2208. GREEN GARLIC, BACON and THYME SAVORY SCONES with WHITE PEPPER MAPLE GLAZE

makes 12 scones


Scone
3/4 cup full fat sour cream
2 tablespoon flaxmeal
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
8 oz of thick cut bacon
2 medium green garlic stalks
3/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons potato flour (not potato starch)
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons millet flour
3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour (sometimes called chickpea flour, gram flour or besan) plus more for dusting and forming scones
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup, 1 stick unsalted butter
1 egg white plus 1 tablespoon of water for pastry glaze

Maple Glaze
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon maple syrup (grade B if available)
1/2 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon white pepper

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or piece of parchment paper.

Place the sour cream, eggs and egg yolk in a small bowl and stir in the flaxmeal until incorporated. Put aside to let the flax meal absorb some of the liquid.

Cut off the white part and 1 inch of the green part of the green garlic stalk (discarding the rest of the stalk). Then slice lengthwise and chop the green garlic into 1/2 inch slices. You should have roughly 1 cup. Then chop the bacon into small 1/4 inch pieces and cook them in a skillet on medium heat until just crispy and the edges are starting to carmelize. Then place the chopped green garlic in the same skillet and sauté it with the bacon until fragrant, about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and place in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb bacon oil.

Place the corn starch, potato flour, millet flour, garbanzo bean flour, salt, pepper and thyme in a large mixing bowl. Taking a balloon whisk, vigorously stir the dry ingredients until well blended and uniform in color.

Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add them to dry ingredients. Using your hand, rub the butter into the dry ingredients, until the mixture starts to look pebbly. Add the bacon and green garlic to the dry ingredients and stir with a large spatula to evenly distribute.

Add the sour cream & egg wet ingredients, and using a spatula, mix to create a dough. It will be wet and sticky, but since there is no gluten to toughen the flour, you don’t have to worry about overmixing.

Generously sprinkle a flat surface with garbanzo bean flour and then scrape the dough onto the flour. Split in half and roll one part of the dough around on the flour and then flatten into a disk, about 6 inches in diameter. Cut the disk into 6 pie wedge pieces. Repeat with the second half, using more garbanzo bean flour if needed.

Beat together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water until foamy. Place the scones about two inches apart on the baking sheet. Brush each scone with the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 18 – 20 minutes, or until the top of the scone starts to get golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

After the scones are done, leave them on the baking sheet to cool a little bit and make the glaze by combining the maple syrup and the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving it for 30 seconds. Be careful that the maple syrup doesn’t boil over. Pull out the syrup and stir until the butter is melted. If it isn’t warm enough to melt all the butter, microwave for another 15 seconds. If you prefer, you can also heat the syrup and butter on a stovetop until the butter melts. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and the white pepper and stir until smooth.

Once the glaze is done, move the scones to a cooling rack. While the scones are still warm, brush the glaze over them, to thinly coat the top. Serve warm or let cool to room temperature.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Irvin, Eat the Love, San Francisco, California, May 4, 2011