Do you know what the New Year reminds me of? Breakfast food.
Why? Well, there's no definitive answer for that. Maybe it's because the first few months of the year are like the morning version of the year.
Whatever the reason, I'm here for it because breakfast food is some of the best food.
I've made scones in a variety of ways, using a food processor or just two knives to cut the butter in. However, there's an even better way to do it that really requires two things: a bowl and a box grater.
In order for this way to work, put your butter in the freezer for about 10 minutes to get it super cold. Then using the large teeth on the grater, grate your butter pretty much as you would cheese. Then place it back in the freezer to stay cold while you prepare the other ingredients.
When you go to mix the butter into the dry ingredients, you'll see that in just a few seconds of stirring the butter has already turned into the classic pea-sized pieces that result in the best, flakiest scones!
This trick really makes it so much quicker to make scones without the hassle of having to clean a food processor!
Recipe note: Please note that this recipe uses maple extract, not maple syrup. If you can't find maple extract, I would suggest using just a dash of maple syrup, but be careful because this will also add to the sweetness of the scones. I highly recommend maple extract because it adds warmth to this recipe without compromising the sweetness.
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 stick of butter, frozen
½ cup of heavy cream
1 teaspoon of maple extract
½ cup of chopped pecans
Glaze:
1 cup of powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream
1 teaspoon of maple extract
Dash of salt
Start by placing your butter in the freezer. Next, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a bowl whisking to combine.
Take the butter from the freezer.
Using a box grater, grate the butter into the dry mixture. Mix the butter into the dough until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
Add the maple extract to the heavy cream. Pour the heavy cream over the dry mixture. Stir until a loose dough forms. Dump the dough onto a floured surface.
Knead the dough together using a squeezing motion; grab the dough and sort of mush it together.
Once the dough is fully combined, cover in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Take the dough from the freezer and form it into a rough circle. Cut the circle into 8 even(ish) triangles.
Place on a silicone-lined baking sheet and bake for about 12-14 minutes.
When the scones come out of the oven, allow them to cool on a wire baking sheet.
Begin to work on the glaze. Combine powdered sugar, heavy cream, salt, and maple extract in a bowl.
Stir to combine.
Pour a healthy spoonful of glaze onto a scone and let it slowly drip down the side.
Allow glaze to harden for about ten minutes and scones are ready.
That's it! That's really how easy it is to make scones. If you've never grated your butter before, it will be life-changing!
-Holly Michelle
Bites Of Better
The glaze looks great! I love maple extract too since the flavour is so powerful