Apricot Almond Scones
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 scones* 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb 3 1/8 ounces all-purpose flour (4 1/2 cups, spoon and sweep)**
- 3 1/2 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 ounces almond paste, cubed***
- 4 ounces butter (1/2 cup), frozen and cubed
- 5 ounces chopped dried apricots (1 cup)
- 5 ounces chopped toasted almonds (1 cup)
- 8 1/2 ounces milk (1 cup)
- 4 1/8 ounces heavy cream (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cubed almond paste and butter and cut in with a pastry cutter until no large pieces of either remain and the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Add the chopped dried apricots and almonds and whisk or toss in until evenly dispersed in the mixture.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, cream and almond extract. Add to the dry scone mixture in three parts, folding in partially after each addition. Once all of the liquid has been added, continue to fold in with a spatula until the dry and wet ingredients are together but not yet evenly combined. Use your hands to finish combining the ingredients, gently forming a large ball of dough. If the dough seems too dry to come together, you can add a bit more liquid, but do so VERY sparingly. This should not be a wet dough.
- Divide the ball of dough in half and shape each half into a round disc, about 3/4" to 1" thick, on one of the prepared baking sheets. Freeze for 1 hour (do NOT skip this step).
- Toward the end of the chilling period, preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove the fully chilled scones from the freezer and slice each round into 8 triangles, pizza-style. Space the cut scones apart on the two lined baking sheets. Bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
- Once cool, keep scones in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These scones are good cold, but can also be warmed up in the microwave for about 25 seconds.
Notes
*This recipe makes 16 fairly large scones, hence some of the large ingredient amounts.
**It's crucial that you use the spoon-and-level technique to measure out your flour for this recipe, otherwise you might end up overflouring the dough. Better yet, weigh your flour!
***I like to buy my almond paste from a local nut house, where it always seems much fresher, softer, and easier to work with than the type I've found in the grocery store. If you can find really good, fresh almond paste, I recommend the splurge! But otherwise, the typical grocery-store almond paste will work too.