Maple Scones, A Taste of Vermont
I love Vermont. Of all the places I’ve visited in my lifetime, Vermont is the place that I think about on hectic afternoons, when I fantasize about my life ten years from now.
I love its rustic solitude, with towns cradled between towering mountains.
I love how eloquently it showcases the vibrant colors of Fall…
And Spring and Summer…
And Winter…
And what foodblogger wouldn’t love a state that makes some of the best maple syrup ever?
Fresh strawberries and 4-grain pancakes. Thank goodness for hubbys that know how to cook right?
Vermont is someplace I’ve been to many times, but I didn’t fall in love with it until this past November, when my husband surprised me with birthday/Chanukkah/babymoon trip to Jeffersonville. He took me to a cozy Vermont cabin complete with a fire, a king-sized bed and a kitchen window that looked out into the forest. He made breakfast every morning. And he planned some of the most lovely days I’ve ever experienced – days filled with apple cider donuts and chocolate and trips to little bookstores, where we spent time in the children’s section and looked for books to read to our baby one day. We bought all the classics and threw The Field Guide to Dragons in there for good measure. It will be many years before our little guy is old enough to enjoy it, but it was just too cool to pass up. I don’t remember books being this neat when I was a kid.
In the evenings, my husband took me out for dinners at some of the most unassuming, surprisingly delicious places. Rustic lodges with roaring fireplaces and menus filled with comfort food from top to bottom. Houses turned Italian restaurants high up in the mountains with lasagne so satisfying that sometimes I’m tempted to drive the five hours north just to get myself a slice. After dinner we would walk around Stowe, admiring the shops and breathing in the crisp Autumn air. One night my husband surprised me with a pair of Dana Kellin earrings that had both of our birthstones woven into a golden teardrop design. He gave me the matching necklace after our son arrived in January.
Hot chocolate in hand my husband snapped an iPhone photo. Ignore my mismatched socks on the right.
At night – every night – my husband built a fire for us and we drank hot chocolate together while he read The Hobbit to my 7-months pregnant belly. He said it was important for our baby to hear his daddy’s voice – though I must admit, I enjoyed hearing the story too.
My life is not perfect. My parents didn’t support us during our pregnancy scare. They didn’t visit when my son was born, nor did they go to his bris – my father told me it was “too cold in January” for them to make the trip from California. Today our baby is two-months old and they have never seen him. The same can be said of my grandmother and my brother, who lives around the block and has never called or emailed, though he knows he has a nephew. I don’t know if my family will ever be a part of my son’s life, but I do know that my husband has made it possible for me to move past their actions and look forward to life with my new family – my husband, baby and I. We can’t choose the families we are born with, but we can create new ones and give them the kind of support and affection we always wished for. Needless to say, I think my husband is amazing.
I wish we could have stayed in Vermont for more than a few days, but the time we spent there – oh what memories! We stopped at the Dutch Pancake Cafe on our way out of town, which is a glorious place with more than 80 kinds of mouth-watering pancakes. My husband ordered an apple-blueberry pancake, while I went the savory route with a shredded potato, onion and cheese pancake served with applesauce. It was so good. I have dreams about that pancake.
2-months old today!
Now it’s March and our munchkin is here. I tell my husband that we should take our little man to Vermont next year, perhaps for our sixth wedding anniversary. I can’t imagine a better place to explore nature with our son than Vermont, with its maple trees and farms and lakes and so many other wonderful things. In the meantime, I’ll relive a bit of Vermont, every now and then, with maple treats made with real Vermont syrup. Like these scones, with their fluffy, butter texture and rich maple sweetness. A taste of heaven, if you ask me.
Maple Scones
Maple Scones
Slightly adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe
Ingredients: Makes 8 scones
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup (or more) plus about 4-6 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2/3 cup (about) powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Whisk flour, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Stir 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup maple syrup in small bowl to blend. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until dough comes together and adding more milk by tablespoonfuls if dough is dry.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead dough gently until smooth, about 5 turns. Using floured hands, pat out dough to 8-inch round; cut dough into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake scones until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack.
Meanwhile, whisk remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 tablespoons maple syrup in medium bowl to blend. Add 2/3 cup confectioners sugar and mix well. Add whole milk 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking, until you have a thick glaze.
