Apple Pie Scones
These scones take the buttery, cinnamon-spiced flavors of apple pie and transform them into a delicious breakfast confection.
Yield: 8-12 scones
Ingredients
For Roasted Apples:
2 small apples (Fuji, Granny Smith, or any tart-sweet apple)
1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar
1/2. teaspoon ground cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
For Scone Dough:
1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (90 g) white whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup (50 g) cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons (70 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk*
For Egg Wash:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon (15 ml) water
2 tablespoons (24 g) sugar, for sprinkling
Tools Needed:
measuring cups and spoons
liquid measuring cup
large bowl
medium bowl
microplane zester
2 baking sheets
parchment paper
peeler
knife or bench scraper
whisk
wooden spoon or spatula
cookie cutters (optional)
Instructions
Roasting the apples caramelizes them and adds a warm layer of flavor that you wouldn’t get from raw apples. The lemon zest brings out the tartness of the apples, providing a nice balance of flavors.
1 Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C, or gas mark 6). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2 For the roasted apples, peel, core, and chop the apples into ½-inch (1.3 cm) dice. Place on one of the prepared baking sheets and toss with the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Place in the oven and roast until the edges are slightly golden, about 15 minutes. (A) Allow to cool completely.
-for smaller hands
Children can peel apples, but remind them about peeling away from their hand. Cut the apple off the core for younger children, and have them chop the larger pieces into cubes. Large slices of peeled apples can be chopped into cubes with ease using a bench scraper or a butter knife.
3 For the scone dough, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and toss it with the flour until the butter cubes are completely coated. Using a pastry cutter, 2 butter knives, or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly with visible pea-size chunks of butter. Gently mix in the cooled apples.
4 Stir in the buttermilk until just blended. Do not overmix.
-for smaller hands
Children can help pour the milk and mix, but remind them not to overmix the dough! Explain to children to stop mixing when they cannot see any more flour.
5 Sprinkle a light dusting of flour over your work surface.
-for smaller hands
Instruct children on flouring the work surface. Show them how to sprinkle a small amount of flour. It should look like a light dusting of snow, not a blizzard.
6 Turn out the dough onto your work surface. Flatten the dough until it is about 1½ inches (3.8 cm) thick. Cut your scones into triangles or squares, or use cookie or biscuit cutters. Gently combine any scraps and use them to cut out more scones. Note that smaller scones will take less time to bake. Place the scones onto the prepared baking sheets.
-for smaller hands
If using cookie cutters, show children how to figure out how many scones they can cut at a time, to avoid overworking the dough.
7 For the egg wash, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Brush the tops of the scones with the wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Allow the scones to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a serving dish.
Strawberry Muffins
Roasting the strawberries ahead of time is crucial to this recipe; otherwise, the strawberries add too much moisture to the muffin and end up with a slimy texture. Roasting strawberries concentrates their flavor and brings out their natural sweetness. The strawberry puree makes these muffins a lovely shade of pink, and would make a delicious moist cupcake with some vanilla butter cream.
Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
For Roasted Strawberries:
3 cups (510 g) hulled and quartered fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar
For Muffins:
5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (100 g) sugar
1 large egg
½ cup (120 g) whole milk yogurt
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (60 g) white whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
roasted strawberries (from above)
Tools Needed:
measuring cups and spoons
liquid measuring cup
microplane zester
large bowl
medium bowl
standard-size 12-cup muffin tin
muffin liners
2 rimmed baking sheets
parchment paper
whisk
wooden spoon or spatula
butter knife
Instructions
1 Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C, or gas mark 5). Prepare the muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. Children like to help out with this step—just make sure to show them how to separate the paper liners to avoid wasting them!
for smaller hands
Strawberries are quite easy to cut with a butter knife. Have children pull off the green before slicing off the stem. Use the bridge technique to cut the berries in half, then place flat sides down and cut in half again lengthwise.
2 For the strawberries, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and toss together the strawberries and sugar. Spread out the strawberries in a single layer and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the juices surrounding the strawberries become syrupy. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. To make pink muffins, use a hand blender or small food processor to puree a scant ½ cup (85 g) of roasted strawberries and set aside. You could also mash the berries with a fork while still warm. If you would rather not have pink muffins, skip the pureeing step and simply fold in all the berries at the end.
-for smaller hands
Make sure children know not to touch baking pans because they can be hot. Set a rule to never touch baked goods when they are still on the baking sheet. Let children know that it’s time to taste test when baked goods have been placed on a special plate or tray.
3 Use a wooden spoon to cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. If the butter is difficult to mix, soften it in the microwave. Place it in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds. If the butter is not yet soft, heat for an additional 15 seconds, until the butter is soft but not melted.
4 Add the egg and beat well. Add the yogurt, strawberry puree, and lemon zest.
5 With a clean, dry whisk, mix together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Stir half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Pour the remaining dry ingredients into the batter and mix just until the flour disappears into the batter. Very gently fold in the roasted strawberries, to keep them intact. The batter will be quite thick.
-for smaller hands
Explain to your child the importance of gently mixing the flour in this recipe just enough to bring it together. While mixing is fun, dense, tough muffins are not!
-for smaller hands
If there is more than one child participating in cooking, have each stir ten times before passing it along, or have one child mix in the egg, and one child mix in the yogurt, switching off for the strawberry puree and zest. If children become restless while the other child is mixing, have them take turns holding the bowl for the person who is mixing. It reinforces teamwork and keeps all the children busy!
6 Fill each muffin cup about three-fourths full. See page 23 in the technique chapter for tips on how to fill muffin cups using the two spoon method. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, checking and rotating the pans after 12 minutes. When the muffins are done, the tops will be golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of a muffin will come out clean.
7 Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
About the Author:
Leah Brooks is the founder of Young Urban Modern Chefs (Y.U.M. Chefs), a SanFrancisco cooking school for kids. Y.U.M. Chefs holds classes, summer camps,and birthday parties for hundreds of children a year in its kitchen/classroom in the Mission District. Their focus is on changing the way kids see food, making itapproachable, healthy, and fun. They also emphasize seasonality, and have awell-used classroom garden to teach growing and harvesting fresh vegetables.They’re also a staple at the Noe Valley Farmers Market, where they docommunity outreach and hold a monthly class. They are a project of Open Mind,a non-profit dedicated to the development and education of children.Leah Brooks grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where she began her culinary career. She graduated from the Art Institute of Seattle’s culinary program and worked under two of Seattle’s James Beard Award winning chefs for seven years. Leah currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she shares her passion for local fresh foods with young people in her celebrated hands-on cooking classes at Young Urban Modern Chefs (Y.U.M. Chefs). Leah’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal as well as on local Bay Area parent resource websites.
