Apricot and cardamom scones

 

Well, hello, 2018. It's always better to start off the new year like you mean it, and starting off the year with a new recipe of warm scones can't hurt.

I brewed a pot of Republic of Tea's Cardamom Cinnamon tea which paired perfectly with it. And if I haven't raved about my new tea strainer here before, I really should have. It was a tad spendy for a filter, but it has plenty of room for the leaves to brew without getting bogged down, and a very nice mesh filter so you don't have to learn to read tea leaves in your cup.

Mini apricot and cardamom scones

Adapted from “Joy the Baker Over Easy” by Joy Wilson, which looks to be a book well worth exploring further.

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

1½ cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup snipped dried apricots

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine cream with vanilla and mix into dry ingredients with a sturdy spoon. Stir in apricots. I had to use my hands to bring the dough together by kneading it in the bowl.

On lightly floured board, knead dough together briefly and pat out to a ¾-inch thick rectangle. I wound up with something 8-ish by 10-ish inches. Cut in half lengthwise and then cut each long strip in half again lengthwise. Then cut crosswise in thirds, resulting in 12 squares. Cut each square in half diagonally and you’ll wind up with 24 cute little triangles. (Alternately, the original recipe called for cutting out little circles, but then you end up with tedious leftover bits and rerolling and all that.)

Brush lightly with more cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10-14 minutes depending on your oven. I got them out at 11 minutes and I probably wouldn’t have wanted to let them go much longer as they were nicely set and turning golden.

Serve warm, with butter if desired. (Our room temperature butter barely spreads these days.)

Rating: Fine, although they could use just a little something more. I love cardamom, so I don’t want to overwhelm it with something that detracts from it but this recipes isn’t quite there yet. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon? Maybe it just needs more cardamom. Worth repeating and exploring anyway. They make nicely risen scones with a good texture, and they're a fast fix, especially if you measure the dry ingredients and chop the apricots the day before. And bonus: I only baked off half the recipe and stored the other triangles in the freezer waiting to thaw, brush, sprinkle and bake another day. So 2018 can just keep on getting better.