It is cold and snowing and really the only way to deal with it is to make some scones. Imagine waking up and eating a warm, toasted almond scone that you spread with butter and some cherry preserves. Even better, you can freeze these scones before baking and have fresh, hot from the oven scones any day you like. These are really very delicious and you should go try them right now.
Almond Scones (adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe)
- 1 cup blanched almonds (whole, slivered, or sliced), toasted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup cold heavy cream
- 1/4 cup cold whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the toasted almonds in half. finely grind 1/2 cup in a food processor or blender with the sugar, taking care not to overgrind the nuts and end up with almond butter. Finely chop the other 1/2 cup of almonds.
Stir the egg, cream, milk and almond extract together.
Whisk the flour, ground almond/sugar mix, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the
butter and, using your fingers toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, rub the butter with your fingers into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-sized pieces, and some smaller pieces.
Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Don’t overdo it. Stir in the chopped almonds.
Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn in with a wooden spatula 8-10 times. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that is about 5 inches in diameter, cut into 6 wedges and top each wedge with slices almonds if using. Place them on baking sheet.***
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until their tops are golden and firm-ish. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.
***Once the scones are cut out and on the baking sheet you can also freeze some or all of them before baking. Simply put the tray of scones in the freezer and wait until they are firm. Put the frozen scones in a freezer and you’ll have fresh warm scones whenever you like. Do not defrost, simply put the frozen scones on the a parchment lined baking sheet and add a couple of minutes to the baking time.