Maple Pecan Scones
Maple Pecan Scones
Did you know it’s maple season? I usually associate maple with the winter or fall but spring is when all the trees are tapped and when there are maple syrup festivals! After visiting Elmira we now have 3 jugs of maple syrup in my house so I’m on a mission to bake with it. These maple scones have a great maple flavour and are a good breakfast treat.
Good scones have a flaky and light texture. This comes from how you create the dough. Read the notes in the adaptations for why a pastry cutter is necessary for good quality scones.
Above you can see how to cut the pecans to get 18 triangle scones. And below are the scones before glazing, they have a shine from the egg wash.
INGREDIENTS
Scones
2 cups flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2/3 cup cold buttermilk*
2 tbsp. maple syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)
Glaze
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 cup chopped pecans
YIELD
18 scones
TIME
Prep - 20 minutes
Bake - 15 minutes
Glaze - 15 minutes
TOOLS
1 large bowl
Pastry cutter
Rolling pin
Baking sheets
Silicone brush
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Scatter the butter pieces on top of the flour and use a pastry cutter* to create pieces of butter that are the size of peas. Work quickly to keep the butter as cold as possible.
Whisk the buttermilk and maple syrup together in a measuring cup. Pour into the bowl and continue using the pastry cutter to form a dough. The dough can should still have visible butter chunks and can be a bit sticky.
Lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll out the dough and create a 1 inch thick square. Use a sharp knife to cut triangles. Again work quickly and avoid handling the dough as much as possible to prevent melting the butter pieces.
Transfer to two baking sheets. Brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. Move to a cooling rack to allow to cool completely before glazing.
Make the glaze while the scones cool. Mix maple syrup, icing sugar and milk in a small bowl until combined. Add more milk or sugar until you achieve the desired consistency: liquid enough to drizzle, but thick enough to not completely fall off the scones. Cover the top of the cooled scones with glaze and sprinkle pecans on top.
Serve immediately if possible. I found these did not save well in a tupperware. I looked online and found a recommendation for preserving scone texture by placing a paper towel at the bottom of a sealable plastic container and storing scones on top of the paper.
ADAPTATIONS
If you don’t have any buttermilk use regular milk with 1 tbsp. of lemon juice.
If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use a fork to create the butter pieces. However, this is very hard. The point of using cold butter and a pastry cutter is to have visible pea size chunks of butter throughout your dough. When you bake pastry, these butter chunks melt and create the flaky texture you want with a scone. This dough should not be fully blended like a cookie dough. I didn’t have a pastry cutter in my new apartment and went and bought one after making these and struggling with a fork. The next scones I made with the cutter were so much easier.
Recipe based on a recipe from The Food Librarian.
