#1: Oatmeal Raisin Scones

Sorry it took me so long to finally do this. I eventually managed to drag myself to the grocery store and buy everything I needed, plus some stuff for other recipes. So here’s my first attempt at baking from Flour with the first recipe in the book: oatmeal maple scones. Normally I bake sweeter treats meant for dessert, but since the book starts with breakfast pastries I thought I’d start there and make something yummy for my family to eat in the morning.

The recipe called for:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup pecan halves toasted and chopped
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
• 1/3 cup cold heavy cream
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 cold egg

And for the glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water

I started out by combining the dry ingredients and stirring thoroughly. Then adding the chunks of butter and stirring those until they mostly combined with some grape sized chunks still visible.

After all the dry ingredients were well combined, I then whisked together the heavy cream, maple syrup, and egg in a separate bowl.

Finally I poured the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mixed thoroughly for about a minute until the dough came together, although it was still wet.

Next scoop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I made my scoops about 1/3 of a cup and spaced them 2 inches apart. You should be able to make 8 to 10 scones.

Bake in the middle rack at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until the tops are golden brown. When out of the oven, allow them to cool for about 30 minutes on a wire rack. While they cool make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners sugar, maple syrup, and water then brush the glaze onto the scones generously.

Here’s a look at my finished product. They’re not perfect. The bottoms were a bit burnt so the scones were dry, but they taste good. I especially love the flavor from the golden raisins. The pecans could have been chopped finer though since I didn’t chop them much more since the bag I bought already came chopped.

Later this week I’ll be baking milk chocolate hazelnut cookies.