Scones are my favorite! I love scones of all flavors, shapes, sizes, color, and creed. Today I made my first attempt at my own and actually followed a recipe to the letter (no substitutions *gasp*). I got it from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook and since this was a special weekend breakfast treat, I decided not to tamper with the recipe and risk a scone disaster. Despite my best efforts, however, when it came time to knead out the dough, it was way too wet and sticky, making a total mess. I thought maybe this was because I let the butter get too soft, after refrigerating the dough overnight without any better results, I think I must have mis-measured the flour (which would be totally typical). So this morning when I attempted to roll out the dough again, I sprinkled about half a cup of whole wheat pastry flour over it, which seemed to do the trick. They baked for about 15 minutes and were DELISH (and more filling for fewer cals than the last batch of muffins, which are supposed to be a healthy, non-treat breakfast)! Definitely better warm though, because I tried a bite of a cooled one earlier this evening when I was putting them away to freeze (hopefully they freeze well..) and it was nothing like the fresh out of the oven taste. So if you make these and don't eat them all at once, pop 'em in the toaster oven for a few minutes before serving.
Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, sliced
3/4 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks (ok, I might have used a little less)
1 lg egg
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup skim milk and 1T vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking sheets with canola oil.
Whisk flours through salt together in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter pieces into the dry mix until resembles bread crumbs (*butter must be v. cold!). Add the cherries and chocolate and mix with a fork.
Whisk remaining wet ingredients in a small bowl and add all at once to the dry mix. Stir with a fork until mixed. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 3-4 times. I separated the dough in two and cut one half into 6 large scones, and the other into 8 medium sized scones. The recipe says to brush the tops with milk and/or coarse sugar, but I did neither. Bake for 15-22 minutes until golden brown. They rise a lot, so don't despair if they look very small going in!
Recipe yields 16 scones at 220 calories, 3g fiber each.
Here's the recipe:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, sliced
3/4 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks (ok, I might have used a little less)
1 lg egg
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup skim milk and 1T vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking sheets with canola oil.
Whisk flours through salt together in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter pieces into the dry mix until resembles bread crumbs (*butter must be v. cold!). Add the cherries and chocolate and mix with a fork.
Whisk remaining wet ingredients in a small bowl and add all at once to the dry mix. Stir with a fork until mixed. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 3-4 times. I separated the dough in two and cut one half into 6 large scones, and the other into 8 medium sized scones. The recipe says to brush the tops with milk and/or coarse sugar, but I did neither. Bake for 15-22 minutes until golden brown. They rise a lot, so don't despair if they look very small going in!
Recipe yields 16 scones at 220 calories, 3g fiber each.
