Waking up on the weekends is always a struggle between wanting to sleep in and my body waking up on its own sleep cycle. Yesterday I lay in bed motionless with eyes closed hoping if I waited long enough I would fall back into a deep slumber. Ten minutes go by… then twenty. With every passing minute my reality was made clearer; falling back asleep was wishful thinking. I finally accepted the reality that I was waking up and slowly opened my eyes. I could see a dark dull light softly coming through the window between the curtain panels illuminating the room just enough, my eyes easily adjusted to my surroundings.
Once out of bed I made my way downstairs to the kitchen where the slight chill in the air collided with my need to be warmed up and drew me to my Keurig® Special Edition Brewing System. I love the calm early morning dawn where silence and peace is found, and on this particular morning I relished in it. I only had the ticking sound of the wall clock and the hum of the refrigerator keeping me company, accompanied by the sound of my feet walking back and forth in the kitchen as I grabbed ingredients to make something yet to be decided but would definitely include flour, sugar, and butter – the baking trinity of all things good.
I turned the oven on knowing both the kitchen and I would soon warm up. Reaching for the Starbucks® Cinnamon Dolce K-Cup® Packs in my pantry I conveniently made myself a hot cup of coffee with a touch of cream and got started.
Having candied ginger and granny smith apples on hand, I decided on making ginger apple cream scones. Like the dull faintly lit morning light of early dawn, the scones I imagined in my mind would also have subtle faint layers of flavor that do not overwhelm the taste buds but instead are pleasantly enjoyable, especially with my first morning cup of coffee.
Today I am excited to share with you this Ginger Apple Cream Scone recipe I’ve developed in partnership with Starbucks and their new Starbucks® Cinnamon Dolce K-Cup® Packs (made for Keurig® Special Edition Brewing Systems). This new Starbucks Blonde-roast blend has a rich and sweet mellow flavor to it with a subtle hint of cinnamon and brown sugar, which pairs perfectly with these Ginger Apple Scones with tender crumbs, flecks of apple, and hints of ginger and cinnamon intentionally not too sweet. These scones (while warm) are simple and so good with a small smidge of butter and honey. I cannot think of a better way to start an early weekend autumn morning then these scones and a cup of hot new Starbucks® Cinnamon Dolce K-Cup® Pack coffee. Enjoy.
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and shredded
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 5 tablespoons candied ginger strips
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar plus 1 tablespoon for dusting
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, mix the shredded apple, sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon together. Set aside.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, salt and butter to a food processor. Pulse the flour and butter mixture until it resembles coarse corn meal. Transfer the mix to a large bowl.
- Mix in 3 tablespoons candied ginger (minced) to the flour mixture.
- Add the apple mixture and its liquid, heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract to the dry scone mixture. Mix the dough by hand until it just comes together. You do not want to over mix.
- Generously flour a cutting surface. Take all the dough and form a large dough ball. Flatten the dough to a one inch disk on top of the prepared surface. Cut the disk into 8 equal triangles.
- Transfer the scones to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or silicon mat.
- Bake the scones for 15 minutes.
- While the scones are baking, mix the confectioners' sugar, milk, allspice, and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat the glaze in the microwave for 25 seconds. Whisk the mixture until smooth.
- Once the scones are done baking, transfer the scones to a cooling rack. Place the cooling rack over a rimmed baking sheet and glaze the tops of the scones using a pastry brush.
- Garnish each scone with a few strips of the remaining candied ginger and a dusting of confectioners' sugar.
I just made these scones and really enjoyed them! (so did my mom and she’s a Brit) The only other time I’ve ever tried scones, I baked them in high school; they were so terrible I swore them off. That was approximately 15 years ago. So props to you, first off for coming up with a flavor combination that I couldn’t resist trying and second for a great recipe! I also wanted to mention that like another commenter I did have issues with the dough being very wet, after a bit of research I decided that freezing my dough for an hour was the right choice and also scooping in a bit of extra flour (I don’t think i used more than 2/4 cup) while lightly forming/patting the dough remedied the issue. Very tender crumb, like a flavored biscuit basically. Thanks for the holiday recipe!
This is amazing! I wonder how perfect it will be if I partner it with Apple ribston cocktail. We should all eat apple regularly, it can help make your teeth healthier and whiter, it can also help avoid Alzheimers disease and lower the risk of cancer, this is why an apple a day keeps the doctor away.lol
Hi Deb,
I’m sorry you were disappointed. Here are some thoughts I have. The dough should be wet, but not too wet. I find when people measure flour, there will be some differences depending on how it was measured. The same goes for baking time. Different ovens (even set to same temps) will have variables in actual temperature because of calibration.
Hi Alice,
Your delicious recipe has been nominated as one of the “Top 100 Best Apple Recipes of 2014 for National Apple Month”. You and your readers can vote for it here: http://thefoodexplorer.com/fruit-2/100-delicious-apple-recipes-for-national-apple-month/ (position #82 – random order).
Happy National Apple Month! 🙂
Mmmmm…. what a perfect breakfast for fall!! Beautiful photos too!
With reasonably nutritious, some people appetites!
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I made these tonight. It was a very wet dough, and I followed the recipe to the letter. Used KAF AP flour, organic cream and butter, but have to say what a dissapointment. Mine took 25 minutes to bake in a reliable gas oven, so I don’t have a clue as to what when wrong. Would love to see some posts from folks who actually made it…
Love this flavor combination! This is my kind of breakfast!
WOW, Alice. This is such a great, seasonal flavour combo for a scone. I’d love to dunk one of these in my morning cuppa!
These look like the perfect breakfast combo!
These are the perfect scones! Love Love Love these flavors!
perfect flavors for fall! I’m going to have to look for the Cinnamon Dolce K-cups!!
Love ginger…with apples, sounds so good!
I am such a huge scone fan and these look fantastic!
These are beautiful! I love your use of candied ginger here…I bet they make the whole house smell like fall as they bake!
I love the sound of these scones. Ginger, apple, cinnamon…all perfect fall flavors and even better with a hot cup of coffee!
Your apple scones sound amazing…and must pair perfectly with a subtly cinnamon flavored coffee. What a terrific way to start the day!
These sound dreamy! I love the glaze on top!!