Start your Saint Patrick’s Day off right with a breakfast that includes shamrock-shaped maple scones. Don’t have a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter? That’s OK. They’ll taste just as good cut into triangles.
The Story
This was my first time making (and eating) scones, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I do know I can expect a yummy bottle of authentic New England maple syrup from my mom each year for Christmas. Since I live in Iowa, and my mom is in New Hampshire, the gift of real maple syrup is a real treat.
This year I received two quarts! Even though Christmas was three months ago, I still have plenty of maple syrup. I’ve made pancakes and waffles many times to go with it, but I thought it was time to try something new. Maple scones seemed a perfect solution.
These scones far exceeded my expectations. They were light and crispy outside. Inside they were moist and chewy. They were more like a cookie than a biscuit. Who doesn’t like a cookie for breakfast?
The Moral of the Story
Speaking of breakfast, remember that Life cereal commercial where the kids wouldn’t eat the cereal so they pass it off to Mikey? “He won’t eat it. He hates everything,” they declared. Then they were surprised when he did like it. I was also surprised by how much I loved these scones.
The moral of the story is “try it; you might like it.”
About the Recipe
I started with a maple cinnamon scone recipe from Food.com and made a few variations of my own, including:
- Baking them at a higher temperature and for a shorter duration. I was hungry and couldn’t wait.
- Brushing them with heavy cream and sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar before baking – instead of brushing them with egg per the original recipe.
- Using vanilla extract instead of almond.
- Cutting them into shamrock shapes instead of triangles. It is Saint Patrick’s Day after all.
The Cast of Characters
Real, honest New England maple syrup was the hero in this story. If you don’t have the real stuff, you can always call in a stunt double and use the fake stuff. However, don’t let the Just Say No to Fake Maple Syrup group on Facebook know you are doing it.
The Play-by-Play
Sift together your flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
With a pastry blender, blend in the butter like you would when making pie crust.
In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, cream and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir to form a dough.
On a floured surface, knead the dough into a disk.
With a rolling pin, roll the disk to about 1/2 inch thick.
Cut the dough into the shape you desire. I picked shamrock.
Place the scones on a baking sheet, and brush them with heavy cream.
Sprinkle the scones with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from them from the pan. Let them cool on a wire rack.
Top them with your favorite icing. I used a maple cream cheese icing.
Recipe: Maple Cinnamon Scones
Summary: A light, crispy, moist and chewy maple scone.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 ¼ tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- With a pastry blender or fork, blend the butter into the flour mixture.
- In another bowl, whisk together the cream, maple syrup and vanilla.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to form the dough.
- On a floured board, knead the dough a few times and roll into a ½ inch thick disk.
- Cut the scones into the shape you want.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
The Footnotes
- About the baking time and temperature: I reviewed several scone recipes before making these. They all had different temperatures and baking times. I picked a shorter baking time from a scone recipe in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book because I was hungry and didn’t want to wait too long for my scones. I also read on the Joy of Baking website that scones should be baked in a hot oven to help them set quickly.
- About keeping them moist: I definitely recommend making them with heavy cream and brushing them with a little extra cream before baking. I think this helped to keep them moist.
- About the icing on the scone: For even more maple flavor, top your scones with maple cream cheese icing.
Meal type: breakfast
My rating:
Additional Resources
Here are more scone recipes from a few of my favorite food bloggers. This list includes a mix of sweet and savory variations. Now that I know scones are so easy to make and tasty too, I can’t wait to try more ways to make them.
Sweet Scones
- Sweet Cinnamon Scones from Pioneer Woman – From the same woman who is famous for her cinnamon rolls, you know her cinnamon scones will be amazing too.
- White Chocolate & Sour Cherry Scones from Nutmeg Nanny – These are not only sweet with the chocolate, but also a little sour with the sour cherries.
- Samoas Scones from Baking Bites – It’s a tie between Samoas and Thin Mints for my favorite Girl Scout cookie. Baking Bites gives Samoas an edge with these scones. Now if someone makes a Thin Mint scone too, I don’t know how I would choose a favorite.
- Maple Bacon Brown Sugar Scones from How Sweet It Is – I wasn’t sure whether to label these as “sweet” since they have brown sugar or “savory” since they also include bacon. Then I noticed they also have maple icing so I’m calling them “sweet.”
Savory Scones
- Cheese & Chive Scones from Kitchen Wench – If you thought Mikey was a picky eater, read this post about how the Kitchen Wench struggles to feed an entire family of picky eaters. She wins them all over with these scones.
- Bacon, Cheddar and Green Onion Scones from Confections of a Foodie Bride – This one definitely falls in the “savory” category. Foodie Bride also offers a great tip about freezing scones for later, but these look so good I don’t think I’ll have any left to freeze if I make them!
- Savory Parmesan and Black Pepper Scones from Chez Us – At Chez Us, instead of a biscuit or baguette, they have scones with their soup.
- Jalapeno Pepper Jack Scones from Joy the Baker – If you can handle the heat of both jalapenos and pepper jack cheese, give these a try.
2 replies on “Shamrock-shaped Maple Cinnamon Scones”
The maple cream icing looks so delish! Great St. Patty’s day treat!
Thanks so much! Your Bailey Mint Oreo Truffles look like a fabulous Saint Patrick’s Day treat too!