Finding Happiness at the Bottom of a Measuring Cup: Banana Nut Scones

So I know I've been kind of delinquent with the blogging.  It's not that I haven't been cooking or baking, it's just that I've been neglecting to photographically document the process for your viewing pleasure.  But lucky for you guys I'm back on my game.

My roomie had a bunch of over ripe bananas in need of a home, so I thought I would oblige by baking something delicious with them.  I mean who doesn't love the challenge of finding a purpose for an ingredient before it passes to compost only status, and god knows there are a million yummy ways to dispose of spotty bananas.

I've been baking a lot of banana bread the last few months, so I thought I would mix it up and also make use of the open carton of buttermilk in my fridge (yeah, I'm thrifty, respect it).  Hence was born the banana nut scone!  I actually only used 2 bananas in mine and ended up wishing they were a little more chock-full of bananas, so I've adjusted the recipe below accordingly.  These are good plain, but I think they would be even more amazing with some honey drizzled on them or maybe some peanut butter spread across (yes, I'm also nuts for nuts).  Enjoy!

Banana Nut Scones

Adapted from “Our Finest Buttermilk Scones” in The Canadian Living Baking Book

    * 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

    * 2 tbsp granulated sugar

    * 2 tbsp brown sugar

    * 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

    * 1/2 tsp baking soda

    * 1/2 tsp salt

    * 1/2 tsp cinnamon

    * dash of nutmeg

    * 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed (1 stick)

    * 1 cup buttermilk (can sub 1 cup milk w/ 1 tbsp lemon juice/vinegar added)

    * 1 egg

    * 1 tsp vanilla

    * 3 ripe bananas chopped

    * 3/4 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

    * 1 tbsp brown sugar for topping

    * 1/4 tsp cinnamon for topping

1. Spray a full sized cookie sheet with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In large bowl, whisk together flour, both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using pastry blender, or two knives, cut in butter until crumbly.  Alternatively you can throw all dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse until mixed.  Then add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of very small peas, then transfer mixture to a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk with egg and vanilla. Pour over flour mixture. Stir to make a soft, ragged dough. Then gently mix in bananas and walnuts

4. With lightly floured hands, press dough into ball. On floured surface, knead gently a few times to bring dough together.  Pat out into a long rectangle.  Cut rectangle into 6 smaller rectangles, then cut these diagonally to form 12 trangle shaped scones. Place on prepared pan.

5. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon for topping and then sprinkle evenly over all 12 scones.

6. Bake scones in center of oven until golden, 15-20 minutes. I like to rotate the cookie sheet half way through baking since my oven is small and doesn’t heat very evenly. Remove scones from oven when done and transfer to rack and let cool.

Ready to hit the oven

All baked and ready to munch on : )

 -Cottontail