Ginger-Apple Cream Scones
These scones are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside with bits of candied ginger for texture contrast. The butter, egg yolks, and cream make them super yummy. Serve these scones warm or at room temperature. If you like jam, by all means offer some at the table.
Ginger-Apple Cream Scones
Ingredients
Scones
- 2 cups (9 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 4 chunks
- 1/3 cup finely diced candied ginger
- 1 cup peeled and shredded tart apple about 3 ounces
- Finely grated zest 1 lemon or 2 tangerines
- 2 large egg yolks
- Heavy cream to measure 1 cup
Topping
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon pearl sugar, granulated sugar or turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Have ready a large (14- x 17-inch) cookie sheet lined with parchment or non-stick baking pan liner. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with a rack in the center position. Place the flour, sugar, spice, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine well. Add the cold butter and cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the pieces of fat look like very coarse meal.
- Stir in the candied ginger, apple, and fruit zest. Put the egg yolks into a 1-cup glass measure with pouring spout. Break the yolks up with a fork and gradually stir in heavy cream until the liquid reaches the 1-cup line.
- Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough gathers together into a mass. Turn all the dough out—including any dry bits— onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly—just 2 or 3 times.
- Flatten the dough into a 7-inch disc. Brush the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon cream and sprinkle evenly with the sugar. Cut the dough into 8 wedges.
- Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet spacing them 2 or more inches apart. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown and the edges of the scones are a dark brown. Remove scones from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter.
- NOTE: You can make dough a night ahead, shape it into a 7-inch circle, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. The next morning, as the oven preheats, complete making the scones.
For the scones, when i mixed the cream egg mixture into the dry ingredients, the result was a very sticky dough. I thought it should have been dryer and added more flour. the scones did not turn out as good as i expected. Is the batter supposed to be sticky?
Dear Judi Callahan,
I am very glad you’ve written me, and I am very sorry you wound up with a sticky dough. And I share your disappointment in how the scones turned out. Let’s try to figure out what went wrong. The dough should not be sticky. I say in the recipe there should be dry bits of flour after the liquid is stirred in. Did you weigh your flour? What brand of flour are you using? Was the total volume of egg yolks + cream equal to 1 cup in a liquid measure (8 ounces)? How about the apple? Did it weigh 3 ounces or a tad less? If you packed it into the cup that could have made the dough wetter than it should be. If you think of anything else to add, please drop me a line.
Just finished baking a batch on a rainy day. The dough was only a bit sticky, as I might have added a tad more cream, and the Granny Smith apple was really juicy and sweet. I tried to handle the dough as little as possible. Baked them for 20 minutes. They came out done to perfection. Not too dry, not too moist, flavors all blended. A definite winner (and the house smells heavenly).
Thank you, Roslyn, for letting me know your excellent results with the ginger-apple cream scones. I am smiling!