I hosted Book Group this week and decided to make scones for the dessert. These were the first and they were delicious! Really, really good. They aren’t hard to make but they are a bit time consuming. Here’s a closer look

SCONES

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup real maple syrup

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour plus more for dusting

2/3 cup rolled oats plus more for sprinkling

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces

heavy cream for brushing

MAPLE ICING

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup powdered sugar

1 For the scones, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2 In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla. Refrigerate until ready to use.

3 In the bowl of your food processor, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt and pulse a few times to combine. Add butter and pulse again until flour coated pieces are the size of peas, 8 – 10 pulses. Transfer dry ingredients to a large bowl. Add refrigerated wed ingredients to dry and fold with a spatula just until combined. The dough will be shaggy.

4 Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 4 – 6 times until dough comes together. Pat dough gently into a square and then roll it into a 12″ square. Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter. Fold the dough into thirds again by folding in the short ends, making a square. Transfer to prepared sheet pan and freeze for 10 minutes.

5 Return dough to work surface and shape it into an 8″ square, about 1″ thick. Use a 2 1/2″ biscuit cutter to cut out rounds then place on prepared sheet pan. Repeat with remaining dough for more scones. Freeze scones while oven preheats.

6 Put oven rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375.

7 Brush tops only of scones with heavy cream. Place another sheet pan under the pan holding the scones and bake, rotating halfway through, until tops are golden brown, about 18 – 25 minutes. Let scones cool slightly.

8 For the icing, while scones bake, in a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt. Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Using the back of a spoon, top each scone with icing and a sprinkle of oats.

recipe from The Vanilla Bean Blog