roasted pear and chocolate scones

roasted pear and chocolate scones

• 3.15.2015

My interest in making scones might be getting a little out of control - but I really won't apologize for it.

Scones are rising to the top of my list recently. It feels like you can put almost anything in them - which is why I like them so much. Kind of like the pizza, you can really use them to take care of any spare ingredients you have around the kitchen. This week my spare ingredients are pears. The pears were a gift from my grandfather. Sometimes when I call him walking home from work we talk about what he's been eating. Since he isn't much of a cook, he eats a lot of salads. Given his new found appreciation for baby spinach, I thought I might be able to sell him on kale. Not quite happening - but he did promise to try this salad if I make it.

He is rather sweet on pears - which I think are super weird and refused to bring into my house. So obviously, he gave me a half dozen. Turns out, I've been judging pears based on their looks. They aren't quite bad... but they are especially good in scones. I'm still going to pick other fruits over pears, but I'll hold back on the judging fruit based on its looks. Especially if you add just the right amount of mini chocolate chips.

Here's how it goes.

(Step 1) Preheat oven to 400F. 

(Step 2) Peel and dice the pears into 1 inch cubes-ish. I didn't pay too much attention to the size initially, but the smaller the better really. Lay the pears evenly on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. After done, pull from the oven and let cool.

(Step 3) Unwrap a stick of frozen butter and grate it like cheese over a bowl... obviously. Once you are done, set it aside in your freezer. The frozen butter is the secret to good scones.

(Step 4) Mix the sour cream and milk and set aside

(Step 5) Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Add in the frozen grated butter. Give it some gentle mixing so that all the butter is equally distributed. Give it a gentle mix together. I felt like I needed a little more milk to get the dough to the right consistency. Essentially, you want it to just come together so you can need it.

(Step 6) Dump the dough onto a generously floured surface. Knead it until you get a bit of a dough ball. As a friendly note, the dough will not feel as solid as pizza, bread or pie dough... it always feels a bit loose. You can feel the little grated bits of butter pretty clearly.

(Step 7) Once you have your dough baby, roll it out into a 12x12 -ish square. I'm never precise. Then, fold it up like a business letter. Put it in the freezer for 5 minutes.

(Step 8) Roll out your dough once last time into a larger rectangle kind of like before. Sprinkle the dough with the roasted pears and mini chocolate chips evenly. Now roll your dough up like a cinnamon roll. Once you have the roll, then using the palms of your hands kind of gently flatten it down a bit. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into squares... then triangles. Lay those baby triangles on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

(Step 9) Brush the tops of each scone with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Since the dough is still very cold from the freezer, the butter will actually harden on top of the scones. Don't freak out.

(Step 8) Bake for 20ish minutes at 425F. While I would normally eat them right from the oven, you kind of want to let them rest for 5 minutes. 

Shopping List

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons butter

2 pears, peeled and diced

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips