Pear -Cardamom Walnut Scones

August 20, 2016 

The fridge and freezer cleanout continues. I have been trying to cook our way out of my pantry, freezer and cupboard so that we will have limited supplies when we move. I spied a few blocks of Pulgra butter in my freezer and a couple of ripe pears in the fridge. Perfect for the Cardamon Pear Scones I had earmarked to make from Baking with Less Sugar book. I had to make do with pecans as I had yet to replenish my walnut supply after giving the bag to my sister.


Adapted from Baking With Less sugar by Joanne Chang

Ingredients
3/4 cup walnut (pecans or nut of choice), coarsely chopped
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour ( I used cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
3 Tbsp sugar ( 1 used 1 Tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend and 1 Tbsp sugar)
1/2 cup Pulgra unsalted butter, cut to 8 to 10 pieces
3 ripe medium Anjou or Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and chopped to small dice.
( I used 2 ripe Anjou pear and one apple)
3/4 cup creme fraiche ( or sour cream)
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk ( for dough)
1 egg yolk for egg wash

Method:
Put the walnuts or pecans on baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes at 350F. Cool and coarsely chopped the nuts.
Line 2 half sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 350F of 325F for convection oven.

Peel, core and chop the ripe pears (I had to use an an apple as I did not have enough pears for the scones).

Measure out flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and 2 tablespoon sugar ( or 1 tablespoon Splenda brown sugar mix, if using) into a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine ingredients together. Use pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut butter into dry ingredients. Alternatively, you could use a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment as in original recipe, and beat in the butter on low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the butter is somewhat broken down but there are still pieces about the size of grape. I generally manually cubed butter or grate the butter into mixing bowl and rub in the butter into dry flour mixture by hand. It is just how I learnt how to make scones and pastry. My fingers seems to know when the butter is mixed in enough for a tender scone. Add the chopped nuts and pear pieces into mixture and toss to distribute. Add the chopped nuts and pear pieces into mixture and toss to distribute.

In a small bowl, whisk together the creme fraiche, vanilla, egg and one of the egg yolks until thoroughly mixed. 

Pour the creme fraiche mixture into the flour-butter mixture and use a wooden spoon to mix the wet ingredient into the dry. Make sure to incorporate the loose flour mixture at bottom of bowl. Dough will be soft and somewhat sticky.

I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop out rounds of dough and place them on prepared baking sheets. This makes about 20 smaller scones. The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup measures and make 12 larger scones. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the scones with the egg wash. Sprinkle the tops with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes for the 1/3 cup measure scones or 35 to 45 minutes for the 1/2 cup measure scones, or until the scones are golden brown on the edges and pale golden brown in the center. Let scones cool on baking sheet for another 30 minutes before serving. The scones are best eaten the day they are made.

NB. These scones may be a tad under sweeten for many. I think you can add another 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sugar. I am cutting down my sugar consumption and my taste buds find these sweet enough. It is also fine as per recipe if you are serving them with jam or sweeten cream. I split the scones, toasted them and spread homemade blood orange curd on the bottom half (picture top of post). Totally yum and addictive!!

The dough may be frozen after egg-washed and topped with sugar. Frozen unbaked scones should be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Bake direct from freezer, add 5 to 10 minutes to baking time.