Maple Pecan Scones with a Whiskey Glaze

 

I make these scones solely as an excuse to shamelessly consume whiskey at breakfast.

Well, that’s only halfway true. I make these scones because my favorite part of camping is shamelessly adding whiskey to my coffee. They smell like a lack of a to-do list.

Overscheduling tendencies aside, these little guys are flaky, tender, and ridiculously easy to make. If you’ve never made scones before, this method of whisking melted butter into ice cold heavy cream takes the anxiety out of baking them. Which is definitely rad, but I’m sticking to the whiskey excuse. Happy baking!

Maple Pecan Scones with a Whiskey Glaze

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Lunera Bakery | April 26, 2020

<left; data-preserve-html-node="true" font-size:2em=""> Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 20 min Total Time: 35 min Servings: 8

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Ingredients:

For the Bourbon Glaze:

  • 1 Tbsp(14g) Whiskey

  • 1/2 cup (57g) Powdered Sugar

  • 1 tsp Maple Syrup

  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste

  • 2 Tbsp (28g) Melted Butter

    • For the Scones:

  • 2 & 1/4 cups (270g) All-Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting

  • 1/4 cup (35gr) Milk Powder

  • 3/4 cups (170g) Heavy Cream, plus more for brushing

  • 1/2 cup (113g) Butter

  • 3/4 cup (85g) Pecans, chopped

  • 1/4 cup (78g) Maple Syrup

  • 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar

  • 1 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

  • 1/2 tsp Salt

  • 1 Tbsp Baking Powder


    Tools Needed:

  • Baking Sheet

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    Instructions:

    1. Place a rack into the center of the oven and preheat to 400℉. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, or a silpat.
    2. Measure out your pecans, and put them onto that sheet pan (you're gonna use the exact same one for the whole recipe). Place them in the oven as it heats up for 5-7 minutes. They're ready once they get slightly darker, and start to smell gloriously nutty (turns out it's a really apt description). If you're afraid of burning them, you can also do this in a pan.
    3. Combine the heavy cream, and maple syrup in a freezer-safe container. Whisk with a fork until combined. Place the mixture in the freezer while you get the rest of the ingredients ready. You want it to be in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, but no more than 15 minutes.
    4. Melt the butter in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Or in a pan. I'm not your mom, just get it done without burning it or making a friggen mess. Set it to the side so it can cool to room temperature.
    5. Whisk flour, baking powder, milk powder, sugar, dark brown sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
    6. Add the pecans to the dry mixture, and stir until combined.
    7. Pull the heavy cream and maple syrup mixture out the freezer, and slowly pour the cooled, melted butter into it whilst whisking with a fork. It's going to form a craggy mixture with some big chunks of butter, and some smaller glubules. Honestly, it's going to look like you've ruined it. You haven't. Those small globules are important to the final texture of scones. They heat up in the oven and create the beautiful flakiness you want in scones.
    8. Add your wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated, and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Don’t over mix! Do you want scones, or medieval pelting stones? If you mix until smooth, you'll get pelting stones. Roll with the questionable mixture, just like you did with term papers in college. It worked then, it'll work now.
    9. Generously flour a work surface. Dump dough onto prepared work surface, and flip over to coat all surfaces with flour. Knead on counter for roughly 30 seconds. Flip over on work surface to coat with flour then pat into an 8-inch (20cm) circle.
    10. Cut dough in 8 equal pie-shaped pieces. Transfer and arrange wedges onto the prepared sheet pan. Brush tops with heavy cream.
    11. Place scones in freezer for 10 minutes. This helps chill down the fat solids so that the crumb with have the best chance of being tender and moist.
    12. Pull the scones out of the freezer, and put them directly into the oven. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and check them every minute after that until they're a uniform golden brown color. Do NOT open the oven door to check, you will lose all the lift from the butter. If you can't see through the glass, we've got other issues to discuss. They're done when they pass a clean toothpick test, or once they hit 190℉. The level of perfectionism is up to you.
    13. While the scones are baking, make the glaze.
    14. Combine whiskey, powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted butter in a heatproof bowl, or glass measuring cup. Microwave on high in 20-second intervals, stirring, until fully combined. No. I'm not kidding. I've tried this on the stove, it doesn't work nearly as well. Nuke it.
    15. Drizzle glaze over scones. Let scones sit for 15 minutes to let glaze set before serving.
    16. Enjoy with your favorite hot beverage.