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Tall and fluffy fruit scones with a twist of apple and cinnamon make for an easy-to-bake afternoon treat. Perfect served with clotted cream and blackcurrant jam, apple compote or caramel whipped cream cheese!
You know when you have the urge to bake something tasty but really don’t have the time, energy or patience to get stuck in to a labour intensive or time consuming recipe that requires chilling, proving, decorating or a long baking time? That was me yesterday afternoon. I know you feel me.
So, my solution? Scones. Scones are the answer here. Well - I am English so of course a scone and a cup of tea is the answer the everything, right?
So I pulled out my trusty fruit scone recipe but decided to give them a bit of a twist! These scones are made with a combination of fresh chopped apple, dried apple rings, and I've also thrown in some sultanas, but this is totally optional! Can a fruit scone get any more fruity? Well, yes actually! We also add a touch of lemon zest to these scones for an even more complex flavour!
Honestly, nothing could be simpler than making scones, but equally nothing that takes just 35 minutes from mixing your ingredients to popping the finished product in your mouth could be quite as tasty or satisfying.
I’m not going to rattle on about these - scones are scones; we’ve all made them or eaten them and they are delish! But I must say, these are especially so! With harder baked, sugary exterior and tall fluffy and soft centres, juicy apple and a touch of cinnamon and brown sugar, your standard fruit scone has now been transformed into something a tad more majestic with a lovely warm, yet fruity flavour! (Okay - I'm rattling on right? I'll just get straight to it - soz!)
These are perfect served with clotted cream and blackberry jam, but if you want to try something different, have a go at a caramel whipped cream cheese which works wonderfully with a light spreading of apple compote!!
Notes/Tips:
I have used rather large cutters (7cm). Most scone cutters will be about 5cm in diameter - this recipe distinguished the baking time and serving amount for both sizes.
Dried apple is great as it packs a whole lot of apple flavour without wetting or weighing down the scone dough. If you cannot get your hands on dried apple rings, increase your fresh apple to just 100g and sultanas to 50g.
For homemade caramel whipped cream cheese, whip together 3 Tbsp cream cheese, 4 Tbsp double/heavy cream and 2 tbsp caramel sauce or syrup until thick enough to spread!
APPLE CINNAMON SCONES
Prep: 10 minutes
Baking: 18-22 minutes
Serves: 6 large or 8 regular
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
350g Self raising flour (extra for dusting)
1 Tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1 Tsp cinnamon
85g Chilled cubed butter
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 Tbsp soft light brown sugar
60g Apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 Tsp lemon juice
50g Dried apple rings, chopped
40g sultanas (optional)
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
175ml Milk at room temperature
1/2 Tsp vanilla extract
Beaten egg for glazing
Demerera sugar for sprinkling
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C (160c fan) and line a large baking sheet with parchment.
In a small bowl toss apple chunks in 1 tsp of lemon juice to prevent browning
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking and cinnamon. Add the cubed butter and rub into the dry ingredients with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs
Stir in both sugars, followed by the apples, dried apple, lemon zest and sultanas if using.
Mix the vanilla into the room temperature milk together in a bowl or jug. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then pour the milk mixture into the well and gently bring together with a spoon until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will seem wet and sticky but do not over mix.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Finely sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and on your hands, and fold the dough over a couple of times to bring it all together to a cohesive mass. Do not knead or over handle the dough.
Pat the dough into a flat circle that is about 3-4cm in height - if you want nice, tall scones you don‘t want to pat down the dough any thinner than this!
Dip your cutter in some flour and cut out scones, re-dipping in flour before each press into the dough. This will help for a cleaner cut and better rise.
When you cannot cut out any more circles (Usually you can only get about 4-5 in the first round) gently bring the dough back together, handling as little as possible, pat down again and cut out remaining scones.
Place scones on the lined baking sheet and brush tops with beaten egg. Sprinkle a small amount of demerera sugar on each scone. Bake for between 18-22 minutes until scones are risen and golden on top. The smaller the scones, the less time they will need to bake. I bake my 7inch scones for the full 22 minutes.
Once baked, leave to cool on a wire rack until just warm and serve with your choice of topping. Scones can be kept in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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