Drizzle or spread glaze over warm scones. Let stand until glaze sets.
|
Print This Post
| 
Subscribe to Baking and Books.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
- Whole Wheat Banana Maple Muffins
- Pumpkin Scones with Autumn Spiced Glaze
- Cinnamon Sugar Scones
- Coffee-Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones & Iced Cardamom Coffee
- Blueberry-Raspberry Honey-Butter Glazed Scones and Mulled Apple Cider
- Mexican Vanilla Mini-Muffins with Vanilla Syrup
- German Apple Pancake with Vanilla Whipped Cream & Raspberries
- Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes
84 Responses to “Maple Scones, A Taste of Vermont”
Leave a Reply
Recent Reviews
My Favorite Ice Cream Book
I love the recipes in this book, which not only has a fantastic selection but tons of ideas for ice cream variations. A great addition to your summer bookshelf.
Recent Posts
beautiful post, I hope your family will come to share in your joy! take care.
Thank you Kat. Me too, but at this point I can’t imagine how that would happen!
Dear Ari
What a beautiful post. I have followed your blog for a long time, but felt so moved I have to comment. Your pictures are gorgeous, and I can “smell” your wonderful baking from sunny Spain where I am based.
You write (and bake!) beautifully, and just live in the knowledge that you, your husband and your beautiful new baby make such a tight-knit unit, that no-one else really matters aside from the love you have for each other .
What a lovely post! I love that food has been such a part of creating your new family. Those scones look good; I wish that I could pull up a chair and enjoy with you.
I wish you could too! They were amazing though. You should make them.
So lovely! I love maple syrup, and the scone looks wonderful.
Thanks!
oh wow! this looks good – the simply flavors of maple syrup in a scone. yum! but what really had me taken were the breathtaking pictures of vermont. i think i have fallen in love!
Vermont is an easy place to fall in love with. If you haven’t been there you should definitely visit.
Everything about this post is lovely. The photos, the memories of Vermont, the scones, that adorable baby, and your perfect husband. It sounds like you’ve had some rough spots, but it also sounds like you’ve got someone marvelous beside you to smooth out the bumps.
I do have a great partner, I’m really lucky. I don’t know what I would do without him!
The scones look amazing and boy-o-boy the glaze just looks gr8!I want one now!!!I am sorry about what you are going through and you do have a lot of bloggers who love you…Talking of families…Sometimes its just impossible to understand them..my family wasn’t around when I was going through a very difficult time and now I’ve just stopped expecting..Although, I am lucky to have a wonderful husband who is amazingly sensitive and caring..trust me its better this way..I’ve seen my sister struggle with no support from my parents or her husband when she had a baby..
I think that’s the key: just stop expecting. Ever since I started doing that I’ve been much happier! And the blogging community is wonderful. I’m glad to have friends like you.
I love maple scones. I added spicy pecans to them once and it was amazing. Gorgeous photo too!
Spicy pecans? Now there is an idea!
Gorgeous scones and landscapes! I’d love to go to Vermont!
Cheers,
Rosa
You should go!
What a lovely trip you had and the scones are a great reminder. I hope everything is going well – especially the sleep
I am just about out of the first trimester of my second pregnancy and was feeling pretty blah about all that is to come – the maternity clothes, especially. Your post reminded me how wonderful it is to be pregnant
Happy 2 months!
It can be tough, the way your body changes. I’m still getting used to my post-baby body and accepting the fact that it will probably take several months to get near my pre-baby figure. But the end result is worth it and to be honest, I sometimes miss the feeling of being in those early days of pregnancy. In fact, I loved being pregnant up until the 9th month, when I was just ready to have the baby already.
Enjoy it & congrats!
Perfect timing for this recipe–my wife and I were just at a “maple fest” in Ohio where, after filling ourselves with pancakes and sausage covered in maple syrup, along with ice cream covered in maple syrup, bought maple candy, maple-sugar-covered nuts, and–most importantly–a half gallon of maple syrup. So I guess it’s time to make maple scones!
Even though I’m a little biased toward Ohio maple syrup, your photos and stories made me miss my time in New England.
Sorry to hear about the difficulties with your family. As you say, we don’t get to choose them–sometimes we get lucky, sometimes we don’t. Fortunately, there are so many people in our lives that we do choose and who choose us. There’s enough love to go around.
There are maple fests in Ohio? I want to go to one! Yes, you MUST make these scones. They are so good we were sad when we’d eaten them all.
I’ve been doing nothing for the past week except think about breakfast breads. I will have to remember this post when I try to convince my husband that our next vacation should be breakfast in Vermont. It’s not quite so far away for us.
By all means, use this post and I hope he takes you there!
Lovely post, great pics, and mouthwatering recipe! I am expecting my first baby next week and reading your post made me very calm and relaxed. It also inspires me to bake these scones (never done scones before…), let’s see if I will get them done before this new life starts!
Congratulations on your new family!
I’m so glad to hear that and congrats! There is nothing like meeting your baby for the first time and getting to know this new person you brought into the world. Soak it all up.
