Fig & Cardamom Drop Scones

I love going out with the girls for afternoon tea.  It is such a girly outing and with a house full of boys, sometimes I need an extra dose of girly.  One of my favorite parts of the tea spread is the scones.  They are so delicious whether on their own or topped with lemon curd, cream, or jam.  If it's a scone, I'm in.  Since it isn't always easy to carve out time to go out without my boys, I decided to make some scones at home.  Most scone recipes need to be kneaded, and cut out.  I have to admit that I tend to avoid recipes that require being rolled out because it is more work and more cleaning.  That is why I love these drop scones.  No kneading required.  As the name suggests, you just use an ice cream scoop to drop the batter onto your cookie sheets and then pop them in the oven.

This recipe is really easy to customize too.  I love the way that cardamom and fig complement each other but you could easily swap the cardamom for some cinnamon and nutmeg or even change the fruit from figs to dried cranberries.  This combination is delicious though so I hope you will give it a try.

Start out by melting a little butter and then set it aside to cool a little bit.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and a healthy spoonful of cardamom.  Whisk it all together and then stir in some dried figs that have been chopped into bite-sized chunks.

These scones have buttermilk in them.  I love the way that adding buttermilk keeps baked goods moist, but if you are like me, you won't really use up a whole carton of buttermilk.  I highly recommend using this buttermilk powder.  It is so easy to use.  You just mix the powder in with your dry ingredients and then add water in with the wet ingredients.  You can get it at the grocery store or order it from amazon.

In a large measuring cup whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk (or water if you are using the powdered buttermilk), an egg, some honey, and a splash of vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir them together just until combined.

Use an ice cream scoop to drop the scones a couple of inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar, I used demerara sugar because it is larger crystals and adds a delicious little crunch.

Then bake at 400 until the tops are golden brown, about 12 minutes.  These are delicious as is or with a drizzle of honey or some fig jam.  Tea time, breakfast time, or any time, bring on the scones.

Fig & Cardamom Drop Scones

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cardamom
• 3/4 cup chopped, dried figs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 4 tbls. buttermilk powder and 1 cup water)
• 3 1/2 tbls. butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 2 tbls. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• extra sugar for sprinkling on top (I used demerara but any sugar is fine)

1. Preheat oven to 400 and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  (If you are using buttermilk powder, add it as well.)  Stir in figs.
3. In a large measuring cup, combine buttermilk (or water if using buttermilk powder), melted butter, egg, honey, and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.  Use an ice cream scoop to drop scones onto the baking sheet and then sprinkle the tops with sugar.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden. 

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Weekend Potluck, Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper Saturday, Bakerette, Mix It Up Monday, Inspiration Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, Monday Funday, Lou Lou Girls, Tips & Tricks, Mad Skills, Create Link Inspire, Tasty Tuesday, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Made By Me, Whimsy Wednesday, Wake Up Wednesdays, Wednesday Whatsits, Wonderfully Creative Wednesday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Pin It Thursday, and Showcase Your Talent Thursday.