My love of scones has been burgeoning over the last year or so. I used to think they were dry, bland and crumbly, and unless they were positively loaded with chocolate chips, I couldn’t understand why anyone would ever want to eat them. Then I had my first taste of a currant rosemary scone from Ovenly bakery. I didn’t realize that there was a flavor missing in my life, but there was. And I found it. And it’s herby and buttery and oh so perfect.
Shortly after my scone awakening, a new season of Game of Thrones came out and Game of Scones became a weekly Sunday activity, with punny flavors like Castle Blackberry and Fire and Blood Orange. GoT is back on Sunday (eep!), and I’m trying really hard to finish the 5th book. But I have Passover Seders to attend and birthday cakes to bake and sunshine to sit in, so it’s just not going to happen. But Game of Scones Season 2 is! So please, if you have any good puns, send them my way.
These flavors remind me more of fall foliage and crisp autumn weekends than the blooming flowers of spring, but I saw a recipe a few weeks ago for maple and cardamom glazed salmon, so here we are. Also, my farmer’s market has no berries yet. And winter is coming (sorry, had to).
maple and cardamom scones
2 cups ap flour (or 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup ap)
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup heavy cream
about ½ cup dried cranberries (optional, can substitute raisins, currants etc)
Raw sugar
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour(s), brown sugar, baking powder and spices. Using a pastry cutter or two knives or your hands, cut butter into the flour mixture until most of the butter is roughly pea-sized.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in maple syrup and heavy cream. The dough will be kind of shaggy and shouldn’t come totally together. Dump it all out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Gather all the dough bits into a mound and flatten into a rough rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle the cranberries over the dough and fold the rectangle in half. Rotate the dough 90° and flatten again. Repeat this process for a total of 3 turns. Gather the dough into a disk and cut into 8 wedges.
- Separate wedges and place the scones on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes on the middle or top rack. Scones will be golden-brown and should not crumble completely if you try to look at the bottoms (which should be a nice deeper brown).
