There is just something special about the freshly-baked taste of baked goods, isn’t there? I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of scones. When I spotted this recipe in America’s Test Kitchen’s The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook I knew I had to make it and share it with you. This cookbook is wonderful, and I’ve already shared a few recipes from it with you. Like Chicken and Orzo Pasta, Spinach and Feta which is a great go-to recipe for weeknights and Key Lime Pie for Two. The Sweet & Sour Sticky Ribs recipe is also from that cookbook, but I adapted it for a larger crowd. I wanted leftovers!
If you have a small family, you may not want to make a big batch of baked goods. Especially baked goods. You want them to be fresh and moist. However if you have a small family and you make a big batch then you run the risk of your baked goods going stale before you’ve had a chance to enjoy them all. No fun at all. I love the idea of making things in smaller batches because I am currently in a small family and some larger scale recipes are difficult to adapt.
These would taste great with jam, honey, clotted cream or simply dressed with butter. I also love the idea of maples and pecans. The original recipe used dried currants, which would be just as delicious, I’m sure. I just wanted a quintessential breakfast treat and maple syrup seems to fit the bill perfectly.
Also, I decided to make my first recipe video for this blog. I’ve had my camcorder sitting around in plain sight and every time I walked past it, I kept thinking to myself, “I need to put that thing to good use.” Well, I finally did. I’m still learning my way around its features. I had a blast making this video so you can expect many more to come hopefully. I am inspired by the style of Amber at Sweet Ambs Cookies. Isn’t her work amazing? I was also inspired by this beautiful video of a Rustic Pear Tart recipe by Eric and Liz Berget at Carpe Season.
I hope you enjoy this first little video.
Maple Pecan Scones for Two
Ingredients
Scones
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans toasted
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 3 tbsp. salted butter cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
Glaze
- 3 tbsp. powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. pure maple syrup
Instructions
Scones
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with wax paper and spread chopped pecans in a single layer on baking sheet. Toast pecans for 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Set oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine cream and maple syrup. Set aside.
- Mix flour and baking powder. Scatter butter over top and mix with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
- Add toasted pecans and stir to combine.
- Stir in cream and syrup mixture until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.
- Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead until rough, slightly sticky ball forms, about 15 seconds. Shape dough into 5-inch round, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut dough into 4 wedges.
- Place wedges on the same baking sheet you used for the pecans. Bake until scone tops are light golden brown. 18-22 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer to wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes.
Glaze
- While scones bake, whisk powdered sugar and maple syrup together in bowl. Once scones are cool, drizzle with glaze. Let glaze set for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
carl says
These sounded great so we made them. Two comments:
1. You don’t mention when to add the pecans in the printed recipe but of course they are added between steps 4 and 5 in the video.
2. They were extremely crumbly. What about adding an egg with the maple/cream mixture? Most scone recipes have an egg in my experience.
Sandra says
Hi Carl,
Thanks for the heads-up regarding the pecans. I’ve corrected the recipe. I can’t speak to your results by adding an egg because I haven’t tried it with an egg. I ended up with a crumbly texture outside and a soft, cake-like texture inside, which is to my liking. If you would rather have something more cake-like throughout, you can maybe try adding an egg as you suggested or I would suggest experimenting with the amount of cream. You may need to use more. Thanks for your comment!