Bite-Sized Cinnamon Almond Scones Recipe

While scones may be British in origin, classic English scones are usually round, plain, and meant to be eaten with butter, cream, or jam. American scones, on the other hand, are frequently flavored and usually triangular in shape. Recipe developer Kara Barrett's cinnamon almond scone recipe is typically American, right down to the shape of the scones, except for the fact that they are, as she says, "cut into bite-size pieces" before you bake them. She tells us, "They are simple to make, especially if you've made scones or biscuits before."

As for the flavor, she describes these scones as "slightly sweet" and in her opinion, "The almond and cinnamon flavors lend themselves well to fall and winter." These scones, like most sweet ones, pair nicely with either tea or coffee. While Barrett feels that "These are best served warm immediately after cooking," she also points out that "small portions mean that you can munch on them all week."

Barrett uses two kinds of flour in these scones, all-purpose and almond. The other dough ingredients include baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla (she favors the paste kind). You'll also need a second kind of sugar (turbinado or cane) for the scone topping, as well as some sliced almonds.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients: 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, and vanilla paste.

Add the grated, frozen butter and incorporate.

Add wet ingredients to flour and butter. Gently combine. Add more flour or milk as needed until you form a shaggy dough.

Dump onto a lightly floured surface and roll into an 8x8-inch square.

Cut the dough into 4 squares.

Divide each square into 8 wedges

Freeze for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Mix remaining teaspoon of milk and reserved egg to create a wash.

Brush the egg wash onto the scones

Dust with turbinado sugar and almonds.

Bake in a 375 F oven on a parchment-lined tray for 15–20 minutes, until browned and crisped. Allow more time for scones that were frozen overnight.

Allow to cool slightly and serve.

While Barrett would advise that these scones "be made according to the recipe," she realizes that some cooks may want or need to make certain tweaks. For one thing, while she favors vanilla paste, she does say that "you can use extract instead." She also acknowledges that "while I have not used vanilla powder in my scone recipes," this ingredient could also be substituted in, or you could use the seeds scraped out of a vanilla bean for flavoring if you want to go straight to the source. If you're opting for extract or powder in place of paste, Barrett feels that an equal amount should do the trick, but with the vanilla bean, try 1 ½ of these to replace a tablespoon of paste.

Other ingredient swaps are also possible. Barrett says, "I prefer unsalted butter because you can control exactly how much salt is added," but if you're using salted butter, a general rule is to just reduce the amount of salt called for by ¼ teaspoon per stick. As you're only using half a stick here, ⅛ teaspoon of reduced salt in the recipe ought to do the trick. As for the nuts, Barrett says, "In place of almonds, I suppose crushed pecans or walnuts would work," while you could also replace the almond flour with an equal amount of all-purpose flour.

As one of the steps in this recipe involves freezing the scones, you may, if you wish, leave them in the freezer for much longer than the "overnight" specified here. Barrett suggests that you "use freezer zip lock bags to store extras. "Once you decide you want to eat a scone or two (or more), she says you can then take out the exact amount you want to bake. She does say, though, that you should "make sure you add the egg wash and any toppings you want after you remove them from the freezer."

Once the scones are baked, you can either keep them at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Barrett says, "I would not keep either longer than a week," so you may need to freeze them if they start to grow stale before you can get around to eating them. Barrett does feel, though, that if you are able to plan in advance so as not to have leftover baked scones, the ones from her recipe are really "best frozen raw and then popped in the oven."