the.yellow.page

yums.

Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

This was the first meal we ate in our new apartment, about one month ago:

And the very first thing I baked in our new place? 

SCONES. Of course. Whole wheat raspberry ricotta scones.

I hadn’t even unpacked all the dishes into the cabinets, but managed to find my flours, pastry cutter, and baking sheet.

I only let myself bake off a few because I have been known to devour a whole batch of scones (equivalent to a stick of butter) entirely by myself. And even though we DID move an entire apartment worth of possessions and furniture from a 5th floor walk-up with just a subaru outback and our own hands, during which I most DFINITELY burned off more than a stick of butter’s worth of calories (yes, this is how my mind works), I convinced myself to exercise some restraint and freezed half the batch. The promise of freshly baked scones in the near future (without the prep time and clean-up!) somehow outweighed the desire to eat 9 scones.

But now that berry season has sadly passed (unless you want to shell out $5 for a tiny box of raspberries), I am even more glad that I decided not to eat the entire stick of butter that day, but rather, allowed myself the chance to enjoy a raspberry scone when raspberries cannot be found in any grocery store for ANY amount of money. Which is rapidly approaching faster than I’d like.

These scones are terrific, and whether you decide for yourself that you’d like to eat them all or save a few for later is really up to you. Whole wheat lends a certain heartiness that makes just one scone feel filling. The combination of the ricotta, butter, and heavy cream lends to a wonderfully moist crumb, almost calling into question the validity of calling this a “scone.” Unique to this particular recipe, the raspberries are cut in, like butter, which delivers various sizes of jammy berry pockets and streaks throughout the scone.

I’m still working on getting the hang of the lighting in the kitchen; the sunlight is significantly obstructed compared to the previous apartment. I brought my breakfast to the living room for some more natural light- and here’s a look at how our living room looked that first week. Unfortunately, not too much has changed in the last month in that corner of the living room!

Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

from Smitten Kitchen
makes 9 scones

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tbs cold unsalted butter
1 cup (4 3/4 oz) fresh raspberries
3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
1/3 cup heavy cream

 

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  2. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together.
  3. With a pastry blender: Add the butter (no need to chop it first) and use the blender to both cut the butter into the flour mixture until the biggest pieces are the size of small peas. Toss in raspberries and use the blender again to break them into halves and quarter berry sized chunks.
  4. Without a pastry blender: Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Roughly chop the raspberries on a cutting board and stir them into the butter-flour mixture.
  5. Both methods: Add the ricotta and heavy cream together and stir them in to form a dough with a flexible spatula. Using your hands, gently knead dough into an even mass, right in the bottom of the bowl. Don’t fret if the raspberries get muddled and smudge up the dough.
  6. With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to a well-floured counter, flour the top of the dough and pat it into a 7-inch square about 1-inch tall. With a large knife, divide the dough into 9 even squares. Transfer the scones to prepared baking sheet with a spatula. 
  7. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges.
  8. I found, as Deb suggests, that allowing the scones to cool really allows the scones to achieve their ideal texture. It’s so hard to wait.. but so worth it!
  1. lewesde reblogged this from theyellowpage
  2. theyellowpage posted this