Strawberry Maple Scones

Birthday love begins with freshly baked scones. As my daughter celebrates, I venture outside my comfort zone to use whole wheat flour in place of regular AP flour. As I do, I hesitate. Firstly, making something I've never made before makes me nervous. Secondly, using whole wheat flour is something I'm leery of. But I take the plunge and explore a new dimension.

The scones call for blueberries. I use strawberries. Everything else stays the same in the recipe. Joanne Chang is on Shauna's amazing chef list. So it will be ironic if these scones fall flat in my face, but I hope birthday magic will turn them into keepers.

STRAWBERRY MAPLE SCONES

Loosely adapted from Joanne Chang

Makes 15

1 2/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup all purpose Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks COLD salted Butter

1/2 cup Creme Fraiche or Yogurt

1/2 cup Maple Syrup

1/3 cup Buttermilk

1 Egg Yolk

1 cup Strawberries

GLAZE

1/2 cup Confectioner's Sugar

3 tablespoons Maple Syrup

Place both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a paddle attachment. Whisk the flour a couple of times.

Cut butter into small 1/2 inch cubes. Divide butter in half.

Keeping the mixer on a low speed, add half of the butter to flour and mix for 2-3 minutes, till butter is mostly incorporated.

Add the remaining butter and allow the dough to go for a minutes. Start and stop the mixer about 3-5 times. Butter will remain in large chunks. That's okay. This helps the scones to have a moist texture.

Whisk creme fraiche, maple syrup, buttermilk and egg yolk.

Trim strawberries. 

Place in food processor and pulse a few times till they are almost pulpy, but still retain their shape.

Scrape them into the liquid mix.

Add liquid to dough, keeping the mixer on a low speed. The dough should be soft and wet. Scrape the dough off the paddle and use a spatula to incorporate all loose dry ingredients. 

Spoon the dough into a smaller bowl, cover and refrigerate dough for at least an hour or overnight, as the flour will absorb most of the liquid. 

Heat oven to 350F/180C.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust paper with a little flour.

Use a 1/3 cup measure to make scones. Place them 2 inches apart on baking sheet. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes, turning the sheet half way through the baking. 

Make the glaze by whisking sugar and maple syrup till smooth. 

Take scones out of the oven and coat tops with glaze. It will melt and slide down the scone. 

Enjoy these just warm from the oven!

They area huge success! What a relief! and I am a convert! Whole wheat flour has crept into my repertoire!

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