I had a similar kumquat scone back in February at one of my favorite breakfast spots. Kumquats are a love or hate type of citrus. I am on the love camp but did not always feel that way. It wasn’t until I tried kumquat marmalade that I decided to start using them more often at home. Kumquats are now in season and after spying them in the market I grabbed a couple of handfuls and started to work on a recipe for these Kumquat Scones.
Now that we are in lockdown I have a lot of time to work on passion projects and one of those is baking. Trial and error and lots of complaining from Lenny that we had too many scones in the house but I finally nailed it this kumquat scone recipe. You definitely need to bake the kumquats with a little sugar before mixing them with the dough. I tried adding them raw and the scones were to bitter even for my taste. As well I found that the juice from the raw kumquats added a tacky feeling to the dough and the scones just did not bake well.
Lastly, the key to making these scones super delicious is using butter that has at least 85% butterfat. I actually do all my baking with butter that has high butterfat and the recipes come out so much better. With scones, it helps make a flakey and more moist scone. I hate when a scone is over dry and crumbs apart.
Even though Lenny may complain about too many scones in the house, he always says that I do make the best scones. I am thinking that they will be a batch of these on our table for Easter morning this year.
Kumquat Scones
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces kumquats, sliced into circles, seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces unsalted butter – with at least 85% butterfat – cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- sugar to sprinkle on top – I like to use demerara but use what you have
How To:
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the kumquat slices with the 1 tablespoon of sugar and mix together. Scatter the slices onto the parchment paper.
- Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until fragrant and lightly caramelized.
- Remove from the oven and set aside while making the scones.
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
- In a food processor combine all of the dry ingredients, except the 2 tablespoons of flour.
- With the food processor running, add pieces of butter, a couple at a time, and pulse until pea-sized. Continue adding the butter until you use all of it.
- Add the heavy cream and sour cream.
- Pulse until the dough comes together.
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured (and clean) countertop, using your hands to work the kumquats into the dough.
- Pat into a circle, about 3/4 inch thick.
- Cut into triangles, I made 8 but you can make them a bit smaller or larger.
- Place onto a baking sheet, with space between each one.
- Make an egg wash with the egg and a tablespoon of water.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, and sprinkle a little sugar on each top.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until the scones are golden brown on the tops.
- Remove from the oven.
- Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve.
- Eat.