Apricot & Cranberry Whipped Cream Scones with Honey
Every now and then I get a taste for a really good scone but this time I wanted to try something new. So when I came across Shauna Sever’s recipe in her Real Sweet cookbook, I was excited to give it a try as I’ve never had a scone that incorporates whipped cream. And now I might not be able to go back! The addition of the whipped cream makes these scones so light and airy - not anything like the sometimes overly dense scones I’ve had before. Also, this recipe already uses a natural sweetener and very little of it at that (only 2 tablespoons of honey plus an optional sprinkling of coconut sugar). The below recipe is slightly adapted from Shauna’s, namely I left out the almond extract and sliced almonds and swapped the turbinado sprinkle to finish for a coconut sugar sprinkle (but feel free to un-swap these swaps if you would like!).
Makes 8 scones
Ingredients
80 grams dried apricots, diced
40 grams dried cranberries
2 tablespoons (28 grams) water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
120 grams pastry flour
128 grams all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
85 grams (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
240 grams chilled heavy cream
42 grams (2 tablespoons) honey
Finishing the Scones: 1 egg, 1 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner.
In a small pan, combine the apricots, cranberries, water, and vanilla extract. Heat on low for a couple minutes until the water is mostly absorbed.
In a large bowl, whisk together the pastry flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, orange zest, and salt. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until there aren’t any more chunks of butter and the mix resembles coarse meal. Then stir in the dried fruit til evenly combined.
In a medium bowl, combine the heavy cream and honey. Use a handheld mixer and beat the cream until soft peaks form.
Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the flour mixture until fully combined (but try not to overmix).
Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough onto it. This dough is very sticky but do your best to work with it while also not over-working it as that will only make it warmer and harder to work with! Gently knead the dough a few times and then pat into about a 6-inch disk. Cut this disk into 8 large wedges and place these wedges onto the baking sheet.
To finish the scones, whisk together the egg and water and use a pastry brush to brush this mix onto the scones. Then sprinkle with some coconut sugar.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until the scones are golden all over.
