Maple Moon Scones.
Mother’s Day has come and gone, but Carolyn is such a cool Mom that she made these scones for us, her folks and friends for Sunday morning (don’t worry, Carolyn got a nice Mother’s Day dinner). She is indeed the perfect woman. And these scones are worthy of a special occasion. Big (huge, really), moist and with plenty of maple flavor, these are some serious scones. They do look like the moon, too. Cool.
The recipe comes from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa), although Carolyn adapted a number of ingredients, including some oat flour, date sugar and maple essence for deeper flavor. But the standard Ina Garten formula of scads lots of butter and buttermilk stays the same. Ina never met a buttery scone or shortbread she didn’t like. But if you are baking from scratch, the recipe may as well work. And butter does make everything better. Add some real maple syrup and it is hard to go wrong.
And it truly is hard to go wrong here. This recipe is “scone 101”, plus some extra glaze. Mix dry ingredients, add in cold butter, mix the wet ingredients and add to the dry, roll, cut and bake. The glaze is super-easy as well, if you can stir, you will have glaze. So if your waistline can take it (or if you have hungry kids), you can make these scones whenever you like.
Even better, you can cut the scones from the raw dough and refrigerate them for a few days without any loss of quality. So if you want scones during the week, make the dough and then bake the scones as needed. But you may as well cook the full batch, your crew will certainly eat them, and your friends will be happy if you share.
Finally, love and thanks to Carolyn from the boys and I. We are truly blessed to have her, and we are eternally grateful.
Maple Moon Scones:
(Adapted from Ina Garten)
Notes Before You Start:
It is best to dice the butter first, and then put it back into the fridge until ready to use.
Also a good idea to measure and mix the wet ingredients first, and also store in the fridge until use. It keep everything colder, longer.
This is a sticky dough- use lots of flour on your surface and on your hands.
What You Get: Big, awesome scones with serious maple flavor.
What You Need: A stand mixer really helps here. No other special equipment required.
How Long? About an hour.
