Like all of my scone recipes, the starting point for this one is these highly recommended orange cream scones from A Latte Food. In this case, I swapped out the citrus and added chopped almonds and caramel icing. My son tasted marzipan in these scones, which comes from the almond extract I used in place of the vanilla in the original recipe.
Recipe by Crystal Smith on May 17, 2020
Prep time: PT15M
Cook time: PT12M
Total time: PT47M
Keywords
Almonds, Caramel, Dessert, Scones
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped. Save about 2 tbsp (15 mL) for garnish. (See Notes & picture, below.)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup Greek yogurt, plain or vanilla
1/4 cup 35% cream
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 tbsp salted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup icing sugar, or more to thicken
Categories
Snacks
Steps
Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (See Notes, below.)
Add all the dry ingredients, including almonds, to a large bowl and whisk together to incorporate.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, cream, and almond extract. Set aside.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is about pea-sized. The dough will have the texture of crumbs. (See Notes, below. Or see the Scones Primer for pictures.)
Add wet ingredients to flour and butter mixture, then stir until just combined.
Gently knead the dough into a ball in the bowl, then turn out and begin patting into a circle until it’s about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick. You may need to squeeze the outer edges a bit to incorporate crumbly bits into the dough.
Cut the dough into 8 evenly sized wedges and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Put a little 35% cream in a bowl and add a drop or two of almond extract. Brush scones lightly with this mixture, if desired. (This gives a nice sheen and a hint more almond flavour to the finished scones.)
Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
Let scones cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then move them to a wire rack. Place the parchment from the baking pan under the wire rack to catch drips when you ice the scones.
After the scones have cooled for about 10-15 minutes, make the icing. Melt butter in a saucepan then add brown sugar and milk. Cook over low-medium heat for about a minute. You want it to bubble a little but not come to a full boil. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, then vigorously whisk in the icing sugar until smooth. (See Notes, below.)
Drizzle or spread icing on cooled scones. After you ice each scone, add some chopped almonds to the top. This icing sets fairly quickly, so it’s important to ice and garnish one scone before moving onto the next. Let the scones sit for at least 30 minutes for the icing to set completely. (If you don’t let the icing set, the almonds will fall off.)
