L-A At Home

I am always on the hunt to find yummy and filling snacks for the kids during the school week. Being a working mom, I find my day filled from the moment I wake up to the moment my head hits the pillow at night. Which means, I am one of those weekend warriors that I am sure you all can relate to – errands, laundry, grocery shopping, running around with the kids, all of it happens on the weekend.

To add to the list of demands, I am also one of those moms who in some ways is the cause of my own exhaustion because I insist on baking my kids their snacks, instead of buying them from the store. Baking is usually left for Sundays. I make my bread for the week, as well as any baked goods (mostly school snacks). This week the snack of choice was apple scones. I had a few apples left over and thought, why not? They are so good and I don’t have to make a topping if I don’t want to because the apples are so sweet on their own. That is one of the reasons that I like scones because they can be sweet or savory, the choice is yours really. I have made scones from Martha Stewart, William Sonoma and my favorite the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten. This recipe takes a little bit of what I have learned from each of them. You can use any kind of apple really, I happened to have macintosh on hand but I have made this recipe with empire and granny smith also. I hope you’ll try it and let me know what you think.

Here is what you will need:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbs of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of cold butter cut into pieces
• 1 cup of thinly diced apples
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Here is how to make it:

• Pre-heat your oven to 375°.
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• Peel and cut your apples into thin diced pieces. Set aside.
• Using your fingers rub the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbs the size of peas form.
• Add the diced apple to the dry ingredient and toss to coat the apples.
• Add the milk and mix until a soft slightly sticky dough forms. The dough should be a bit sticky. If the dough is too dry add a bit more milk, if it is way too sticky, add a bit more flour.
• Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and knead a few times, working some extra flour into it if needed, until the dough is barely sticky.
• Divide the dough into two pieces. On a cookie sheet fitted with a silicone pad or parchment paper, shape each piece into two disks.
• Score the tops of each disks dividing them into 4 – 8 pieces depending on how big you want your scones to be.
• Place them on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of brown sugar and cinnamon.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.

I hope this recipe inspires you to be creative in your kitchen – enjoy!