For some reason, when spring approaches, I begin craving scones. I’m not quite sure what it is–something about their buttery flavor and soft interior feels appealing this time of year. It’s also perfect for this in-between time when we don’t yet have access to ripe fresh fruits.
This recipe for apricot scones with goat cheese and rosemary is one that my sister has been telling me to make since I first started this blog. And since it was her birthday this week, I can’t think of a better time to give this flavor combination a try. The apricots lend a bit of sweetness, tartness, and texture to the scone, while the goat cheese creates little pockets of moisture, adding a bit of richness and making this scone anything but dry. The rosemary is a subtle background note that balances the sweetness and provides earthy undertones to the bright flavor of the apricot. This batch of scones disappeared so quickly, I only had a chance to eat one of them!
I learned many of the techniques for making scones from Claire Saffitz and Alison Roman. Their videos taught me to be comfortable feeling my way through a scone recipe–leaving the butter pieces relatively large, tossing the dough lightly with my hands like salad tongs to hydrate the dough, adding a little bit of buttermilk to dry patches as needed, and gently stacking and pressing the dough together at the end to create nice flaky layers. There’s a freedom to being able to let go of the strict steps of a recipe, tune into your dough, and make little decisions to help it along the way. Even if the dough seems crumbly and messy, somehow, it always comes together in the end. I highly recommend checking out their videos to see how they bring the dough together.
If you’re a scone-lover, check out my preserved lemon blueberry scones for the perfect mix of sweet, tart, and salty.
Apricot scones with rosemary and goat cheese
Course: Breakfast bakes, BreadsDifficulty: Quick bake8
scones15
minutes20
minutesThese scones are crisp on the outside and have a beautifully moist, buttery interior thanks to a generous amount of crumbled goat cheese. The slight tang from the goat cheese is mellowed by bites of sweet dried apricot, and the two are tied together with a subtle backdrop of fresh rosemary.
Ingredients
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
1/2-3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz goat cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
Instructions
- First prepare your mix-in ingredients by chopping the dried apricots into bite-sized halves or quarters, depending on the size of the apricot. Finely chopped the rosemary until you have enough to measure two teaspoons. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425. In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the butter, cut into cubes. Use your hands to gently toss and coat the butter in the flour. Then, working relatively quickly, press the pieces of butter between your fingers to flatten them. Make sure you’ve gone through and smooshed all of the pieces. If the butter starts feeling oily and melting a little bit, place the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes to cool down.
- Then add in the rosemary, apricot, and crumbled goat cheese. Add a generous half cup of buttermilk and gently mix with a fork. Turn the dough out onto a counter or large cutting board and using both hands, with your palms facing up, gently scoop under the dough, and use your thumbs and other fingers to gently break up large clumps and let them pass through your fingers. Repeat this motion, which resembles using salad tongs to gently toss the mixture. As you do this, you should notice the very crumbly mixture becoming a bit more uniformly hydrated. If you have large areas of completely dry flour, bunch them up and carefully pour out a little bit more buttermilk onto that spot. Then continue lightly tossing and breaking up clumps. In total, I used about 2/3 cup of buttermilk.
- Once the dough feels slightly moist/damp throughout but is still crumbly, pat the dough down into a rough square shape. You can use one hand to pat down and the other to press against the sides to give it a little shape. The dough will still be very loose and shaggy at this point. Using a bench scraper or large spatula or knife, cut the dough in half and stack one half on top of the other. Press down again into a square or rectangular shape. Again, cut the dough in half the other direction this time if you can, and stack one half on top of the other. Press down to join the two halves. This should help the dough come together more, although it will still be slightly crumbly. If you need to, you can do this once more to bring the dough together.
- Next, keep pressing down, using one hand as a guide at the edge until you have a square that’s 1.5-2 inches thick. The dough will still be a little bit rough at this stage, but it should hold together. Avoid over-working the dough–just pat it gently and trust–if it’s not holding together at all, you can add another tablespoon or so of buttermilk.
- Cut the dough into eight pieces by cutting in half in each direction and then cutting each quarter diagonally into two triangles. The scones will look a bit small but will grow considerably in the oven. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with buttermilk and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely. These are best when eaten the day they are made.
Notes
- If you’re new to making scones or feel a bit nervous working with the dough, I have linked two great videos in the body of the blog post, which are great demonstration of how to handle the dough and what it will look like at different stages. I found that watching these helped me develop my intuition and create much tastier scones.
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