Very Whole Grain Scones
One of Colorado’s most famous sayings is, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” There are numerous variations on this saying, and almost everyone who lives in Colorado has said this at some point. I know it kind of sounds like an exaggeration; and if you’ve talked to a Coloradan you may have been told some pretty crazy weather related stories that sound like utter hogwash. For example, a pool party on Friday followed by a ski adventure on Saturday. Or, airlifting cows out of the snow in 20 below temps. Perhaps, rain in the front yard and sunny blue skies in the backyard? Or maybe just hail the size of golf balls, canoeing down the block after a major storm, or cooking an egg on the sidewalk.
The thing is, the phrase, and the stories really aren’t all that exaggerated. We have some wild mood swingin’ weather out here. (Ok, I admit, I don’t know anyone who’s done the egg on the sidewalk thing. I did have a teacher in high school who claimed to have cooked an egg on his car hood, but I do admit the story is probably bogus. But, the rain on one side of the house thing is totally true! It’s happened to me.)
September happens to be one of the more unpredictable months. By this time it may be snowing. It may be 85-90 degrees and blistering. It may be raining. It might be a perfect crisp 70 with beautiful golden leaves falling from the aspens. You just don’t know. More likely then not September will be some random combination of the afore mentioned weather.
I generally like our crazy weather. It keeps things interesting, and overall we have a lot more pleasant sunny days more then anything. But, September… can be a little difficult. September is when I do all my fall planting, pruning, and prep the garden for winter. Sometimes the craziness can make it hard to finish everything I need to get done before the real snow sets in and the ground freezes.
This year so far it’s been alternating between the crisp 70, 85+, and chilly rain. So one week it’s swimsuits and shorts, I still need to water the lawn, and it’s probably too soon to plant my fall bulbs. The next week I’m debating breaking out the winter coats and panicking because I haven’t finished anything in the yard… and boy oh boy do I need to do my yard work! While I have many gorgeously blooming flowers as you can see from the above pictures; my husband and I bought a fixer-uper house about three years ago, and originally our yard was covered with nothing but weeds. A lot of weeds. Very big tall, scary, eat you weeds.
It’s been my on going project to revamp the yard since we bought the house. I’ve made a lot of progress but I have big dreams for the yard. I have visions of a gorgeous, riot of color, filled to the brim with plants garden; and theres still a lot of work to do to get there. It’s been quite a learning experience working on my dream garden and I feel like I have to back track and re-do or re-plan entirely too much. I just feel like I still have so so much left to do… Ah, September behave yourself for a little while longer for me please, the garden needs my attention.
Meanwhile, on the kitchen front, I’ve been working on developing a truly healthy whole grain scone recipe. Fortunately Whole Grain Scones are seasonally appropriate regardless of the outside temperature. Scones are just season-less don’t you think?
In my quest to eat healthier, I’ve discovered that I am most successful when I have healthy options that I really like; and as you know if you’ve been reading for any length of time I adore scones. Unfortunately, most scone recipes are made with white four, and either a fair bit of butter or cream, making them not so healthy. (Though at least they often aren’t overly heavy in the sugar department.) My version uses Bob’s Red Mill Muesli mix, which is a true whole grain cereal, as the base. Instead of large quantities of butter or cream for moisture I use a little bit of butter for flavor and mix of egg and ripe pear for moisture and binding. Believe it or not pear yields the most moist baked goods ever! I’ve also cut down the sugar in the recipe, even though many scone recipes don’t have a ton, because I really want to keep my sugar consumption to a bear minimum. All this together = seriously healthy, seriously whole grain scones. A win for team healthy and team taste! Hope you enjoy!
Very Whole Grain Scones
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 large very ripe pear cored (keep the skin on)
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Muesli mix
- 1 cup chopped nuts (I recommend pecans)
- 1/2 cup dried fruit (I recomnen
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350*. In the bowl of a large stand mixer cream together butter and brown sugar.
- 2. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat together.
- 3. In a separate bowl sift together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture and the cored pear (including the skin to the mixing bowl. Mix together until the pear has been well smashed and mixed into the other ingredients.
- 4. Add the Muesli mix, nuts, and dried fruit to the mixing bowl. Mix on low until just combined. The less you mix the more the whole grains will retain there integrity. Over mixing will smash the grains.
- 5. Turn out the mix on to a well floured surface. The mix will be quite sticky. Shape into a flat circular shape. Use a sharp knife to cut into wedges so six triangles are formed.
- 6. Place evenly spaced on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden brown. The scones will be fairly soft when they come out of the oven. Allow the scones to cool before removing from the baking sheet.
Notes
- To make these even healthier: Cut the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon and substitute almond or hazelnut flour for 1/2 cup of the whole wheat flour.
P.S. I wanted to let you guys know I’m returning to a M/W/F posting schedule starting October 1st! I’ve found posting three times a week was much more fun and way more motivating for me; and it means more great recipes for you! :)
These are so delicious, I’ve made them 3+ times now and they’re always such a hit. I “frost” them with vanilla Greek yogurt, so yum. Highly recommend!!