apricot scones

By gocatgo

Recipe by SweetBeetandGreenbean: http://sweetbeetandgreenbean.net/2009/06/18/apricot-scones/

Ingredients

• apricot scones
• 1 c unbleached flour
• 1 c whole wheat flour (plus some for the outside)
• 1/4 c turbinado sugar (plus some for sprinkling on top)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c vegan margarine
• 1/2 c soy milk
• 1 tbsp white or rice vinegar
• 1/4 c ice cold water
• 1 1/2 c diced apricots

Details

Adapted from sweetbeetandgreenbean.net

Preparation

Step 1

add the vinegar to the soy milk and set aside to thicken. dice the apricots and make sure you have the full 1 and 1/2 cups, then set aside.
sift together the flours and baking powder, mix in the sugar and salt, then cut in the margarine. if you don’t have a hand pastry blender which is made just for this, then use a strong fork and it will work the same. work until there are little clumps, those are perfect because if they stay cold until they get in the oven, they will melt into flakey little pockets.
add in the soy milk concoction, then ice water and mix quickly yet gently until there there are no large dry patches, but little clumps are fine. you want to work the dough as little as possible, to keep the scones soft. over stirring will work the gluten in the flour into sticky strands and break up those nice little margarine clumps. then add in the diced apricots and loosely incorporate, it’s okay if they aren’t completely mixed in.
sprinkle additional whole wheat flour over the top and on a clean dry surface, pat the dough into a loose ball and turn onto the floured surface – like a cutting board. the dough should be soft and moist inside, held loosely together by the thin layer of flour on the outside. for bigger scones, you can cut this ball of dough into six equal wedges and bake. but i prefer a smaller, more manageable scone, so i halve it, pat each piece into a little circle and divide it into six wedges.
handle those wedges very gently when transferring to a baking pan covered in parchment paper, so they maintain that wedge shape scones are known for. then sprinkle with more turbinado sugar if you’d like.
bake for 20-25 minutes at 400F. enjoy immediately or keep dry in a sealed container for later use. they also freeze well!