I love the new site design and the post is fantastic. So beautiful. I wonder, do you know most of your readers or all of them? I read your blog and love it but am torn because I feel like some sort of a voyeur.
Thank you! And to answer your question: no, I don’t know most of my readers… at least, not in “real life.” But I do get to know frequent commenters over time, which I love.
I often wonder who else is out there. There are over 2,000 people subscribed to my feed and only a fraction of them comment. Who is everyone else?!
Oh! He is so lovely. Such a perfect little guy (love the giraffe onesie. Re families, I always tell my husband the same thing: you can’t change their behavior or correct their mistakes, you can only try to be the way you *ought* to be with your own family, and that’s ultimately the only thing that matters.
I agree. It’s a tough realization to make though isn’t it?
After reading this post I’m going to suggest Vermont to my hubby as a possible vacation spot for this summer.
Hang in there with your family. You can’t pick your family, but it is much easier if you learn to tolerate them.
You should! Vermont has so many great things to do, I hope you two go.
You’ve just made me terribly homesick. I’m from upstate NY, not far from the Vermont border. I think Vermont is one of the most beautiful places in the country, and you’ve really captured it. Maple truly is a deeply ingrained product there. It makes its way into so many dishes.
Well that is a great compliment coming from a native of the area Sean. Sorry I made you homesick, but I’m glad I captured a little bit of Vermont.
Such a wonderful post and Vermont looks absolutely beautiful! I can relate about family and the sadness of some family members never seeing your kids but there are so many other types of family out there. Your husband, great friends and other people that are supportive of all of you!
Thank you.
Ari, the baby is just perfect and I wish you and your husband and your son a long and happy life. Your parents are missing out on what could be the most glorious time of their lives – ten years ago my husband and I travelled to Israel to meet our first grandson and two years later the second one – we lucked out and they came to live in the US and now all of us are living in the same city. (two more were born here in the US). So just remember it is your family’s loss and while it is hurtful, you have started a brand-new loving family and it is wonderful. All the best and a Zussin Pesach.
Thank you Elle. It made me so sad about my family but as time goes by I’m getting over it and moving on. That’s all one can do really! That is amazing you traveled all the way to Israel to meet your grandchildren. They are lucky to have you both in their lives.
Chag kasher v’sameach!
Really beautiful post, with exceptionally wonderful photos. And the scones aren’t too shabby either! Makes me long to visit Vermont. It just looks like something out of a book. Lovely!
Thank you.
It’s been ages since I made maple scones. Thanks for the reminder!
The photos are beautiful, and your little guy is very special. (Of course your big guy sounds very special too!
Both my guys are special indeed. I lucked out!
Ari, I’m so sorry to hear about your family’s emotional distance. My boyfriend has that problem with HIS family; they are racist and so all but ignore his 1/2 Mexican children, and care very little for anything but their own self-wrought problems. Luckily, I have an immensely supportive family that has taken him in, but it hurts to see his kids suffering.
I am glad your husband is so wonderfully supportive to you. Everyone needs that, and who better than the man you love? You’ll have a blissful home with those two incredible males in your life!
That is awful about your boyfriend’s family Valerie! Why people are so cruel to each other I’ll never understand. I’m glad that your family has taken him in.
Ari,
This is a beautiful post. You have an amazing husband, who will no doubt guide your son to becoming a kind, generous, and loving man.
Vermont looks gorgeous. I haven’t been there in years, but after reading your post, I think it’s time to do a little more exploring there. What sentimental memories the two of you are creating!
As you said, you don’t get to pick your families. I’m sure you take comfort in the family you’ve built with your husband, son, and friends.
BTW, the redesigned blog looks great!
I hope my son grows up to be just like his daddy, who is an amazing person.
Vermont looks absolutely beautiful! I’m from Oregon so we know beautiful, ha.
Scones look great as well.
Oregon is another beautiful state, or so I hear!
Very nice new look on your site, Ari!
I’m very glad that you have a loving husband, an adorable baby, and good friends, though. And that VT vacation sounds amazing!
I’m sorry about the family troubles.
Thank you and yes, VT was incredible. I can’t wait to go back.
Sweet, heart-aching post! And what a cute munchkin. One of the items on my life-list is to share a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cone with my husband IN Vermont! Our 5th anniversary is this fall. I see a trip coming on, esp. with your glowing recs.
The scones look wonderful. I brought some maple syrup to B. from my trip to Canada last year and he LOVED it. I’m sure he’d adore these scones, too.
Yes, VT would be the perfect place to go! We almost went to the Ben & Jerry’s factory but ended up at a chocolate shop instead.
