The Coconut Scone

Today was a sad day, a day I had been dreading for a week.  It’s hard now to even talk about it, but I will try.  OK, here goes.  You ready?  It’s super sad.  Get your tissues ready.  Today marks the day that I ate the last Coconut Scone from the batch.  Not that sad, you say?!  Well, excuse me!!  You haven’t tried them yet, now have you?  So there.  I know they say that all good things must come to an end but…why?!  I must make more of these soon.  Very, very soon.

I kinda had coconut cake in my mind when I was creating these.  But I wanted something less sweet and more breakfast appropriate than cake. And no coconut cake is complete without the icing.  But you know me, I don’t like icing unless it’s less sweet than the cake itself.  So I decided to look to the Brits and how they eat their scones for a little inspiration.  In England you will find many a scone accompanied by some clotted cream or Devon cream.  Clotted cream is a thick, spreadable cream made by heating unpasteurized milk until a thick layer of cream forms on the surface in the form of ‘clots’.  The milk is then cooled and the layer of cream is skimmed off to turn into clotted cream.  It is very rich and thick, almost like whipped cream but more dense.  I have never made it myself, maybe one day… But it got me thinking of how I could serve these delicious Coconut Scones.  The scones are delicious on their own but once you eat a bite with a slather of this Coconut Cream, you will have died and gone to Scone Heaven.  Guaranteed.

And…isn’t coconut, like, really good for you?  Does it maybe balance out the butter in these scones?  I would like to think so.

Coconut ‘Cream’

(To be slathered, generously, onto each and every bite of the Coconut Cake Scones (recipe below)

Take a can of FULL FAT coconut milk, DO NOT SHAKE IT, and place it, unopened, into the fridge over night.

Open the can the next day and you will no longer see liquid, but rather a white ‘cream’ inside.  Scoop this top creamy part out into a bowl until you get to the layer of coconut water at the bottom of the can.

Reserve that water for making the scones.

This scooped out ‘coconut cream’ is what you will be eating with your scones.  That’s it!  Easiest recipe in the world.  It has a texture like softened butter and must be eaten cold or else it will soften back to liquid form.

It is absolutely delicious on it’s own.  Seriously, like coconut butter!  But it can also be whipped and used for a number of different things…to top cakes and pies in place of whipped cream, in place of ‘whipped topping’ in various recipes, etc.  It can be sweetened however you’d like it, but for these scones, I love the slightly sweet and rich flavor it has on its own.

 

THE COCONUT CAKE SCONE

In the bowl of your food processor, add the following…

• 3 cups AP flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 TB baking powder

Pulse to combine and add in…

• 1 1/2 sticks very cold, unsalted butter, diced

Pulse again until the butter pieces are no bigger than the size of a pea.

With the mixer on, add in a good splash each of…

• vanilla extract
• coconut extract

Then, with the mixer still running, drizzle in…

• enough of that reserved coconut water until your dough has moistened and will come together when you squeeze it…roughly 1/2 cup usually.

Transfer the dough to the counter (add flour if your dough is very sticky) and, by hand, mix in…

• 1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened if you have it)

Mix until the coconut is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Shape into a large disk and slice into 8 triangles, like you were cutting a pie.

Transfer to an un-greased cookie sheet and bake, on the top rack, in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the tops have begun to turn a light golden brown.  They will seem soft still, but will firm as they cool.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.

Once they harden a bit on the cookie sheet, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Store, tightly wrapped, in the fridge for up to a week, at room temperature for 3 days max, or tightly wrapped in plastic, then foil (and I usually then place in a large freezer zip bag for extra insurance) in the freezer for up to 3 months.