones

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Hearty Apple-Oatmeal Scones . . . Thank you, Autumn!

Apples, apples, apples--yes, they're most decidedly still on my mind, and so we have today's scone recipe. This is a really good one, that I adapted, from Marion Cunningham's little gem, The Breakfast Book. She calls hers Oatmeal Raisin Scones.

I substantially altered the recipe in order to accommodate diced apple pieces and a handful of well-chopped pecans, and I removed the raisins altogether. I changed the amount of sugar (upping it just slightly), and instead of using buttermilk I used an equal-parts combo of milk and sour cream. Oh, and I also added in a bit of cinnamon. I rewrote the instructions almost completely and changed a few steps along the way.

These are delicious and truly hearty. They're not light and fluffy in the way that classic cream scones are--those are a somewhat different animal. These are a bit chewy (but not in a gum-chewy way) and pleasantly nutty from those pecans. They won't make you feel like you're eating a piece of gooey coffee cake, nor will they supply you with a sugar rush. You won't have to take your own blood pressure after you've eaten one. They're nicely toothsome, one might say (I love that old word . . . thus I am using it again . . . please forgive moi.)

Well, in the interest of time, I will restrain myself from blathering on further (yes, I am feeling alright, thanks for asking) and simply present you with the recipe. Oh, and there's no mixer needed for these (I love that about scones). Hope you like them!


Apple Oatmeal Scones

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

This generous recipe makes 16 good-sized scones (you can halve the recipe if you prefer, or make the whole batch and pop the extras in the freezer as soon as they're cool).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4 cups All Purpose flour (I used bleached)
3 cups rolled oats (I used quick oats but I assume old-fashioned oats are fine, too.)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 and 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 lb. (2 sticks/1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold and firm, cut into grape-sized chunks
1 cup milk (I used 2 percent--that's what I usually have on hand)
1 cup regular-fat sour cream
1 and 1/2 cups diced apple pieces (I used Honeycrisp apples--they're firm and sweet, and don't turn to mush in the oven; I only needed one extra-large apple to make 1 and 1/2 cups of pieces)
1/2 cup well-chopped pecans (if you prefer, leave them out; they really do enhance the overall flavor and texture, though)
2 or 3 Tbsp. of sanding sugar or granulated sugar


In a large (it must be large) mixing bowl, place the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir well to completely combine.

Toss in the butter chunks. Cut them in with a pastry blender or your hands (I used both!) until the mixture has a lot of coarse looking, good-sized crumbs.

Add in the apple pieces and stir to fully coat them.

In a medium bowl, stir together the milk and sour cream until you see most of the larger lumps disappear.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the milk-sour cream mixture. Stir well to combine, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

Add in the pecans, if you're using them. Stir just to combine.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Flour your hands. There will be a lot of dough so you'll need to divide it in half. Put one half back in the bowl while you work with the other. Knead the dough on the floured surface about 3 times. Pat it out into a circle approximately 10" round and 1/2" thick.

Using a sharp pizza cutter or a very sharp knife. divide the circle into 8 equal sections, just like you'd cut a pizza. Using a rigid spatula, pick up each piece and put it on one of your lined cookie sheets. Place the scones at least 1" apart. Sprinkle sanding sugar (or granulated sugar) on the top of each one.

Prepare the second pan of scones for baking. You can bake two pans at the same time without fear of catastrophe.

Bake them until they're nicely golden, about 20 minutes or so. Check them earlier than that, though, to make sure they're not overbrowning too fast. Cover them lightly with foil if that seems to be happening.

Cool them on their pans for a few minutes, then either serve them warm or let them cool completely on racks. Yummy served warm with butter (of course!), but they really are completely tasty on their own.

(Say, would somebody out there please start the coffee? I just can't eat one of these without it.)

* * * *

Recipe full disclosure!: As I said above, I got the idea for this recipe from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book, published by Knopf in 1987. All of the changes I made are all detailed within this post.


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Cream Scones with Sweet Dried Cherries . . .

About a month ago, I bought a little package of the best dried cherries I've ever tasted in my life. (I purchased them on that same trip to Detroit's Eastern Market that I talked about in my hearty coconut bread post, remember?) Though I planned to use them all for baking, I wasn't able to resist putting a few of them on my breakfast cereal, and nibbling a couple now and then when the urge hit me. So enamored was I that I made my husband taste them, and he immediately concurred that they were exceptionally good (the word he actually used was "succulent," and he wasn't even joking).

Now, I like dried fruit, but I am not really a huge fan of its use in baked goods. Let's face it--dried fruits don't enhance a recipe in the same way fresh fruits do. They do their own thing, which is fine, but to appreciate them you simply have to be in the mood. These fine cherries put me in the mood so I used them today in cream scones. They are so unlike any other dried cherries/berries I've ever tried, that I had to tell you about them.

What's so special about them? Maybe it has to do with their incredible freshness; they were almost juicy, right out of the package. The flavor was just . . . well . . . it was perfection. I think I was momentarily speechless when I tasted them that first time. I probably looked like I'd just opened the door to the Publishers' Clearinghouse Prize Patrol, in dried cherry form. And the fact that they came from Michigan cherry trees deepened my already considerable affection for them. (As you may already know, I'm a born and bred Michigander, and I think there's almost nothing more beautiful than a northern Michigan cherry orchard bursting with crimson fruit. Anyway, before I get further carried away, here's a link to Germack, the Detroit-based company that produces the dried cherries--check it out.)

So, in light of all that, I just had to share this recipe. Besides featuring fantastic cherries, it is my very favorite scone recipe. It hails largely from The Breakfast Book, by Marion Cunningham (whose big claim to fame is the complete revision of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook--no small feat!). Her version contains raisins, apricots, prunes, and/or figs. My version uses cherries only, slightly less butter, and slightly less sugar. These scones can be quickly mixed up by hand, and could be easily assembled in the morning for a nice breakfast. Then again, they are so utterly delicious, feel free to indulge in them no matter what the clock says.

Give these a try-- they won't let you down!


Cream Scones with Sweet Dried Cherries

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2 cups All Purpose flour, bleached
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus an additional 2 Tbsp. set aside
3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1 and 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix together with a whisk or fork.

Pour in the dried cherries and mix them in with a fork.


Pour in the cream and combine with dry ingredients still using a fork. Mix until the dough coheres together in a rough shaggy clump.



Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it about 9 times.--not too much.


Pat the dough into a circle roughly 10" round.


Using a pizza cutter, bench scraper, or a really sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 even wedges. Place the wedges on the parchment covered cookie sheet, about 1" apart.


Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter on the top of each scone.


Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the top of each one.


Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes; check them early so they don't overbrown. Take them out when they're golden brown. Cool on a rack for a few minutes.

Great served warm, with butter or plain. Store any extra scones in a well covered container, or a Zip-Loc bag. They're definitely best the first day.

And, yes, they are hard hard hard to resist.



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