Of Coffee Scones

Oh no! Another scone recipe! I hope you're not tired of them yet, because I certainly am not. Just goes to show how much I adore scones. My recipe this time around is an off-shoot of the Earl Grey scones I made earlier. This time around, I thought why not add coffee instead of tea. After looking for advice from the Googler, I settled for using instant coffee powder. I mean, why use expensive espresso blends when you’re going to cook it anyway, right? Using the recipe for cream scones as a base, I simply heated the ½ cup of milk and added a tablespoon of instant coffee to it. I had to increase the amount of sugar added since the coffee I used cancelled out any of the sweetness from the sugar. (Yes, it was that strong and bitter. It was good quality instant coffee.) The only other thing lacking from it is a drizzle of Nutella. (Have I told you how much I adore that stuff?)

 Coffee Scones

½ cup milk

1 tablespoon instant coffee

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter, very cold and cut into small pieces

½ cup raisins or other dried fruit

1 large egg, cold

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg for the egg wash

In a saucepan, heat milk until it simmers. Add the tablespoon of instant coffee and stir until the granules are dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside until cooled. (You can refrigerate if you want) In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and either using your fingers or two knives or a pastry cutter, blend in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Set aside. In a smaller container (preferably with a spout), whisk together the egg, vanilla extract and the milk mixture. Pour this over the flour and butter mixture and stir until just combine. DO NOT OVER MIX. Once combined, transfer to a floured surface and knead into a ball and flatten the top. Using a knife dipped in flour or a cookie cutter, divide the mixture into 8 pieces and place on a greased cookie sheet. Brush a mixture of egg and water on each of scone. Bake in a 375F or 190C oven for 15-18 minutes. They’ll be nice and dark brown when cooked with the beautiful scent of coffee. The raisins will be great splash of sweetness in this bittersweet scone. 

The instant coffee that I used. It's a pretty good blend.