Monday, April 23, 2007

White Chocolate Apricot Scones

This recipe comes from "Bread for Breakfast" by Beth Hensberger, a book which I requested interlibrary loan after seeing a form of these scones on Cream Puffs in Venice, one of my favorite baking blogs.

Bread for Breakfast looks like it has some great stuff - I have my eye on the rhubarb coffee cake for the weekend, since rhubarb is still in season right now.

These scones are an amazing combo of fruit and sweet - if my husband didn't have nut issues I think the salty crunch of the nut would have been a nice addition. I had a tupperware of white chocolate chips just begging to be used. I made these in one of my most recent kitchen acquisitions - a scone pan! Instead of having to cut out dough or cut it into wedges (which is admittedly not that hard), I just plop the dough into the pre-wedged circle and they come out beautifully!

Apricot, White Chocolate and [Walnut] Scones

Makes 8 scones

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, plus more, as needed
4 oz white chocolate, cut into 1/2" chunks, or 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a fork, cut in the butter until it has the texture of soft crumbs.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and stir until the dough forms a soft, shaggy ball, adding additional buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time, as needed. Add the white chocolate, walnuts, and apricots, stirring until evenly distributed.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently about 10 times, or just until the dough holds together. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each dough piece into a 1-inch-thick round, 6 inches in diameter. Using a sharp knife, cut each round into 4 wedges.

5. Place the wedges 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake on the center rack of the oven 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on the baking sheet. Serve the scones the day they are baked.

Jenny's notes: I of course omitted the nuts. I think this would be good with pecans too.

I prefer to mix the butter in with my fingertips, like I was making biscuits. And I mixed the apricots and chips into the flour butter mixture before lightly mixing in the liquids. This is the order all of my favorite scones recipes do it, and I believe it keeps the dough from getting overmixed and becoming too heavy.

These would look very pretty cut out into spring shapes!

Categories: Apricots, Baked Fruit, Buttermilk, Scones

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm, that looks delicious!! Too bad I live alone and would be way too prone to eat it all in one sitting... :)

Anonymous said...

They're gorgeous, Jenny!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I've come so close to getting a scone pan over the years. These are beautiful!
Welcome to the Daring Bakers.

Helene said...

Jenny: I now live in Charleston, but spend 2 years in Greenville when newlyweds. My husband's sister is in Greenville still. I miss the mountains!

Elle said...

Not only does this look YUM, but i checked out some recent other posts and they all look amazing. You even did a very fine Red Velvet Cake. Welcome the the Daring Bakers! We are lucky to have you join.

Cheryl said...

Love, love, love scones. Yours look fantastic.

Hello to another new Daring Baker.

Anonymous said...

OMG these look completely and wonderfully luscious. I'll give 'em a workout this Sunday.

Karen Baking Soda said...

Trying to catch up reading fellow new Daring Bakers! Those scones are looking yummy! Beth Hensperger recipes are a favourite of mine.

Peabody said...

Mmmm scones. Always so good...the apricot and white chocolate is a nice touch.

Anonymous said...

Scone pan?! So THAT is the secret!

I was wondering the secret of the uniformity in all your recent scone photos. I'll have to look for one because the bread knife just isn't cutting them as well as it used to.