It is said that ’sanity is madness put to good uses’ and that pretty much sums up my relationship with baking during finals period at school. Sure I have tons of reading to do, papers to write, lesson plans to research and classes to teach. But whenever I feel stressed I get all that energy out by kneading dough or mixing a bunch of ingredients by hand. (If you’ve never tried this method of stress relief, let me tell you: punching down an inflated piece of bread dough is immensely satisfying.) I didn’t have time to make a loaf of yeasted bread today but I did make a batch of cinnamon sugar scones, one of which I then topped with a generous dollop of blueberry preserves from Silverman’s Farm. What are long nights and endless writing in the face of strong cups of coffee and cinnamon sugar scones? Nothing!
Cinnamon Sugar Scone
Now back to work. 
Cinnamon Sugar Scones
Adapted from Simple Scones by Pam Anderson
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the pieces of diced butter and combine, with your hands, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with approximately 1 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart.
Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 10th, 2006 by Ariela and is filed under Breads, Breakfast, Quick Breads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
38 Comments.
1. Ruth L | December 10th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Two words: Simply Delicious!
2. Lydia | December 10th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Please come to my house and bake these for my breakfast….yum!
3. Kat | December 10th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
these sound wonderful!
4. Abby | December 10th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Yummy.
5. aka Nik | December 11th, 2006 at 1:42 am
Cinnamon and sugar may quite possibly be the best combonation of all time.
6. Patricia Scarpin | December 11th, 2006 at 6:27 am
Ari, kneading (cooking in general, actually) has a therapeutic effect for me. It really helps me go through bad days!
I’m a cinnamon addict and this scone has my name written all over it!
7. Brilynn | December 11th, 2006 at 9:33 am
I’ve been on a baking spree lately, it makes me happy. The only problem is that my kitchen is literally overflowing with sweets…
8. Jeff | December 11th, 2006 at 10:06 am
I’d cut in half and put a half a stick of butter in between
9. Stacey | December 11th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
I heard cinnamon is excellent for losing weight…I don’t know the details but I doubt is matters how and with what it is consumed…
Hey, I prefer to believe what I believe…will definitely be whipping these up soon!! : )
Thanks!
10. utenzi | December 11th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
I’ve got a Delonghi mixer and so far it’s been pretty good so I don’t think I need a Kitchenaid this year, Ari, but that’s a good price. I don’t have your grit when it comes to bread–I only make it when I have plenty of time.
11. Ariela | December 11th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
lol Stacey! Yea, I don’t think it matters if you mix it with butter and sugar.
12. eliza | December 11th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
yummy scones..so are you finally going to a rest on christmas break? maybe then you’ll have more time to bake
13. Ariela | December 11th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Nope Eliza. I’m leaving on a 3 wk Israel trip for school, then heading to a conference in Florida, then starting the next semester of school. I’m actually preparing a few posts for my husband to blog for me while I’m in Israel. 3 weeks without internet access!!
No rest for the weary. :}
14. tanilan | December 11th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I think I have just died and went to heaven. I swear I can just taste the picture.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Much Love
15. gattina | December 11th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
I just can’t wait for holidays… hope you will have a good break later! For now, your cinnamon treat and coffee sound perfect!
16. Ariela | December 11th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
Thanks Gattina! I’m going to miss my husband while I’m away but I’m also looking forward to expericing a new country. I’m taking a camera along and hope to document not only the trip but all the different kinds of food we’ll be eating. I think it’ll make for an interesting post, especially if I can convince some of the locals to share recipes with me.
17. Dianka | December 11th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
This looks SO delicious! Great deal on the Kitchen Aid- thanks for the tip!
18. Paz | December 11th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
What a good stress relief method with a tasty looking outcome. Have a good and safe trip.
Paz
19. Patricia Scarpin | December 11th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Ari!!
We’ll miss you around here, dear!
Enjoy your trip and come back soon to share these wonderful things with us!
20. Ariela | December 11th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Thanks for the well wishes! I’m not leaving for another week though.
21. Pammie | December 11th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Hi Ari,
Argh, do you know that on sale Kitchenaid mixers are $400 in Canada!!! Argh!! Man, you really pay for a smaller tax base here! Take heaps of pictures in Israel and I am sure you will be able to post, internet cafes are a major travel culture overseas. Just make sure you bring a cable with you so you can download from your camera to the computer. Have fun!
22. Khadeeja | December 12th, 2006 at 1:02 am
I sort of cheated and went out and got cinnamon swirl cookies because I wanted something cinnamony after reading your post! They also go great with the endless cups of coffee I’ve been cosuming this past week. I hope to make these soon after exams!
Hope you have a safe and fun trip - can’t wait to see the pictures! And thank you for the advice on the camera!
