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Oatmeal & Fruit Scones
I don’t know about you, but when I have houseguests I like to make a little extra food to have around so I can enjoy my company and not be tied to the kitchen. Many recipes I prepare ahead are munchy type eats, maybe some soup, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and salad stuff … and always breakfast food. Most of my friends and family are sick of bagels and many are not into eggs or pancakes, so I end up making a batch of these scones.
They aren’t that bad for you… really. Yes, there is some white flour but I put in whole wheat flour too, and oatmeal along with barely sweetened dried fruit, and just a titch of brown sugar. These are barely sweet, chewy and perfect for a little something to have with a cup of coffee in the morning before a walk or heading out.
The original recipe for these scones came from an older cookbook and I switched out a lot of the white flour for whole wheat pastry flour. I cut the scones smaller so I end up with eight perfect sized scones. Although best an hour after baking, who has time to get up in the morning and start in before breakfast? Not me! So I cool these and stick them in the freezer, then defrost and rewarm them as needed.
I don’t put butter or cream cheese on these when I eat them – I like them as is. I think you could use dried cranberries or even dried dates or prunes cut into raisin-sized pieces and soaked as per the directions if you want to switch out the types of fruit.
Do follow the instructions of how to make this dough carefully – it’s a little unusual not to stir things together and not to work the dough, but it does make a difference. Happy winter baking!
Oatmeal Fruit Scones
Makes eight scones
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup dried sour cherries
- 2 dried apricot halves, cut into small pieces (mine have no sulfur or sweetener added)
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 Tbsp fresh grated orange zest
- 1 cup + 3 Tbsp flour (I use 1 cup white whole wheat pastry flour + the rest white flour but you can use ½ regular white flour and ½ white whole wheat pastry flour if you prefer a lighter scone)
- 2 ½ Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 4 Tbsp (½ stick) cold butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment.
Soak fruit in hot tap water 15 minutes and then drain well.
Put buttermilk and egg in bowl, sprinkle oatmeal on top and don’t stir. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then add the drained dried fruit.
In a food processor add flour through butter until very well blended. Gently fold into rest of the ingredients and do not overstir. Turn onto a floured surface and pat into a one-inch thick circle. The dough is sticky – don’t knead and don’t stir. Handle as little as possible. Cut eight wedges, place on the parchment lined cookie sheet and sprinkle the tops with one tablespoon (total) of granulated sugar. Bake them 25-30 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.
When cool you might want to drizzle these with a maple glaze because they are on the bland, non-sweet side. Just mix together a half cup of sifted powdered sugar with three tablespoons of maple syrup for the drizzle.
