King Arthur Bacon-Cheddar-Scallion Scones

Dan loves breakfast/brunch, so I have been trying to plan ahead in order to have stuff on hand for the weekend for him; he usually only has coffee for breakfast during the week.

He is a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to this sort of thing; he likes eggs and bacon, pancakes, waffles, french toast, biscuits with sausage gravy and breakfast tacos. He likes them the way he likes them and he doesn't want you messing with them (i.e. I suggested a stuffed french toast last weekend...this was a no deal for the Daniel...he likes things traditional and plain!)

Anyhow, while at Fleisher's I saw some great bacon in the case, and one of my favorite breakfast items from Buzz Bakery in DC was a bacon-scallion scone. Thus, I thought of my meat and potatoes man and fingers crossed hoped that this might be a winner for him.

I browned my bacon in the oven on a jelly roll pan because I hate babysitting bacon. Dan likes bacon extra crispy so I let it get dark but not burned--400F for 17-20 minutes usually does the trick--let it cool and then crumble.

I have a great cream scone recipe that I make with currants (which even Dan likes), but I wasn't sure about proportions for a savory version; therefore, I turned to King Arthur Flour for help.

I baked these up before Dan & I headed out for Long Island (post about that to come later); I let them get a bit darker than I wanted (on accident), but they were still light, fluffy and delicious.

More importantly, they were a HUGE hit with Dan (much to my relief!) As a bonus I have six more of these babies in the freezer to bust out for a quick breakfast later in the month.

King Arthur Bacon-Cheddar-Scallion Scones

Ingredients

--2 cups (8 1/2 oz) AP Flour
--1 tsp. salt
--1 Tblsp. baking powder
--2 tsp. sugar
--4 Tblsps (1/2 stick, 2 oz) cold butter
--1 cup (4 oz) very coarsely grated cheddar cheese
--1/3 cup (about 1/2 ounce) finely diced scallion tops
--1/2 pound bacon, cooked, cooled, and crumbled (roughly 1 cup)
--3/4 cup + 2 Tblsps. (7 ounces) heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line it with parchment.

2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

3. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender until you have pea size bits of butter throughout.

4. Mix in the cheese, chives, and bacon till evenly distributed.

5. Add ¾ cup of the cream, stirring to combine; fingers work well here! You want the dough to be just combined but still scraggly looking.

6. Pat the dough into an 8" cake pan lined with saran wrap; flip the disk out onto your work surface.

7. Use a knife or bench knife to cut the disk into 8 wedges, spreading the wedges apart on the pan (like you would do for cookies).

8. Brush the scones with a bit of cream; this will help their crust brown much like an egg wash would.

9. Bake the scones for 22 to 24 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Note: As you can see from the photos, I made these with the intention of freezing them, because with there just being two of us, I have no need for 8 scones at one time. I used a glass cake pan, lined it with saran wrap and gently pressed my scones into the pan. From there, I cut the disk into 8 portions with a bench scraper, individually wrapped them tightly in saran wrap, put all in a gallon size freezer bag and popped them in the freezer. I keep a thin sharpie in my kitchen to write the date prepared on the bag as well as baking instruction for ease later on. You'll bake these straight from the freezer at 425 F for 35-40 minutes.




*Those of you who know me well know that I love caramel. Ever since I learned how to make a good caramel sauce I have had a batch in my fridge. The stuff keeps for a month!

Anyhow, in college, my sweet indulgence from the cafeteria was as follows: vanilla frozen yogurt with a sliced banana, dry roasted peanuts and caramel. They didn't have homemade caramel at my university cafeteria, but it was still tasty. I'll post a caramel recipe the next time a make a batch; I just wanted to share my delicious (and mildly nutritious) afternoon snack with you guys...yum!