Carrot and Cayenne Pepper Scones

As mentioned in past blog posts, I'm on a bit of a mission to find and bake the best scones going around. This recipe was another winner and it currently sitting at the top of my favourite scone list.

I found the recipe in an old Real Living Australia magazine, made my own slight modifications for my taste and viola, scones, a bit cooler than the usual white ones.

Ingredients:

450g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 cup Castar Sugar
110g room temp Butter
2 cups grated Carrots
3/4 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional, it will add a hot zing to your scones)[or you can add this to the ganache instead]

The original recipe also has a chocolate ganache to tip over the top (which I didn't worry about) but if you would like to try it:

170g Dark Chocolate
150ml Cream
3 tbs Butter

1 - Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a flat oven tray with greaseproof paper (or sprinkle with a little more plain flour)
2 - To make scones, rub together the dry ingredients with the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add carrots.
3 - Make a well in the centre of the flour mix. Add half a cup of milk and mix ingredients until only just combined (don't over work the dough). Add the last bit of the milk a little at a time but you may not even need it, it depends on how "wet" the mixture is already. I would advise to make your mix a little more wet and sticky as it makes lovely moist scones.
4 - Tip out mixture onto a floured bench and cut out your scones. I cut them into squares but you can do the traditional round ones or even triangles if you please.
5 - Bake scones for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Ganache:

6 - Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat cream and butter in a saucepan on low heat until just simmering and then pour over the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Add cayenne pepper if desired and allow ganache to cool to room temp.

This recipe was cheap to make, quick to make, super easy and really yummy. Well worth giving a go.

It's funny to think that carrots can actually be made into a sweet dessert because mostly we associate it as a savoury but it works really really well in this dish. Ewan loves them so it's just another "win" to me for sneaking more veggies into his diet!