May 24, 2013

Apricot Cream Cheese Scones

The Geologist is off on another trip, this time backpacking in Arkansas with his brothers!! *grumble grumble* I'm too nice. I can't refuse him much of anything. I also happen to adore his brothers, so I can't deny them much either. Well, I'm lucky that I love my in-laws, right? Silver lining? Whenever he's gone, all I want to eat is junk food. Sad, really. Eat junk food, and watch lots and lots of movies. Instead of junk, I made these scones, which don't count because they're homemade! And instead of movies, I'm giving Doctor Who another try. I heard that Stephen Moffat, the writer of my FAVORITE show, Sherlock, has been writing the latest season, so my interest is re-kindled. We'll see!




Apricot Cream Cheese Scones (adapted from King Arthur Flour)
Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one orange
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz (half package) cream cheese, cold
4 Tb cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced dried apricots
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk, plus 1 to 2 Tb more, if needed
milk/cream and coarse sugar for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside. In a small bowl, rub the zest into the sugar.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, orange sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the cream cheese and butter, using a pastry blender, fork, a mixer, or your fingers, until the chunks of butter are the size of small peas. Stir in the apricots till well-coated with flour.

In a separate bowl (or glass measuring cup) whisk together the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir together until the dough is evenly moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and fold it together several times, until it holds together and all floury bits are incorporated. Pat the dough into a circle, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the circle into 6 or 8 wedges, depending on how big you want your scones. You can also divide into 2 circles to make mini scones!

Brush the tops lightly with milk/cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place the scones about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the tops are light golden brown. Let cool a few minutes, and serve warm!
I cut mine into 6 wedges, and they made nice, big, FAT scones. Next time I'm going to try mini's. I just happened to have found some clotted cream recently, and I always have lemon curd around these days...
Ohhh, so scrumptious! These are the richest scones I've tasted. You can definitely tell a difference with the cream cheese in them! They made me think of shortcakes, actually, and I'm going to try them again, without apricots, as strawberry shortcakes!
Rich and lightly sweet, perfect slightly soft and crumbly scone texture, yummy little chewy bits of apricot, delicious all around! I may or may not have had two of these scone sandwiches for dinner... and nothing else... Hey, it's better than taffy!

1 comment :

  1. Oh wow..wish I had a piece with tea..or better, cuppa coffee, lol.. Thanks for the recipe. Have a great week.
    FABBY

    ReplyDelete

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