Apricot Creamcheese Scones

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 15

Bake of the Day: Breakfast -- Apricot Cream cheese Scones

I love making scones because they come together very easily and are relatively quick to bake. Also they need all cold ingredients -- so there's no need to wait for the ingredients to come to room temperature (or worry about the melted butter that you hurriedly wanted to bring to room temperature in the microwave).

Scones from some of the bakeries are very heavy, dense and flavorless. But I am very tried so far happy with the scone recipes I've tried so far. They are not very dense and quite flavorful.
I've posted scones made with cream before and today's are made with cream cheese. Full fat or low fat cream cheese can be used and like other scone recipes, these are easy to put together and quick to bake.

Dried apricots are perfect because they are slightly sour and sweet at the same time -- a perfect foil to the rich buttery creaminess of the scones. Also this recipe makes a lot of scones, so either half the recipe or freeze the scones for later use or share them with family & friends :-)

Recipe from King Arthur Flour:

Ingredients: 

All purpose flour - 2cups
Whole wheat flour - 1¼cups
Granulated Sugar - ½cup
Baking powder - 2½tsp
Salt - ½tsp
Cream cheese (regular or Neufchatel (low-fat)) - 1 8oz. package
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (½ cup)
Dried Apricots - 1cup, diced
Egg - 1 large (or use 1tbsp egg replacer whisked with 3tbsp water)
Vanilla Extract - 2tsp
Milk - ¼cup+1~2tbsp more, if needed
Sparkling or Demerera Sugar - for garnish (optional)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease or line a baking sheet with parchment.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Cut in the cream cheese and butter, using a pastry cutter or fork or your fingers, until the chunks of butter are the size of peas.
• Stir in the dried apricots.
• In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla and milk. 
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently until the mixture comes together and holds the shape. Pat the dough into a ¾" thick square or circle.
• Cut the dough into squares, wedges or diamonds.
• Brush the tops lightly with milk and sprinkle with sparkling or demerera sugar, if desired. Place the scones about 2" apart on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake for 18 minutes or until the tops are light golden brown.
•  Serve hot, with clotted cream and jam.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51.

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