I woke up yesterday morning determined to redeem myself.  After the catastrophe that was my Friday experiment, I was determined to get it right.  And after my pal Debbie posted her amazing cinnamon rolls yesterday I knew that was it.  Going to bed on Sat, I was determined that’s how my morning would start; that was if I had all the ingredients. 

I knew active dry yeast would be the one that would get me.  So, I did a little research on the differenes between using baking powder (double acting) or baking soda and lemon juice.  I was all ready to dive in when I thought I should double check with the chef herself.  She insisted that yeast was required and that I might find a similar alternative in trying scones!

So, I jumped on Dining with Debbie to see what she had to offer (she really doesn’t disappoint)!  And, there they were Double Cinnamon Scones.  I took a quick assessment of the ingredients and decided I had most of them and could improvise the rest.  (you know bigpittstop style)

The thing that threw me for a loop was the cinnamon chips.  Those aren’t something I keep in my cabinet, but I did have a bag of caramels (not sure why I had these either).  So, I decided I could chop them up into tiny little pieces and the worst thing that would happen is that they would melt into the dough.  Not a bad problem.  I also didn’t have any heavy cream.  While I’m sure milk would have worked just fine, I did have a can of evaporated milk which I always remember my mom used for a more “velvety” texture…so, why not have velvety scones!

I followed the recipe on every thing else, even kneading, patting and cutting the dough in a pinwheel.  ( I do think the combination of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice kept it flavorful without being too spicy!)

One unique thing about this recipe from other scone recipes I used was that Debbie encourages us to individually wrap the cut scones and place them in the freezer for 30 minutes while the oven is pre-heating.  I did.  I think I’m going to have to try them again and not do it to see the difference.  Her reasoning it that it makes them higher and lighter (there’s lots of things in life that can do that!).

So, after their 30 minutes in the frozen incubator, I laid them out on the  cooking stone and put them in the warm incubator for 15 minutes.  Given my oven, I should have done one of 2 things.  Only cooked them for 12 minutes at 425 or kept them in there for 15 at a lower temp.  They were a little more toasty on the edges than I would like, but I’m also a raw cookie kinda gal.

Just because I wasn’t ready for plain ole white icing, I decided maple would be the perfect topping. My computer froze and I had to do a full shut down to get everything back up and running so I don’t have the website that I adapted the icing from, but here’s my ice church maple glaze.

Ice Church Maple Glaze

10 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
2T evaporated milk (or whatever dairy type liquid you used in your scones)
1/2 C brown sugar
4 T butter
2T pancake syrup (of course molasses or another type would work)
1 C powdered sugar
cinnamon/sugar to sprinkle

In a saucepan, melt together all ingredients besides powdered sugar.  Once all ingredients have melted and come to a low boil.  Remove from heat and add in powdered sugar.  Whisk together to remove lumps and little powered sugar pockets.  When the scones come out of the oven, spoon glaze over the top of each scone creating a thin layer over the top of the whole scone.  Some glaze will run down the sides.  Go back and layer more until you have them iced as you like.  Dust with cinnamon sugar sprinkle.  Glaze will “dry” shinny forming a little crust on the edges. 

I took some to my neighbor so I didn’t sit here and eat them all afternoon!  These scones really are light and airy, but still have a cake texture without being “doughy”.  Thank you Twitter, Blogger and Google for turning my snow day around.  Oh and Debbie for the suggest.  Love ya!