Food & Wine
Hazelnut & Prune Scones
It wasn't intentional that this recipe would result in something more reminiscent of scones than cakes, but they are incredibly delicious, so I decided to roll with the recipe, regardless of it being a bit unconventional.
The brown butter takes a little while to make but smells incredible and adds a delicious nuttiness. Use plain flour if you prefer and serve warm with an extra slather of good butter.
Makes: 24 mini scones
Ingredients:
- 150g butter
- 1 cup pitted prunes
- 60g buckwheat flour
- 60g quinoa flour
- 150g ground almonds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 large free range eggs
- ¼ cup milk of your choice
- ½ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C on fan bake. Grease 24 holes of a mini cupcake tray very well.
- First, make the brown butter. In a saucepan, melt the butter gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk, until the milk solids sink to the bottom and it starts to turn golden brown – this should take about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Next, puree the pitted prunes in a food processor and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flours, ground almonds, baking powder, soda and sea salt, and gradually add in the brown butter, eggs and milk. Mix until just combined. Finally, fold through the pureed prunes.
- Divide the batter between the 24 holes until they are about two-thirds full. Sprinkle each with the chopped hazelnuts.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the baby cakes are golden, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in their centres comes out clean.
Written by Jordan Rondel. Republished with permission of Stuff.co.nz.