ABC - Scones

A few ABC-ers had asked if we could bake Scones for our June challenge. After browsing through several recipes for scones on the King Arthur Flour website, I settled on a "basic" scone recipe that allowed for choosing your own add-ins. I had it all figured out: coarsely chopped almonds, dried cranberries, and lots of orange zest. Then one day I was grating fresh ginger to cook with and I thought, "what would pair well with ginger in a scone?" Before too long, my mind wondered off to a land of plump raisins, the aroma of freshly grated orange zest, and beautiful specks of finely shredded carrots. Boom! That's how my Gingered Carrot Cake Scones were born :o)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.


Although the flavor combination I had come up with sounded great in my head, I proceeded with caution. So I made only half the recipe which I knew I would regret, but I went with that anyway.

Oh, and one more change. Back in April 2012 we baked Scones for ABC from The Weekend Baker which were delicious. One of our ABC members, Karin, substituted some whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour. It worked really well for her, so I incorporated that change into this month's Scones recipe.

The dough came together in a food processor. After cutting the dough into 8 wedges, I put it in the freezer overnight, and baked them the next day. I preheated the oven to 450 F degrees. As soon as I put the scones in the oven, I lowered the temperature to 425 F degrees. They were baked to perfection in about 15 minutes.

Bon appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby liked these. He said he liked the crispy exterior, the crunch from the raw sugar, the golden brown color, and the tender crumb. He gave them an 8.5 out of 10.
• Even with half the recipe, I got 8 nice sized scones.
• I loved these. I could barely wait while they were in the oven. The aroma of the spices and the orange zest wafted through my kitchen, making it almost impossible to wait. As soon as they were cool enough to eat, I took my first bite. The exterior was crispy, and the interior was tender and airy. The sweetness wasn't overwhelming, just right. The raisins gave it the right amount of sweetness. The spices and orange zest together were phenomenal. There was a happy dance going on in my mouth.
• Leftover scones have been bagged and frozen. To be enjoyed at a later time.
• I made too many changes to list them out as a bullet point. Please see my revised recipe below.
• Don't forget to check out what other ABC-ers thought of this recipe. Please click HERE.

Scones
(adapted from King Arthur Flour website)

Dough
4 ounces King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
7 1/2 ounces All-Purpose Flour
2 3/8 ounces sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 ounces cold butter
2 1/2 ounces carrots, peeled, finely shredded
3 chunks of candied ginger, grated using the large holes of a grater
a couple handfuls of golden raisins
zest of 2 navel oranges
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the flavoring of your choice
4 ounces 1% milk

Topping
2 teaspoons 1% milk
2 tablespoons raw sugar (Turbinado sugar)

Instructions
Please follow the instructions on the KAF website. I used my food processor for mixing the butter with the dry ingredients.