Apple Scones

These apple cinnamon scones are loaded with fresh apples and candied pecans, giving them a slightly sweet but buttery taste with a crumbly exterior.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine British

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Servings

Calories 306kcal

Preheat oven to 400°F. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Grate the cold butter using a cheese grater. This is an easy way to get it into small pieces to incorporate in the dry ingredients. If you do not have a cheese grater, you can just cut into small cubes. Blend the grated butter in with the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or 2 knives. The mixture should be clumpy and look like course crumbs. Mix in the apple and pecans.
In a small measuring cup, mix together the buttermilk and vanilla. Mix into the flour mixture until JUST incorporated. DO NOT over mix, this will make the scones too dense.
Put a small amount of flour onto a clean surface and knead the dough briefly. Shape the dough into a circle that is about 1 ½ inches thick. Cut the circle in half and then each half into 4-5 wedges (depending on how big you want your scones).
Put the wedges on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Brush the tops with a little bit of milk and then lightly sprinkle with sugar and/or cinnamon.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean.
While scones are baking make the glaze. Add butter to small saucepan over medium-high heat and brown until it smells toasty, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt.
Let the scones cool slightly and then drizzle on the glaze.

Use cold or even frozen butter. The cold butter coats the flour which creates crumbs that melt and steam, thus creating that flakiness you expect in scones.
Do not overwork the dough. Mix everything until just combined or you will have tough scones.
You can drizzle apple cider caramel instead of a glaze if you prefer.
Leftover scones will keep at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for 5 days.