The so very “British” quick tea time breads are the scones; this time slightly sweet with lots of apricots, and pistachios flavored with ginger and lime zest.
The very first time I made the Almond Cranberry Scones we fell in love head over heals with these sweet treats. It is not just the ease of making the scones; it is a quick prize for the baking efforts which lasts in memory for ever. We finally got ourselves a small convection toaster oven (Breville SmartOven) – thanks to the Jugalbandits whose Christmas Gift Ideas made my search easier. My oven has been non functional for quite a few months now, hence the absence of any baked goodies in my blog. I had been suffocating without the oven, craving to bake a bread or at least some little treats for my girls. Last week we got this baby home and I baked these scones.
The sun drenched Turkish Apricots are much loved and considered a great snack between me and my daughter. She will eat fistfuls of this dried delicacy and will never say no if I pack some for her snack or lunch. At home I keep them within easy reach and when I am craving some mid morning snack I will bite into these bright sunny treats without guilt. They are organic, come from far away land of beautiful Turkey; they are rich in iron, vitamin and potassium and most importantly, delectable and available in a store 5 minutes from my home. I had been wanting to use the apricots and crystalline ginger together for a while now and the scones it was this time.
Some notes before I start the recipe: I made few of the scones thick, regular scone size (where they are supposed to be sliced and served with cream); the rest of them were rolled down thinner than scones & a bit thicker than a cookie to cut down on the serving size. You are going to see the scones of different sizes in the pictures.
Apricot, Ginger, & Pistachio Scones
Ingredients: (yields about 15-18 regular sized scones)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons chilled butter
- 1 cup chopped dried apricots. chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 cup pistachios
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped crystalline ginger
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- zest of one lime
- 2/3 cup milk or half and half + some more for brushing the scone
Preparation:Grind the almonds coarsely.
Process the pistachios. ( I put all the nuts in the blender to chop. Some of the pistachios were powdered, the others were coarsely chopped, which really worked out great).
Preheat oven to 4oo degrees F.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, 6 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in butter along with the flour with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Combine grated ginger with the milk/half & half. Stir in the milk/half-and-half in to the flour & batter mixture until just moistened. Fold in apricots, lime zest, crystalline ginger and the the nuts (almonds and pistachios).
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times or for a minute. Pat into a 1-inch-thick round.
Cut into desired shape. I used a cookie cutter to make cookie rounds.
Place on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Brush tops with remaining tablespoon of milk/half & half. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. (Convection oven would need less cooking time; about 8-10 minutes).
Let cool on a wire rack.
Serve the scones with you cream and jam/jelly. We have ours just by themselves with tea and coffee, and they are just perfect! The scones with the lovely Turkish Apricots are going to WHB#219 hosted by Simona at Briciole.
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Delectable cookies….very tempting and colourful….nice combo….haven’t made scones at home, so after looking at these i’ll put my hand to it..
cheers and do visit me if you can
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They look so scrumptious Soma. I wanna go make them now except I don’t have any crystalline ginger in the pantry. But I agree with you, the apricots make a great snack. I get the Newman’s organic ones but they don’t look as orange as yours does? If I may ask, what brand do you get?
Jaya,
I get the apricots from Sprouts. They have them in bins, so they do not have a brand. It just says organic turkish apricots. Some batches i get are light orange, while some i get sometimes are dark. see in the big pictures of the scones.. I just noticed, there are 2 colors of the apricots; the left one looks lighter than the right.:-) The Apricot picture might have come out a shade darker as there was less light when i took them and the picture is unprocessed.
Scones are my favourite, a very delicious combination dear:)
These scones sound incredible with apricot ginger and pistachios – what an excellent combination!
scones are my favorite..this combination seems great..i love cranberry orange, should try this sometime
Breathtaking, Soma!
Wow…great pics…makes it very interesting.Loved it:)
A very delicious combilnation Soma! Great pics too!!
You’ve created a beautiful combination of Apricot, ginger and pistachio here. Very nice looking scones! I am sure they must taste good too. 🙂
What fancy scones! Very original!
Cheers,
Rosa
Wow…those look gorgeous and yum…love the combo of ginger and apricot…
Beautiful. I love to have scones for breakfast, makes a satifying breakfast! 🙂
I love the flavours in these! I always keep the ginger and apricots on hand. Delish!
Love that pic of the apricots. I love scones too, though i have never made them here at home. This really looks so good.
Scones look fantastic! Love the click with dried apricots, stunning!
I love that combination of flavors! Your pictures are so beautiful, Soma! What a delicious snack 🙂
the scones look incredible!!!
scrumptious little scones. absolutely gorgeous. love every bit of it.
I can’t go for too long without baking either. These look heavenly! What a scrumptious combo!
Gorgeous combination for the scones, pistachio and apricot supply richness plus elegance to the recipe 🙂
Soma, I’ve an award for you waiting at my blog 🙂
Cheers,
Gera
hey soma, they look perfect…will def. try these as apricots are fav. here too…
Scones looks appetizing! nice combo ingredients!
These look delicious and beautifully captured on camera.
I like how you shape your scones like a cookie. But let me tell you Soma, the beautiful pictures are not helping me at all 🙁 It is around tea time here and I am craving to have some of them.
Perfect combo, looks so comforting and I will need all of thats there with you 😉
These scones look really good. The ginger and appricot must add a wonderful flavor. I like dried appricots too, but I don’t buy them as much as I should. They’re very healthy!
Pistachios, ginger, dried apricot–what incredible and lovely ingredients. These are packed full of wonderful things. I think I might even have everything I would need. Saving this one!
thy look so good,.
Looks yummy and nice presentation!Beautiful combo and going to try it out very soon.Thanks for your complement..
Soma, these scones sure looks yummie, apricot, ginger and pistachio…great combination!
They look great! Love the flavours.
Soma these sound divine! I love scones with fruit bits in them. Turkish Apricots are definitely the most delicious kind of dried apricots. The other ones just aren’t plump enough! 😀
These sound great. Love the combo of flavours.
[…] that winner is Soma, from the brilliant eCurry, which at the time of this writing features Apricot, Ginger, & Pistachio Scones on its front page. And they sound really, really amazing. And they’re distracting me, and […]
First of all – how did you LIVE without an oven! I am amazed and impressed.
Second of all – gorgeous scones. I love the combination of ingredients. Dried apricots are amazing…I can’t control myself around them and could definitely eat a whole bag in one sitting.
I love scones, I have to try this recipe… and I also bookmarked your other biscuits recipes, thank you!
Hi Soma…A great combo with apricots, almonds, pistachios, ginger – the scones look like a sumptuous snack for children and a feast for those who enjoy dry fruits…I wonder how the flavours would mingle…must try!
Thanks for the recipe and it is new to me and going to try and taste it out..
This is a really nice flavour combo for scones!
YUM! Made a few modifications to suit our preferences: 3T of butter rather than 6, whole wheat pastry flour & fat free half & half. These are delicious, thanks!
I omitted the pistachios as I didn’t have them, still these scones turned out great! Great flavor combo of the apricots, almonds and candied ginger, they’re nice and buttery too unlike some dry scones. Try this, you won’t be disappointed!
I tried these and the taste/consistency/texture/color all came out great but the bottoms of my scones were burnt. I greased the tray so am not sure why this happened, any idea?? I baked them for exactly 15mins and they were light brown/ golden on top and side!
These are divine! I would definitely count them among the best scone I ever ate.