07 October 2012

Whole Wheat Scones with Cherries and Almonds

Oldest daughter Kate and her special friend came home for the weekend to admire the foliage, sleep late in a quiet country environment, and knosh well without eating out in restaurants. After stuffing them full of Sicilian Caponata, Chicken Piccata, salad, bread and plenty of wine on Friday evening, I thought we'd go light on Saturday breakfast ... coffee and a scone and then a nice walk about in the New England splendor!






Kate was duly impressed by my latest vintage find and it fit the theme of the weekend.




Longest Covered Bridge in the World



Soon, there were nice hot scones plopped on the plate and hot mugs of coffee in hand. Yup, Saturday morning in the grey cottage was an easy affair. These are a plain and simple scone, reminiscent of soda bread. I served them with a bowl of chilled honey butter as they came from the oven ... they were healthy and delicious.





Whole Wheat Scones with Cherries and Almonds

 
Ingredients:


1 ¼ c. whole wheat flour
1 ¼ c. all purpose flour, plus a bit more for kneading and shaping
3 tbsp. light brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. cold butter
⅔ c. buttermilk
2 large eggs
½ c. slivered almonds
¾ c. dried cherries


Making the Scones:

 
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 ° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Measure the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix well.
  3. Place the buttermilk and eggs in a large measuring cup and whisk to break the eggs and mix them into the buttermilk. Set aside.
  4. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and pulse it into the dry ingredients until the mix is crumbly.
  5.  Add the buttermilk and pulse until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl and a shaggy dough is formed.
  6. Add the cherries and almonds and pulse a few times to mix them into the dough ball.
  7. Flour a cool kneading surface.
  8. Turn the dough and any remaining flour out of the processor bowl and flour your hands.
  9. Quickly and gently knead the dough a dozen times, bringing it into a circular ball.
  10. Press the dough out to a circle about 9 inches in diameter.
  11. Use a pizza cutter or a long palette knife to cut the dough into wedges and transfer to the cookie sheet.
  12. Bake the scones for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are golden and quite firm … they should be puffed and have some give to them when poked gently.
  13. Serve warm with butter and cherry jam or honey butter or maple butter.
 
This time of year seems tailor made for taking killer photos ... here are some of the highlights of our day out and about.

 
 
 
Mount Ascutney in the Clouds
 

 
 
 
Birch Allée at Aspet in Cornish, New Hampshire
 
 
 
 
The Covered Bridge at Cornish, New Hampshire
 

 
 
 
Spent Corn and Fall Meadows in Walpole, New Hampshire


5 comments:

  1. What a beautiful pics and these scones look delicious!
    Happy Monday

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like you had a wonderful time with your daughter and her friend. The photos are stunning, I've said it before, and I'll say it again - there is no place on earth prettier than New England, especially in the Autumn!

    Oh, those scones look killer delicious!

    Have a wonderful week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know I wish I had one of these right now but yogurt and some frozen blackberries will have to do for now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My husband and I think when its time that we will retire to NH. I'm always online looking at property. Your photos are stunning. The scones look yummy as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. lovely scones and what a stunning place to visit

    ReplyDelete

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