So I have about a million apples in my fridge, so apple cinnamon scones definitely seemed like a way to go. To amp these up a little though, I added a whole whack of your traditional chai spice spices as well and thus we have some delectable Glazed Apple Chai Scones. Oh the memories. Anywho, the reason for having a hundred million apples (Note: possibly a slight exaggeration on that front 😉 ), was because we went apple picking a few weeks ago. I love apple picking (even though, as Kevin rightly points out, it always sounds like it’s going to be this big day filled with picking apples, but in reality, you’ve filled up your 20lb bag in about 5 seconds. Look at it this way though, now you can say you got out of the house and were productive. And you were all healthy from being in the fresh air and walking around, as well as getting apples, so you’re doubly-healthy. Plus you’re supporting your local farmers. What’s not to love here?).
For some crazy reason though, 20lb of apples is always way more than I think it will be. In my mind, it will be approximately 20 apples, which is incredibly, incredibly wrong (it’s really more like 60-70 apples). When I made this comment to someone recently, the response I got was “Soo…you thought 1 apple weighed a pound then?” at which point I began blubbering incoherently trying to defend such a ridiculous notion. When put in that context, I realized how clearly lacking my calculation skills were (although oddly enough, math was one of my best subjects in school. A’s pretty much all around *bragging alert!!! bragging alert!!!*). In my defense though, do you not see it as totally probable that given our nation’s propensity for overly large servings of food and the over usage of fertilizers and chemicals to make things grow bigger and faster, that a 1 pound apple is not necessarily entirely in the realm of fiction? (I’m really just feeling kinda dumb so I’m over-explaining 🙂 Are you now (re-)convinced of my genius? 😉
Anyway, all that nonsense aside, I do have the ability to divide by two, so I’m giving you the option below of either making regular sized as well as mini sized scones. If you’re thinking “this sounds like breakfast to me! And I also have absolutely no interest in sharing with others!” I say go with the larger sized scones. However, if you’re thinking “mmmm…apple and cinnamon and my afternoon tea or coffee (or midnight snack)” or possibly “ahhh!!!! I have people coming over and I need a little side snack to offer up”, then the minis may be the better way to go. Or, you could go SUPER crazy and do half large scones and half mini scones. What!!!!????? Perhaps this will make the numbers game a little more complicated at this point, but that’s what you can use your children for! Assign them your own personal math homework of figuring this out for you. Then if they get it all wrong, you can indulgently tell your friends sotto voce that little Jimmy tried to do this for you and had some trouble. That way your friends will smile fondly at little Jimmy and never be the wiser that in reality it is in fact you who had trouble with the maths 😉 . I always have your best interests at heart 🙂
Yield: 12 medium sized scones or 24 mini scones
Ingredients
Scones:
- Glazed Apples:
- 1 cup chopped apples
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 2 1/2 tablespoons water (this is for your egg replacer, alternatively, use egg replacer of choice, I just had this kicking around, so I used it 🙂 )
- 3/4 cup non dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon clover
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup sugar (use maple sugar if you happen to have it, but regular sugar is fine too)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature (i.e. not in hardened state, soft or liquid is fine)
- a couple of tablespoons of melted vegan butter for brushing on top
Maple Roasted Apple Butter (this makes more than you need for this recipe, it’s a delicious spread however, and great on toast etc., so why not make extra?):
- 6 large apples cut into 1/4 inch slices
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/3 cup coconut butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
- Make your glazed apples by combining the apples, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small saucepan on medium heat. Allow to cook until most/all of the liquid has evaporated, stirring fairly regularly (you don’t want it to burn to the bottom of the pan). Remove from heat and allow to cool while you prepare your scone dough.
- In a small bowl combine ground flaxseed and water, then add non-dairy milk and maple extract. Whisk to combine.
- In a separate medium sized mixing bowl, combine all your spices, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
- Add coconut oil and use a fork to mix it into your dry flour mixture until no big pieces remain.
- Slowly add your flax/milk mixture to the dry ingredients stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Fold glazed apples into the mixture. The mixture will be fairly wet and sticky so not to worry.
- Transfer dough to a heavily floured surface and use your hands to form it into a log about 1 inch high. Cut the log into 6 equal squares, then cut the squares diagonally, so you should now have 12 triangular scones. I actually made these ones super mini. If you want to do the same, cut each of your 6 sections into 4 by cutting on both diagonals, so you’ll now have 24 scones instead.
- Using a floured spatula, carefully transfer the scones to your baking sheet. Brush the top with your melted vegan butter and sprinkle the tops with your cinnamon and sugar mixture.Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to lightly brown at the edges (if you made these super small, they will take less time to bake, so keep a closer watch on them after about the 15 minute mark)
- Let cool while preparing roasted maple coconut apple butter.
- Lower your oven temperature to 375 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Place sliced apples in a heat safe bowl.
- In a small saucepan, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Once it’s boiling, remove from the heat and pour over your sliced apples stirring with a wooden spoon to ensure all the apples are coated. Lay the apple slices out in a single layer on your baking sheets (feel free to pour some or all of the leftover sugar syrup over your apples right on the baking sheet).
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, flipping the apples (with tongs not your fingers! 🙂 ) about halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Transfer apples to a food processor (or blender) and toss in your coconut butter. Purée until smooth. Pour into a glass jar and allow to cool before storing in the fridge. It does need to cool down in order to firm up, so don’t worry if it’s more liquidy than you think it should be (also, it does get pretty firm in the fridge, so you could just keep it on your counter if you think you’ll use it all up within a couple of weeks. Alternatively, you could just microwave it for 10-15 seconds to make it a bit more spreadable).
- Serve scones with apple butter.
- Leftover scones should be kept at room temperature in a well-sealed container.
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