Guess that means we’ll have to go back again soon!
Gorgeous post.
I’m sorry your family let you down. I’m in the same boat but I don’t have a husband and child to lean on. Cherish them and be happy you can make your own happiness.
I’m really sorry to hear that Mimi. I hope you at least have some good friends to lean on. Stay strong. We are better for not having negative people in our lives.
I absolutely loved this post! I was just talking today about about wanting to make maple scones, but I haven’t done it yet. Finding your recipe is my motivation to get on it and just do it.
I would also like to let you know this post has been chosen to appear in my weekly Cups of Tea. Stop on by tomorrow and have a peek.
Thanks again.
Thanks! I will stop by.
And yes, you should definitely make maple scones.
Love your blogs new design. Should have left a comment by now as your food blog is one of my faves. Vermont is also one of my favorite states. Normally don’t enjoy scones as I have tried them several times but your recipe is one that I will have to try making. Enjoyed your tale of your trip to Vermont with your husband. Too often time isn’t set aside for special times in ones life. Will continue to frequent your blog!
Thank you Debra and I hope you do continue to drop by! These scones are worth trying: sweet, buttery, addictive… it’s all I can do not to make another batch right now, lol.
Hello,
You have really outdone yourself with this post. I love the recipe, graphic and the touching story.
I would like to say I admire your positive outlook despite your family troubles. I do face the similar situation from my family and I must admit it is not an easy thing to live through on daily basis. Thanks for sharing.
Emily
Thank you for your sweet comment Emily. It is tough going through family troubles so I’m sorry to hear you have some of your own. I’m sending you virtual hugs all the way from CT.
fantastic recipe! Very nice the new site design and the baby is really beautiful. I live in Italy but Vermont will be next place for vacation
Italy! Now there is another place I’ve visited and enjoyed. Florence is where I had the best dinner of my life – roasted rabbit. This was in my pre-vegetarian days.
My heart still belongs to Vermont though.
Saw your post on Food Gawker!! Love maple scones and have been looking for a good recipe! I’ll be trying these tomorrow for sure. Thanks for the beautiful post.
just made these! YUMMMM!! They turned out perfectly and had my girlfriends raving about them.
So glad to hear they were a hit!
Very beautiful post. I love the pictures. You have a sweet blessing your baby. Actually your husband also. Your family doesn’t even know what they are missing out on. I am glad your child won’t experience what you are with your family.
Erika
You hit it right on the nose. I used to put up with all my family’s craziness but now that I have a child I don’t want him to be hurt the same way they’ve hurt me over the years. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if that happened.
Love the post…..very moving. Ari, you are very blessed to have such a loving husband and baby. Keep Smiling, ok? The pictures are all so beautiful. The scones looks very delicious.
I will keep smiling. Don’t doubt it.
You have a family right here! (The kind that can’t wait to see new baby photos and get inspired by your recipes). And goodness, your husband sounds like a real sweetie. Thanks for another delicious recipe!
-Adriana
Aw, thank you Adriana! It is true that all of you have a very special place in my life.
I love the new layout! It’s been a while since I’ve been by – congrats on the most beautiful little treasure. Bravo!
Thanks Shelly!
What a beautiful, romantic place. The colours are stunning. Your maple scones look very inviting too
They are pretty darn addictive. Make them at your own risk.
these scones look so delish!
Good because they are!
Thanks for sharing this..
You’re welcome?
Ngaww….you have such a lovely husband! And baby!
I love your photos! And these scones look really good- I’ve never had proper scones before. I should try making them one day…..
Yes, you should give them a try!
As far as your parents not visiting, count yourself kind of lucky. There are grandparents taking their children to court to keep them from moving out of state for better jobs just so they can keep the grandchildren near. At least you won’t have to deal with that.
I don’t know really. Some people just aren’t into grandchildren. I know women who adore them and will travel cross country to see them. I also know women who say, “I’ve raised mine, let them raise their children” I don’t think that’s a not caring attitude. Just some people have different needs then others and some just don’t have a desire to be around babies anymore.
At any rate, your trip sounded lovely, romantic and relaxing.
I love the sense of warmth and an comfort the taste and smell of maple brings you. My family are nuts for these king of treats. My Aunt used to live in Delaware and every time we visited her she would make Vermont maple cookies. I bet she would love these too. Kind of a more grown up and refined evolution of the same idea.
I made scones yesterday and totally considered adding maple syrup! I opted for savoury scones, but next time I think I’ll be adding some of your ideas to it
I made this recipe this morning and they turned out wonderful! This was my first time ever making scones….and it certainly won’t be my last! Thank you!