Maple Magic!

Good evening dear readers!  Today's baking adventure took me down a new road--scones!  I have never made a scone before today, but Ina Garten made some DELICIOUS looking Maple-Oatmeal Scones while I was vegged out on the couch recently...and I decided they were a must-try.  My husband is a huge maple-anything fan, and I was excited to make something that he'd really enjoy.  I also have included a couple more photos today, as I usually only include the end product. The easiest thing I have access to is my phone-so the quality of the photos aren't usually the greatest....but they get the job done. 

So I took a photo today of all of my ingredients before I started, and then I laughed.  I noticed my iPod and speaker was in the shot, and realized that music is an essential when I bake, cook, drive, breathe, etc.  My husband says that my life has a soundtrack...and that's probably true :)

So there they are.  The essentials for today's adventure.  I was feeling like some country today, so today I played my Country mix with songs like "American Saturday Night" by Brad Paisley, and a whoooole lot of Sugarland (my favorite band!).  It put me in such a great mood while I baked!

Also, before I go into the recipe-I just want to take a minute to tell you about this dough.  All I could think while I was rolling out the dough was how luscious it was!  It was so soft, but not too sticky (after flouring my counter and the dough) and just made me so excited to get the scones into the oven!  Also, as I'm about to post a photo of the dough, you should know that the largest cookie cutter that I had was a big heart.  I felt a little silly at first, but I was so happy with how they turned out!  They just looked adorable!

Okay, so on to the recipe!  Like Ina's, mine made about 16 large (heart shaped, hers were round) scones.  Also, you'll see in my ingredients photo above that I had 4 eggs.  Well, those were the last of the eggs, so I didn't do an egg wash on the top.  No big deal, it didn't make a difference because of the glaze that we're putting on top anyway.  Also-It took the ol' turbo heater 15 minutes and not 20-25.  Keep an eye on them, they get nice and golden!

Maple-Oatmeal Scones

by Ina Garten, from Barefoot Contessa, Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons 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 tablespoon milk or water, for egg wash

Glaze

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Blend the cold butter in at the 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 egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the 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. I like to sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top, for garnish. The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be.

And now the final result!  I placed the scones on a cooling rack, and put the rack over a sheet pan and the parchment that I baked them on, to make for easy clean-up when I put the glaze on.  They turned out so cute, I love the hearts!  They're VERY tasty too!  I think the only think I would try next time is adding a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients; I think it would really make the maple flavor pop a little more.  I hope you'll give these a shot, they are just perfect!  Enjoy!