31 Days of Halloween 2014 - Day 2: Apple Pie Scones

Happy Fall, Y'all!!

I LOVE this time of year - in case you couldn't tell.  Pumpkin everything, the smell of cinnamon and cloves, apples...the list goes on and on!

I found the most amazing scone recipe here, and since it is so adaptable and easy, I decided to try out some fall flavors.  First up?  Of course, apple pie :D  I'm not going to copy the recipe again here because she's already written up an amazing tutorial on her site.  One tip I would give is to let your butter soften at room temperature for a while.  Makes cutting it into the flour mixture a LOT easier.
If you want your scones to have a more spice-y flavor, add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to the flour mixture before cutting butter in.

First things first - you need to make your apple pie filling.  You can also buy canned, but I found Honeycrisp apples at Kroger for $1.88/lb and stocked up.  In my opinion, Honeycrisp are the best baking apples.  Not too tart, not too sweet, and perfectly crisp :)

I used this recipe, using 3 apples, 4 TBS flour, and with the addition of 4 TBS cornstarch added before you dump the apples back in.  We want this stuff thicker than your average pie filling.

Apple Pie Filling Process:

Cut your pieces small so they mix into the scone dough well.

YUM!

Make sure that your filling is cool before adding to the scone mixture.  You don't want to burn your hands while you mix it.  I put mine in the fridge to cool off faster - I want to eat these suckers NOW! You can also make this on a different day and can it or keep in the fridge if you'd like.

Scone process:

Okay, so you've got your apple pie filling and you've got your scone dough made up.  When I make these scones, I usually add a jar of raspberry jam, which makes the dough less sturdy.  Do they keep their shape?  Not even a little bit.  Do they taste AMAZING??  You betcher booty ;P  So that's what we're going to do here.  Scoop the apples into the dough, leaving some apples and liquid in the bowl for topping.  (Sorry for the cruddy photos.  Mixing dough + old phone = crappy pictures.)

Combine gently with your hands.

Break off small sections and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Spoon some of that delicious gooey liquid and apples onto the tops of your scones and bake according to directions.  I baked mine for 20 minutes, until they were nice and lightly browned on top and the filling liquid had caramelized a little bit.

Last thing to do?  ENJOY the junk out of these suckers!  Grab yourself some coffee and if you're feeling generous, share some scones with your kids.  If not, hide in the pantry and eat the whole batch.  We're not judging over here ;)