23. Nancy | December 12th, 2006 at 9:04 am
YUM! I love all your recipes. Maybe, I will have time to make them someday. I really must start baking again. My son is allergic to corn syrup, so it is hard for me to buy snacks for him.
I hope you are less stressed today!
24. joey | December 12th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Those scones look yummy! There’s nothing like a little sugar to keep you going during exams
I’ve noticed that you have read The 13th Tale…I have beening meaning to purchase it and your review is good on the whole, just with an ending that didn’t quite live up? Would you say it was still worth it though? I also saw that you read The Historian…how do they compare to each other in terms of suspense and excitement? Sorry for such “book review” questions! Just in the mood for a little suspense and mystery and I had been thinking of The 13th Tale…
25. Ariela | December 12th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Joey, interesting question!
I think that for suspense “The Historian” wins out over “The 13th Tale” - but whereas “The 13th Tale” gets right to the point “The Historian” can be a bit long winded. I remember thinking a couple times, “Yes, yes, she has fond memories of her childhood, get back to Dracula!” That said, I did enjoy “The Historian,” including the ending. It just took a looooong time to get there.
Both books are exciting in different ways. “The 13th Tale” reminded me of a classic Gothic tale, while “The Historian” was more like an sleuthing adventure through the mysteries of Dracula legend. With regards to your question about the ending for 13th being worth it…. I think it was. I really loved this book until I got to the end - but of course I would have preferred it if the author hadn’t dropped the ball in the final chapters!
Hope this info helps.
26. Lindsey | December 12th, 2006 at 11:51 am
These look amazing, especially with that gorgeous bit of purple jam on top. That’s what makes the picture for me!
27. Mandy | December 12th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I agree with Lindsey, it’s the jam that really makes this photo jump off the screen. YUM.
28. Garrett | December 12th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
MMMMmmmm…. scones. *drool*
29. Sandra | December 12th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Re: Kitchenaid Artisan. I got one on Amazon.com recently. I don’t know if KitchenAid is still offering this but they had a $20 rebate if you send it in before early January. Check their web site; they have new deals every single week.
Your blog is very cool, by the way. Books are my life, and I enjoy baking very much, but somehow don’t get to do it as often as I’d like. Maybe the messy kitchen has something to do with it…
Re: the 13th Tale–what do you mean the author dropped the ball in the final chapter? I LOVED that book! Why didn’t you like the last few chapters?
Good luck with your trip!
30. Ariela | December 12th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Hi Sandra!
Thanks for the tip about KitchenAid’s rebate, I’ll go check it out and add it to the post if it’s still going on.
Re: The 13th Tale, what I didn’t like about the end of the book was how it seemed (to me) like the final two chapters lost the aura of Gothic mystery. While Vida Winter was alive and telling her story I was completely enraptured, but once she had finished narrating it was like the book was plopped back into mundane reality. I’m not saying it was bad book by any means, as you can see in my comment to Joey I still think it is definitely worth reading. I was just hoping for more at the end of such a captivating story.
Thank you for your kind words about my blog, I hope you come back soon!
31. Ariela | December 12th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
I checked out KitchenAid’s site and there is a $50 rebate on the Professional 600 mixers (currently starting at $343 on Amazon) that can be found here (click).
32. T.W. Barritt | December 12th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Scones are heavenly — so rich, crumbly and really easy to make, in fact. Seems like you have been up until all hours working and studying — so you deserve a good scone or two!
33. Ellie | December 12th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
*whimpers*
Now now, you don’t need all those scones do you? Here, let me help out and take just one or two off your hands
34. connie | December 12th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
ARI! don’t tempt me with the mixers! i’m a poor graduate student [you know how it is] during the holiday season! it’s too much!!! i’ve saved up enough this month for a new Coach bag… about 174$, I can’t get the mixer too….. damnit, you are causeing me a mental crisis
you know I kid. the scones look lovely as always!
35. Helen | December 12th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
These look srumptious! Perfect on a cold morning. When I stress out, I do the same thing, I bake and knead like crazy.
I got a Professional 475 watt motor KA on Amazon last month like that. That baby really whips up a storm!
36. Ariela | December 12th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
lol Connie! I know, this is such a tempting deal huh? I figured I should share in case one of my online buddies wants to take advantage of such low prices.
37. Ariela | December 12th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Ellie, I wish you could help! Seriously. Cause if there were more people around to eat all these stuff I could bake even more.
38. Sandy | December 13th, 2006 at 11:16 am
I have a KitchenAid stand mixer and love it. The only thing I can suggest is: go for power. The higher the wattage, the larger batch you can make. I opted for the less expensive 250 Watt mixer and wish I had purchased the 300 or 350 Watt mixer. Bigger bowl which equates to larger batches. Also spare bowls for recipes where you have a wet mix and dry mix or where you are beating the egg whites until frothy. I hope you get one soon!