Oatmeal Apple Scones

Peak foliage week. The valley is on fire — orange, red, crimson, gold — and the leaf peepers are everywhere, their rental cars creeping along Route 2 at fifteen miles an hour while I'm behind them trying to get to the hardware store. I remind myself that they're here for the beauty, and the beauty is real, and patience is a virtue, and also that honking at tourists is considered rude even though it's deeply satisfying.

Helen and I took a drive on Saturday. Not to anywhere — just driving, the way you do in October in Vermont when the world is showing off. We went up through Jericho, then Richmond, then back through Huntington, and every road was a tunnel of color and every turn revealed something that made you catch your breath. Helen said, "It never gets old." She's right. It never does. Sixty-four Octobers and it never gets old.

I made apple crisp. The Macs from our tree are at their peak — tart, firm, perfect for baking. I peeled and sliced ten apples while sitting on the porch, the peels falling into a paper bag, the knife moving through the flesh with the particular rhythm of a task done a thousand times. The topping: oats, brown sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon. Bake until the apples bubble and the kitchen smells like autumn distilled into a pan. Serve with vanilla ice cream, obviously.

The blog post this week was about the drive — about seeing Vermont through windshield glass, about the colors that don't reproduce on screens no matter how good the camera. I included the apple crisp recipe at the end, because every drive needs a destination and every destination needs a dessert. Thirty-seven comments, the most I've ever received. People wrote about their own drives, their own autumns, the trees in their states that try but can't compete with New England maples. I felt a small, warm pride that had nothing to do with my writing and everything to do with the trees.

Jerry Thibodeau stopped by Thursday evening. He sat on the porch with a glass of cider and said, "Best year in a decade." He meant the foliage. Jerry has been rating foliage for fifty years, mentally, keeping a score no one sees. He says 2017 is "an eight." I asked what a ten looks like. He said, "I'll know it when I see it." Jerry is eighty-two and still waiting for the perfect foliage year. I admire his standards. I admire his patience more.

The peak will pass by next week. It always passes. But this year was an eight. We'll take it.

The Macs from our tree inspired the crisp, but they inspire just about everything this time of year — and when Helen asked if there was anything left to bake on Sunday morning while the foliage was still glowing outside the kitchen window, these oatmeal apple scones were the natural answer. They have the same heart as the crisp: oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, tart apple — just shaped for a slow morning with coffee instead of a late-evening dessert. If you’ve got good fall apples and an hour, this is exactly the right use of both.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 42 min | Servings: 8 scones

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg
1/2 cup cold heavy cream, plus 1 tablespoon for brushing
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup peeled, finely diced tart apple (about 1 large Macintosh or Granny Smith)
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for topping

Instructions

Heat the oven. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until evenly combined.
Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.
Combine wet ingredients. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the egg, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and vanilla extract.
Bring the dough together. Pour the wet mixture over the flour-butter mixture and add the diced apple. Stir gently with a fork or rubber spatula just until a shaggy dough forms — do not overmix. The dough will be slightly sticky.
Shape the scones. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat it into a round disk about 3/4 inch thick and 8 inches across. Cut into 8 wedges with a sharp knife or bench scraper.
Prepare for baking. Transfer the wedges to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Brush the tops lightly with the remaining tablespoon of heavy cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a scone comes out clean. The edges should look set and the kitchen should smell like October.
Cool and serve. Let the scones rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Serve warm, as-is or with a pat of salted butter.

Nutrition (per serving)

Oatmeal Apple Scones — When the Macs Are at Their Peak and the Kitchen Smells Like October