Maple Oatmeal Scones

Oh Ina, I love you so much, but I had to chuckle this morning when making these. Here’s the quote from the book that made me grin “with the addition of whole-wheat flour and oatmeal (to give it texture), pure maple syrup (to give it sweetness) and buttermilk (to make it lower in fat).” What? Did that say lower in fat? Thank heavens you added that buttermilk to make it lower in fat then because I had to reread the recipe three times to make sure it actually was calling for a pound of butter. A full pound of butter. So while these are super delicious and I will make them when I have a large crowd in, I certainly won’t try to fool my guests into thinking they’re nothing but pure decadence.

Maple Oatmeal Scones

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tbsps baking powder
2 tbsps granulated sugar
2 tsps salt
1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water water for egg wash

Glaze

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachement, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend the cold butter in at lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs and add quickly to the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough may be sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1 inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with eggs wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and insides are done.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. Sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top for garnish. The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be.

Pleasantville note: The recipe says this makes 14 large scones. They must be HUGE. I made 23 out of this recipe and one was filling. You be the judge how big you want them when rolling the dough out. Just remember that when you go smaller you need to reduce your cooking time. My scones took 10 minutes at 400F convection.