Maple Oat Scones

Fall weather gets me excited about the kicking off of the holiday and Oscar movie seasons.  There are so many coming out that I am very excited about.  The majority of them take me back to my English major days (Hello Les Mis, Anna Karenina, and The Great Gatsby) but I am actually looking forward to doing the whole book vs. movie debate on some French and Russian lit.   I have a feeling the Great Gatsby will just be a good time but not worthy of any sort of literary critique.  Thank you Baz Luhrmann. 

We saw Argo this past week and I found it fantastic.  Ben Affleck has really come around since Chasing Amy (that was a movie ahead of its time if I ever saw one).  Robbie on the other hand, felt differently.  I knew I had a problem when I turned to Robbie with wonder in my eyes as the lights came on in the theater and gushed “That was amazing!” and he said “Ehhhh, it was ok . . .” and wouldn’t make eye contact with me.  Robbie’s biggest problem was that (SPOILER ALERT – But only if you aren’t familiar with history) the movie did not follow up with the remaining dozens of hostages that were released only once Reagan came into office.  My biggest problem was when (SPOILER ALERT – Sort of) Ben Affleck’s character goes to the home of his wife and son, and his wife was not played by Jennifer Garner.  Lost opportunities for perfect cameos are a pet peeve of mine.

Whatevs.

One thing we do agree on is how crisp mornings should naturally lead to maple flavored goodies so I found these from Smitten Kitchen and decided to follow suit.  I will admit, mine are not as pretty as Deb’s but they were just as delicious and served as a comforting breakfast/snack/dessert on the subsequent days. 

Maple Oat Scones

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare a baking tray by lining it with parchment paper.  Whisk both flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl.  Cut the butter into pieces and add to the bowl.  Work in with your fingers, pastry blender, or with a fork, as I did.  In a separate bowl, combine the milk and the syrup.  Add these to the butter and flour mixture and bring everything together to form a softish dough.  (Warning – Here’s where I deviate from the original because of my very limited counter space so if you want to hear about rolling and patting the dough, click here.)  Using two tablespoons (the dough will be sticky so you can do what I did and just used my hands), drop the dough onto your prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until they begin to brown on the edges.  Serve warm with butter and jam, obviously.