Apricot Yogurt Scones, perfect for a coffee break or breakfast treat.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup dried apricots roughly chopped
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 12 or so pieces
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- for the glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- Carbohydrate 407.405218649089 g
- Cholesterol 686.781249857381 mg
- Fat 184.815229115413 g
- Fiber 17.6294336774483 g
- Protein 54.4293675423974 g
- Saturated Fat 113.201020382328 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Recipe (1238g)
- Sodium 4321.34692081753 mg
- Sugar 389.775784971641 g
- Trans Fat 14.9548379142646 g
- Calories 3466 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Plump the apricots in one cup of very hot water for about 10 minutes. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until no pieces larger than a pea remain. Add the drained apricots and toss to coat with flour.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk and vanilla. Pour over the dry mix and use a spatula to combine them gently. Mix just until there is no more dry flour visible in the dough.
- Use a 1/2-cup measure to scoop out the dough and drop it onto the baking sheet. Space the scones about an inch apart. Use floured hands to gently pat the mounds into disks or tidy up the edges.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the scones are firm to the touch, golden on top, and browned on their bottoms. When the scones have cooled completely, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle a spoonful on the top of each scone. The glaze will harden within 15 minutes or so.
- Scones are best the day that they are made, but will keep in an airtight container for about three days.
Unlike traditional Scottish drop scones that rely heavily on heavy cream or buttermilk and cook quickly on a griddle, these oven-baked variations draw closer lineage to the heavier, fruit-laden tea cakes historically served across Victorian parlors. British baking traditions long favored utilizing dried fruits like currants and apricots because they survived maritime transport and winter storage without losing their concentrated sugars. Incorporating yogurt into the dough introduces acidity that reacts directly with the baking soda and baking powder, yielding a tender crumb that compensates for the lack of heavy cream. Cutting cold butter into the dry components requires working quickly with fingertips or a pastry cutter until pieces do not exceed the size of small peas, ensuring pockets of steam form inside the 400 F oven. Plumping the dried fruit in very hot water for ten minutes restores moisture before mixing, preventing the fruit from drawing hydration away from the flour structure during baking. Shaping the mounds requires lightly floured hands to gently pat the sticky dough into neat disks spaced an inch apart on parchment paper. While these pastries taste best fresh on the day they are baked, storing them in an airtight container preserves their texture for roughly three days. Second-day leftovers can be revived by splitting them horizontally and warming them briefly in a toaster oven to restore the crisp exterior crust.
