Our mornings are finally cooling down...downright chilly even! This morning, we even had rain. I do love rain. Rainy days have me reaching for the kettle and wishing there were scones on the counter. In honor of sharing recipes for fall and rainy mornings, here is a scone recipe that can began if you like.
Orange Blossom Scones
*3 cups flour
*1 T baking powder
*1/4 cup granulated sugar
*1tsp vanilla
*1/2-1 cup milk, cream or milk substitute
*1 cup canola oil frozen
*pinch of salt
I really wanted to call these Orange Blossom Olive Oil scones but I made one batch with canola oil and then another batch with olive oil and the canola oil scones have a finer flavor and are easier to mix. So, to begin, place a one cup measure of canola oil into the freezer for at least six hours or overnight. Freezing the oil will give it the texture of butter which is how we get the crumbly texture of scone dough.
While oil is freezing, measure out all dry ingredients and place in a container and refrigerate while you are waiting for the oil to freeze. You do not have to do this but keeping everything cold makes for a cold dough which seems to be what all the fancy-pants scone makers think is ideal.
Once you are ready to make scones, preheat your oven to 400F and pour all dry ingredients into a chilled bowl. Remove oil from the freezer and scoop out onto a cutting board and chop into smaller pieces using a butter knife. Toss oil pieces into flour mixture and mix with a pastry blender, fingers or two forks until crumbly. Add your vanilla and orange blossom water to your liquid and add liquid to your flour mixture until a ball of dough forms, about 3/4 of a cup. I've used half and half, milk and heavy cream for this, they are all quite tasty. If you want to omit dairy, use your favorite milk substitute, I haven't yet tried a non-dairy version but who knows. experiment!
Dump dough onto a floured surface and cut into 10-12 rounds using a biscuit cutter or mound into a round shape and cut into eight wedges. Place soon-to-be scones onto parchment covered baking sheet and brush with milk and add a smattering of sugar. The milk will crisp up the tops and give them a bit of happy toast color.
Bake for 18-20 minutes and allow to cool. Once cool, drizzle a bit of glaze made from one cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water and about two tablespoons of water. Let sit until glaze sets.
Enjoy with a hot cuppa and try to stick with just one. These are a bit like extra large shortbread cookies. Happy November!
