Cinnamon Pecan Scones

For little girls, there’s nothing quite like a “tea party”.  I had plenty of them with my dolls and pretend friends.  My daughters did as well.  Sometimes we would even have “real” tea parties with Grandma at her house.  She collected beautiful tea cups and would let the girls choose which one they would drink their tea from.  We would eat snacks and drink tea, usually sweet iced tea.  

Just down the street from our home in Pennsylvania, was a real Tea House.  My mother-in-law and I would go there occasionally for a traditional tea.  The food wasn’t something little girls would have enjoyed and our husbands would NEVER have gotten full on the dainty finger foods they served.  In fact, my husband called scones “stale biscuits”,  never mind his thoughts on clotted cream and lemon curd.  There was no convincing him otherwise…UNTIL I made them at home.  He loved them…so much so that he bought the special scone pan I now use to make them. 

The first time I made them, I purchased them frozen from a local gourmet shop.  They were good, but quite pricey, so next I tried a high quality box mix.  They were great, but also a little expensive and the store that carried them wasn’t close to my house.  So, why not try making them from scratch, how hard could it be?  It should just be a matter of finding a good recipe.  

I found several good recipes and followed them closely for a while.  But, what if I didn’t have dried fruit? What if I wanted chocolate chips instead?  So, as I often do, I began to experiment and substitute. These Cinnamon Pecan Scones are the result!

Here’s the Recipe:

Ingredients listed on recipe card below (Printable version at bottom)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Spray scone pan with cooking spray.  If you don’t have one just use a baking sheet. 

  Separate eggs, reserving whites for topping.  Add yolks to sour cream.  Mix well.

In a separate (large) bowl, combine dry ingredients.

“Cut” butter into dry ingredients.  

To Cut Butter – start by cutting butter into small pats, add to flour mixture. Using a fork mash the butter, while mixing it with the flour until the butter pieces are about the size of small peas.

Add the sour cream mixture to flour mixture.  Stir to combine well – but DON”T over mix.

*Be careful here.  Over working the dough will cause scones to be tough.  

It should look like this.  It won’t be “smooth” like batter.  It’s also OK if there’s a little unincorporated flour in the bottom.  It will get combine with kneading.

With as little stirring as possible, add chips and pecans.

Turn dough onto a flour surface (I also use waxed paper for easier clean up) and knead 3-4 times.  

Pat dough into a “round” about 8-9 inches

Cut “round” into 8 triangles.  After the first cut, dip the knife in flour to keep it from sticking to dough.

The triangles don’t have to be perfect…It’s homemade!

Place triangles in scone pan or on baking sheet.  If using a baking sheet, place them about an inch apart or they will bake together (and they don’t have to be triangles).

Brush with egg whites

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top

Bake at 425 for 15-18 minutes

We love these for a Sunday morning breakfast treat!

I like to top with clotted cream, but my husband just uses butter!