Gingerbread Scones

Gingerbread everything!! I love the smell of gingerbread! The holidays can be crazy, but your life will be so much easier if you prep as much as you can as early as you can. These gingerbread scones are perfect to be made ahead of time and kept in the freezer until you want to bake them. The best part is that they can go straight from the freezer to the oven. Stree-free gingerbread scones on Christmas morning with coffee while opening gifts sounds like the perfect way to start the holiday.

I'm obsessed with scones! I make them all of the time. Scones should have a slight crunch of the outside, softness on the inside, but still slightly crumbly without being dry. This isn't an overly sweet scone because it's made with hearty ingredients that add depth of flavor. I use whole wheat flour, oatmeal, molasses, and turbinado sugar (if you don't have turbinado sugar you can use brown sugar). The most important part of making a good scone is cold butter because when it bakes it will create these wonderful flakey layers that you just can't get with warm butter.

Gingerbread Scones

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup COLD unsalted butter; cut into cubes

1/2 cup half and half (or whole milk works too)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons molasses

Icing:

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons half and half or milk

How To:

*Place the flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in bowl of a food processor

*Pulse to combine

*Place the butter in the mixer

*Pulse to combine; mixture will like a bit like sand

*In a separate bowl (I like using a measuring cup for wet ingredients) combine the half and half, vanilla, and molasses

*With the mixture running pour in the wet ingredients

*Combine until JUST mixed in

*Remove the dough from the processor and place on a lightly floured surface

*Use your hands to form a large flat disk with the dough about a half inch to an inch thick

*Use a knife to cut the dough in half one way and the opposite way, this will make four large pieces

*THEN cut each of the pieces in half... this will look like a pizza!

*Place each piece on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

*Place the baking sheet in the fridge for about 15 minutes

*If you plan in freezing these place them in the freezer for a half hour then remove and place in a freezer friendly bag, label, and place back in the freezer

*Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

*Place the scones on the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes

*If they are coming straight out of the freezer it may take about 5-7 minutes longer

*Allow to cool on a cooling rack

*Meanwhile make the icing

*Measure the powdered sugar into a bowl

*Pour in the vanilla and milk while whisking to combine

*Once thoroughly mixed pour the icing into the corner of a small ziplock back

*Cut the tip of the corner of the bag and drizzle the icing over the cooled scones

*You can also simply use a spoon to drizzle the icing over the scones