My kids are all picky eaters, heck, my husband can be one too. So lately, I’ve been trying to get a little creative to find ways to sneak more nutrients and fiber into all of their diets and one of my strategies has been baking with healthy ingredients. I tried banana muffins, those were a bust. But these apple cinnamon scones have been a massive hit and they’re super-easy to make.
They’re also great this time of year, their flavor is very “fall-like.” Plus, if you take your kids apple picking this time of year you’ll have to do something with all those apples!
I love having fresh-baked goods around the house for my family to eat. Now that two of my children are in school all day, it’s one of my ways to give them a little extra nurturing since I miss them so much and now I have the luxury of a little more time in my schedule (and by a little, I mean, like, a microscopic amount - after all, I’m still home full-time with my 20-month old).
I’m also a big believer in eating a reasonable amount of food you really enjoy. Good, tasty food nurtures the body and soul and lifts your spirits. I would be miserable if I committed myself to low carbs or low calories all the time. It’s all about moderation. As long as your building strength (like doing yoga), and getting a good amount of daily activity, you might be surprised how fast you can increase your metabolism by slowly increasing your calories to a reasonable amount for your height, weight, and activity level (aka, your TDEE - more on that here).
Anyways, these apple cinnamon scones are fantastic. They came out incredibly moist, sweet and scrumptious. I adapted this recipe from a post I found on another great blog, Some the Wiser (thanks Alison!).
Apple Scones with Apple Cider Cinnamon Glaze
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup of sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
½ cup whole milk plain yogurt
1 heaping cup peeled and chopped apple, I used granny smith
1 large egg
For the Glaze
3 tablespoons unsalted butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Apple Cider
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. I used my mixer, it made it super easy.
Grate butter into the flour mixture. You can use the large holes of a box grater; the whisk setting on your mixer, or just mash up with your fingers to work in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt and egg until smooth. Add in the finely chopped apple (I used granny smith, but I bet macintosh would work great as well).
Using a fork, or the paddle setting on your mixer, stir yogurt mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. The dough will be crumbly at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7-inch circle about ¾-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; separate the triangles and place on a prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and prepare the glaze.
In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together all of the glaze ingredients. Whisk until smooth. This recipe produces a lot of glaze, I chose to not use it all but if you like a sweeter treat, feel free to use it all. Drizzle over the warm scones and enjoy!
PS: I am not a great photographer. Something I should probably work on but if you go to some the wiser Alison has a few great photos of these scones there.
Namaste.