I’ve tried the right way before. I’ve followed the rules to the letter, and even in spite of that little voice that says: ‘Hey, are you sure you wanna do it like that?”, ending in the bitter taste of disappointment. The disappointment of love’s labor lost on a weekend morning, when all you wanted to do was recreate the lightly sweet, vaguely buttery, decadent scone of your childhood, but for all your efforts, you’re left choking on the dry crumbles of failure. I’ve never looked back, and perhaps it will be a challenge for another day. For now, I focus on the ends, regardless of the means. I want scones, and I want them now.
Not your typical scones, there’s no meticulous chilling and cutting of butter here, no worry of rolling, or even shaping your dough. Basically you take a look at the definition of the word ‘scone’ and you do absolutely nothing of the like. Now, usually the unspoken, never questioned star here is chocolate, but I’ve only recently received a lovely ton of freeze dried fruit courtesy of Crispy Green, and I want to play.
Apricot Cardamom Behemoth Scones
- 3 cups flour
- 2 Tablespoons baking powder
- 2/3 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 to 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted, or canola/vegetable oil
- 1 and 1/4 cups coconut milk, plus extra for brushing the tops
- 1/2 cup freeze dried apricots (I used FruitziO, but you can also substitute chopped dried apricots, too)
Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
If it seems like a lot of baking powder, well, it is. These are called ‘Behemoth’ for a reason, dovies. In a large bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cardamom. I like cardamom, so I went full Monty here with 1 tsp, but you can dial that back to 3/4 tsp to your tastes.
Add the coconut milk, oil, and vanilla to the dry mixture and mix until it’s just incorporated, then toss in your apricots. Once the fruit is fairly well distributed, and everything starts to come together in a sticky mess, stop mixing. Over mixing will yield tough scones, tough scones will yield sad mornings, and the constant scone disappointment can put you off of these things forever. You have the power to end this.
Here’s where you get to decide how big your scones can be. If you’re a rational human being, you can probably get 10, or even 12, scones out of this dough. Me? I got 6. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all. Drop your scones on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat, brush the tops with coconut milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until firm and slightly golden.
The freeze dried fruit provides a bite of citrus and a pleasant chewy texture to the warm, soft scone. It’s the perfect combination of brightness and richness to get you through a winter’s, or any, day.
[…] far as solid coconut oil goes, I have a gallon tub of the stuff. I’m very serious about my coconut oil. Because my […]
[…] are deterred, you’ll simply have more for yourself. Suckers. Taking some of my aforementioned Crispy Green bounty, I used a combination of freeze dried fruits and an inexpensive Spanish red and went to […]