And that's when I saw her. Michelle- wonderful Michelle- coming to work out with me, had stopped at a new doughnut bakery before class. This place specializes in topped, gourmet doughnuts. They have flavors like red velvet, peanut butter cup, smores and tirimisu. Specifically, the maple bacon bar doughnut caught my eye. I opened the box, inhaled, and I couldn't get the salty, sweet, fried smell out of my head all throughout class.
Finally, I finished my workout and got to try one. I took one bite, and I was hooked! My intention of only eating half faded instantly and I scarfed that baby down in no time. I have never made a pastry with bacon in it before, but I knew I had to now. And while doughnuts are not my specialty- scones most certainly are.
While throwing a tea party themed bridal shower, I perfected the art of making delicious scones. Ok- maybe not perfected- but my family certainly raves about them. These suckers are not dry, flaky biscuits that need to be soaked in tea in order to be appropriate for human consumption. These are moist, sweet, dense treats that have converted many-a-scone haters into scone lovers.
So my mission was clear: combine the amazing bacon/maple flavor profile that was presented to me in doughnut form with my favorite scone recipe. Heck- I've done maple scones a million times- how can this not be improved by the addition of bacon?
So here I go!
The Bacon
Fry up a package of bacon. Please excuse me while I enter my happy place.
Bacon collage!
Next, chop up your bacon and store in the fridge until you are ready to make your scones.
The Scones
I think that is the worlds most perfect sentance.
Anyway, I first like to chop up my butter into pea sized chunks and stick it back in the fridge, to keep it as cold as possible.
Next, put your sour cream in a bowl and mix in the baking soda. As you prepare the rest of the dough, it will get all light and fluffy and happy.
Ok- now it's time to mix together your dry ingredients. I was silly and did this in a regular bowl, but I suggest you do this in your stand mixer bowl, so when you incorporate the sour cream mixture, you don't have to do it by hand.
Now it's time to cut in the butter. A lot of people will tell you that you can do this in a food processor, and I'm sure they are right.
Plus it's kind of like an arm workout. So you are burning off all those calories you're about to consume! Yup, rationalization helps, don't it.
Finally, mix in your egg and sour cream mixture so that your flour mixture is moistened. It will still be crumbly and that's ok. Mix in one cup of your bacon, and turn out your dough onto your counter top to kneed slightly. Pat it into a circle or rectangle so you can cut your scones, like so.
Place on a slightly greased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 until edges are just turning a golden brown. I never manage to make the same number of scones, therefore from batch to batch they are always different sizes, and therefore they always take a different amount of time to bake. Unless I'm doing mini scones, I start at 10 min and keep checking until they are done.
Yup- baking: it's a science. Totally.
Ok, let them cool for as long as you can stand it, and it's time to whip up your glaze! Again, totally a science. Take about 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix in enough pure maple syrup to moisten all the sugar.It will be very sticky and tacky at this point- pour in a couple of tablespoons of milk until it reaches the desired consistency, like shown here.
I just cant bring myself to measure maple syrup. It's a big ol mess and I'd rather just eyeball it. Worst case scenario, it gets too thin and you add in some more powdered sugar.
Place all your scones on a cooling rack with tin foil below it to catch the excess glaze.
Drool. And you're almost there. Liberally top with the extra bacon, place the scone on plate, and consume immediately. Repeat. Repeat repeat repeat.
Out of the oven, these were apparently crazy good. I wouldn't know because it was the day before cheat day and I had to wait. Husband had three. But when I had mine the next day, I heated it up in the microwave and it was pretty much perfection. But I gave some to friends who had them at room temperate, and that was also amazing.
I don't think there is something you could do to make these not good. Besides not making them. But you wouldn't do that, now would you?
But the for the first time incorporating bacon into a sweet treat, this was a resounding success! Will. Do. Again.
Annnnnd, it's recipe time!
Maple Bacon Scones
Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/grandma-johnsons-scones/Detail.aspx
Ingredients
1 package bacon
1 (8 ounce) container of sour cream (I used Daisy)
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 egg
3 cups powdered sugar
Pure maple syrup
Skim milk
Directions
Fry bacon and chop into small pieces. Store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Preheat oven to 350. Cut butter into pea size chunks and put it back in the fridge to keep it cool. Mix the sour cream and baking soda together in a small bowl, set aside.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt in a large bowl (your stand mixer bowl if applicable.) Cut in the butter using a pastry knife. Mix in sour cream mixture and your egg (using your stand mixer if applicable) and add one cup of your bacon. Retain the rest for topping.
Put dough on floured surface (it may be crumbly!) and kneed until you can form it into a circle or rectangle for cutting. Cut your dough into triangles and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cook until edges are turning golden brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on size of scones.
Let scones cool.
Put 3 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl to start making your glaze. Add in pure maple syrup until all the powdered sugar is just moistened. Thin glaze with skim milk, maybe a few tablespoons. Drizzle glaze over scones and top with excess bacon.
Check this recipe out on CNN.com
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-596130
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