Maple Pecan Oatmeal Scones with Maple Vanilla Coffee Icing

I did not drink coffee in college, and it was only in my mid-twenties that I started going to a coffee shop every morning on my way to work.   There happened to be an incredible and locally-owned coffee shop near me in Washington Square called Beans, which served incredible coffee and homemade (if you can call commercially rendered products that) baked goods including what turned out to be my go-to order, a maple oatmeal scone.   Beans closed, and though I ordered a few more scones in my life, I figured my maple oatmeal days were gone.   However, Starbucks began offering them, and in doing so, caused a propagation of hundreds of copycat recipes all over the Internet.   Looking through a bunch of them, I was surprised by how much STUFF they all had in them– I seem to remember scones being simple– made of flour, salt, baking powder, butter and maybe a bit of milk or water.

I didn’t like any of the recipes, so I was forced to improvise one from a few different sources.  Some recommended using quick oats instead of regular, and some suggested grinding the oats– I left ’em whole.

I noted some used maple syrup extract and some used maple syrup.   I had both, so I figured why not?  I like the addition of pecans, but not on top, I thought they needed to be crushed.  Also, where’s the vanilla?

All the recipes do say- don’t overmix,  and cut it into 8 pieces (pizza style).  I did that I did find that they were beautiful, but I also found them to be way too big– for one serving, anyway.

As for the icing, though I am committed to the low arts, I did allow myself to ‘kitchen-sink’ it a bit– I did throw in a bunch of stuff.  But it does taste really good.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quaker oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup crushed pecans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 Sticks) cold butter, cut
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp maple extract
• 2 eggs

Icing

• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (salted)
• 2 tablespoons Dave’s all-natural coffee syrup
• 2 teaspoons maple extract
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whole mil (+ up to 1/4 cup of milk to make the icing “pourable”)
• 1/6 tsp of cinnamon

 

Directions:

In a bowl, combine your dry ingredients– flour, oats, pecans, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Add the cubed butter and use a pastry blender to mix.   Everyone says stop when you have just a few pea-shaped pieces of butter left but I often large malt-ball size pieces left, so I say stop when it gets to a cohesive place where you can likely lift it as one piece.

Assemble your wet ingredients in a 2 cup measure– buttermilk first, maple syrup, then eggs, vanilla and maple extract.  Whisk to combine and add to the dry ingredients DO NOT OVERMIX.   Shape into a pizza and cut 8 slices.   If too large, cut on the diagonal and make more, or if you had the presence of mind, make two round discs and cut into pizza slices.

Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes on parchment paper or slipat.   Take out and let rest for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.  When cooled,  create icing by combining ingredients and using milk to ensure the icing is not hard but pourable.

I wanted to create an artistic drizzle, but instead I just painted the thing like it was Benjamin Moore Eggshell white and I had a roller.   If you’re disciplined, you can pipe on your icing, but whatever you do, try to let them cool and set.   Try to save some for morning coffee.