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The perfect apple scone? This might be it

Recipe: A hint of ginger is optional but delicious

This apple scone comes together easily. Add a glaze if you want to dress it up.

This apple scone comes together easily. Add a glaze if you want to dress it up. Kathy Morrison

Apples and spices in a scone -- how October can you get? Especially now that the weather has cooled and baking is again possible without turning the kitchen into a sauna.

scone-makings.jpg
A Honeycrisp apple and other scone ingredients.

I've made apple scones before -- here's one version -- but haven't been 100 percent pleased with the results. This recipe, which I adapted from a few sources, might be the closest yet to a perfect autumn breakfast scone. For my taste, it must have seasonal fruit plus some spices, be soft, not crumbly, and also not be too sweet.

This recipe started with some spices, but I tossed in bits of candied ginger to give it some oomph. Instead of or in addition to the ginger, stir in some chopped toasted nuts or some dried currants or cranberries, as desired.

I've included an optional glaze recipe; I tend to not glaze my scones, but sometimes dressed-up scones are what you need. 

Spiced apple scones

Makes 8 large scones

Ingredients:

1 large tart-sweet apple, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for a work surface

1/4 cup granulated sugar

shreds-butter-apple.jpg
The grater gets a workout in this recipe:
Apple shreds are in the cup, butter shreds are
in the foreground.

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, ideally frozen in one piece

3/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing scones

1 egg

Optional mix-ins:

2 to 4 tablespoons candied ginger bits, and/or

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup dried currants, chopped dried cranberries, or chopped toasted nuts

Cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling, optional

Instructions:

If you are in a hurry to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees first.

Peel and core the apple, then shred it on a box grater to make 1 cup shreds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 cups flour, the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

Grate the butter, either onto a cutting board or directly into the flour mixture in the bowl. Gently stir the butter shreds in so they are covered with flour.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream and the egg. Pour that into the flour mixture,  add the shredded apple and any mix-ins, and gently stir together with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms. The flour doesn't need to be completely incorporated at this point, and the dough should not be smooth or shiny.

Turn the dough out onto a flour-covered surface. Gently knead it two or three times, then pat it into a round disk, about 8 inches across.

If you did not preheat the oven earlier, now is the time to heat it to 400 degrees.

Partially baked scones
At about two-thirds baked, separate the triangles 
of dough from each other, a little or a lot, to
allow the edges of the scones to crisp. Use a knife
or a metal spatula to do the separating.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the disc of dough to the parchment. Using a large sharp knife or a bench knife, cut the dough into fourths, then each fourth in half, so there are 8 triangles of dough.

At this point, you can bake the scones immediately, or put the pan in the refrigerator to chill until the oven is ready. Chilled dough will be easier to separate into triangles before baking, but that also can be done when the scones are about two-thirds baked. Or keep the triangles together in the round to bake; it will take a little longer but the sides will remain softer.

When ready to bake, brush the dough with a little cream, then if desired sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until scones are golden brown. (Set the timer for 20 minutes if you want to separate the scones before they're finished baking, then return them to the oven until they're fully baked.)

Cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes  -- more if adding the optional glaze, recipe below.

Optional glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon maple syrup OR 1 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/2 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon (or more, as needed) milk, dairy or nondairy

Stir together ingredients, adding more sugar or more milk to achieve desired consistency. Brush or drizzle the glaze over the scones, then allow the glaze to set before serving.

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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