Easy Apple Oatmeal Scones

This Sunday, come visit the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market between 10 am - 2 pm on the corner of Agate and 19th Ave. With the start of the school year, be sure to pick up ingredients for easy weeknight dinners and lunchbox lunches, with fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm. 

Camas Swale has rosy red Akane apples that are perfect for lunchboxes or teacher gifts to start off the year on the right foot. I used a couple in some easy oatmeal scones inspired by this recipe from Bon Appetite, but I dialed back the sugar to that of my favorite yogurt scones. These scones use only heavy cream, similar to these King Arthur flour never fail biscuits (which are genius). They have a lighter texture than butter-based scones and none of the associated butter-incorporating anxieties. They were easy to bake up as a Saturday breakfast treat to celebrate surviving the first day of school.

Easy Apple Oatmeal Scones

makes 8

2 small or one large apple

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp. sugar 

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup old-fashioned oats

2½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

1⅓ cups chilled heavy cream

topping

1 large egg yolk

1 Tbsp chilled heavy cream

2 Tbsp old fashioned oats

2 Tbsp raw sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Core the apples and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Put the into a small baking pan with a pad of butter and the cinnamon and transfer to the warming oven while you prepare the scone batter. After a couple minutes, stir the apples to coat with the melted butter and return to the oven.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, oats, baking powder, and salt and mix well with a fork.

3. Measure out your cream in a measuring cup and slowly drizzle it into the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to disperse liquid and hydrate flour. Stop mixing when you still have a few dry spots.

4. In the same measuring cup, add 1 Tbsp cream and one egg yoke and whisk together.

5. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Dust the surface with flour.

6. Check on the apples, which should be softened and cooked through (takes about 10-15 minutes). Add them to the bowl of dough, making sure to transfer all of the melted butter from the pan. Fold in the apple pieces with a rubber spatula, taking care only to mix they are distributed throughout and you have a sticky dough.  

7. Transfer the dough to the floured silicone mat or parchment paper and shape into a 1 inch thick square. Brush the surface with the egg and cream mixture. Sprinkle over 2 Tbsp oats and 2 Tbsp raw sugar. Use a pastry knife to bisect the square lengthwise and widthwise and then cut each of the resulting smaller squares along the diagonal to make 8 scones (if working on a silicone mat, be careful not to cut the mat). Gently move the scones apart from each other on the mat so that they each have a couple of free inches around them.

7. Bake scones on upper rack until tops are lightly golden all over and bottoms are golden brown, 15–20 minutes (mine took the full 20). Let cool on baking sheet. Serve warm.