Maple Oat Nut Scones

Fall is a lucky season.

Nobody has a bad word to say about it.  

It's got pumpkins, apples and cranberries.  Trademark colors like maroon and russet.  That smell of burning leaves, and weather that no one complains about.  It's got the best wardrobe of the year with plaids and book bags and knee socks.  And fall is the season of baking.  It presides over nuts and spices, and some of the world's most wonderful flavors, like maple.

I've made these before and we all loved them. They were just like Starbucks'.   But I've been on a quest for a fluffier scone so I worked up this alternative recipe.  I like it even better.  I think the oat flour has something to do with it, and this is a relatively wet dough, which bakes up more like a fluffy biscuit than a flaky scone.  We like.

 Fluffy Maple Oat Nut Scones

1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
6 tbsp cold butter, cut in chunks
1 egg
1/2 -2/3 cups buttermilk 
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/2 tsp vanilla 

Maple Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
maple syrup
maple extract
water


Put the dry ingredients in the bowl of a processor and pulse to combine.  Then add the cold butter and the nuts and pulse several times until the mix is grainy.  


In a liquid measuring cup beat the egg, add the maple syrup, and extracts. Then add enough buttermilk to make 1 cup.  While you are pulsing the machine, pour the liquid into the dry just until it comes together.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and bring together into an 8 inch disk.  Cut the disk into 6 scones and lay them carefully on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.  The dough will be wet, almost like a drop biscuit consistency.  Don't be tempted to add lots of flour to firm it up, just form the disk and slice.


Bake at 400 for about 18-20 minutes until firm on top and lightly browned.  Cool them on a rack while you make the glaze.

Whisk or stir the sugar together with the maple syrup and extract, adding just enough water so that you get a thick glaze.  

Be sure to let the scones cool before you glaze them or the glaze will slide right off.  You don't want that.  You want a thick rich layer of glaze.  Sprinkle a few chopped pecans over the top.