Apple and Cinnamon Scones

I've been having fun experimenting with different scone flavours this week and this one was a winner for me. They smelt so good fresh out the oven my OH came running down from two stories up in our house to grab one off the cooling rack and devour it in a couple of bites. I used a combination of a basic vegan scone recipe, inspiration from my Granny's apple scone recipe I posted before and (oddly enough) dumplings, stuffing these scones with a golden nugget of marzipan for additional texture and flavour. I took some of these to my work and they went down an absolute treat.

Ingredients:

1 large cooking apple
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 block of marzipan
475g self raising flour plus extra for dusting
50g caster sugar
85g vegan butter
240ml dairy-free milk  - I use soy
1 tsp cider vinegar
granulated sugar for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200c fan and flour 2 baking trays. Peel, core and dice the apple and set to one side. Grab a big bowl and place in the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon and butter and rub together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Mix the milk with the vinegar then pour into the bowl. Knead until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough then add in the apple and knead through.

Take a lump of the dough around the size of a ping-pong ball and use your fingers to shape into a circle. Grab a lump of the marzipan around the 1cm in diameter and place in the centre of the dough then bring the dough up around the marzipan to encase it, rolling the dough between your hands to form a rough ball. I would recommend flouring your hands to stop the dough sticking.  Place on the floured baking sheet and repeat until all of the dough and marzipan has been used, creating around 20 scones.

Sprinkle with a generous helping of granulated sugar, gently pressing it into the top of the scones to stop it falling everywhere. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the scones are golden brown and the sugar has melted a little. The marzipan may split the scones and flow out the middle, while not necessarily the prettiest, it tastes amazing so don't worry!

Place the scones on a cooling rack for a little while as they will be incredibly hot. Scoff them with a cuppa when you can no longer resist how amazing they smell without a care for how hot they are!

When you make these, take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Granny's Apple Scones

These scones I learnt to make with my granny in her kitchen on our holidays. The smell brings back happy memories of childhood, messiness and cake is always going to be a winner. I have altered the recipe slightly but have left it in the old measurements as my Granny had them. She passed this recipe on to me and I always feel honoured to recreate something one of the best bakers I know makes. My granny is one of the people who inspired me to start baking and inspires me every day with emails of her creations. This recipe also disproves the myth that scones are difficult to make, taking around 45 minutes from start to face! I recently made these for my partners work and they lasted only a few seconds. This recipe makes around 24 scones; trust me - there's no such thing as too many.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb cooking apples
16oz plain flour
6oz butter - I used dairy free
2 egg
2 tsp baking powder
4 oz sugar
100ml  milk - I used Soy milk
2 tsp cinnamon
Sugar crystals to top

Method:
Peel, core and chop the apples finely. Mix the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter. Add the sugar, cinnamon and apple and blend to a soft dough with the egg and the milk, adding a little at a time. Knead the ingredients together.

Roll out the dough to approx. ¾ inch think and cut into 2inch rounds. Place on a floured baking tray and sprinkle with the sugar crystals before baking at 160c for 30 minutes until golden brown and firm to touch.

Slather with butter and scoff, smiling happily.

Enjoy!

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife