Almond Scones
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups all -purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 ounces (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- 7 ounces almond paste, frozen, (see notes)
- 1 cup buttermilk, (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg, mixed with 1 teaspoon cold water
- Coarse sugar
- Chopped or sliced almonds
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer, cut butter into dry ingredients.
- Grate frozen almond paste with large-hole side of 4 sided grater and stir into flour mixture.
- Mix buttermilk, almond extract and egg and add to flour mixture, stirring until just mixed.
- Turn out onto floured surface and knead gently until smooth.
- Divide dough into thirds. Pat each section into a circle 1/2” thick. With a dull knife, cut wedges to desired size. (I cut about 6 or 7 wedges per section). Repeat with remainder of the dough.
- Brush wedges with egg and water mixture and sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Place wedges on cookie sheets, barely touching.
- Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, checking after 15 minutes. Edges should be very brown and scones should be golden brown.
I like my scones crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. These came out perfect with a wonderful almond taste. However, when cooled and stored, they lost their crunchiness. Solution: Put scones into oven, 350 for a few minutes and they return to their original crispness.
Do not use marzipan; only pure almond paste (a tube is 7 ounces)
Buttermilk: I buy “dry” buttermilk made by Saco. (You can find it in the baking aisle) Just add the powder indicated on the container with the dry ingredients and add recommended water with wet ingredients. This way you always have buttermilk handy.
Polly Cooks 