SHF #15 - Honey Raisin Scones

This is my first ever SHF (Sugar High Friday) entry. I just started blogging this month and was excited to find a great online community of people who were enthusiastic about all things baked as much as I am. I thought that finding a non-sugar dessert recipe would be an easy task but the more I looked, the harder and more frustrating it got. My cookbooks were not helpful so I turned to the Internet to try and strike gold. My first search of 'sugarless dessert recipes' returned a lot of results but substituted Splenda for sugar. Though I'm not adverse to using Splenda, I don't have any in my cupboard and I really wanted to find something that was naturally sweetened. My next search was simply 'honey' and this is where I found the recipe I'm submitting today. I found a website for the National Honey Board and found that they had a good collection of honey recipes. The one I chose is called Honey Raisin Scones which, not surprisingly, uses honey as a sweetener. The recipe was easy to follow and execute and took less than 30 minutes to have in the oven. It's not glamourous but goes well with a cup of tea or cappuccino. The scones came out light and flaky, not rock hard and dense as some store-bought scones can be. I would definitely make them again - they are just as good as their sugar-scone counterparts.

Honey Raisin Scones

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cut up
1/2 cup raisins
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange peel
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 egg

In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; mix well. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; mix in raisins and orange peel.In small bowl, whisk together honey, whipping cream and egg. Add to flour mixture; stir until just combined. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead 10 times. Pat dough into 9-inch circle; cut into 8 wedges. Place on lightly greased baking sheet, at least 1 inch apart. Bake at 375°F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on wire rack. Makes 8 scones.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1 scone)
Calories: 343 Cholesterol: 71 mg Dietary Fiber: 1 g Protein: 5 g Sodium: 409 mg Total Carbohydrates: 46 g Total Fat: 16 g

Note: I baked my batch of scones for 12 minutes at 425 F. I usually use a high temperature for scones because the outside becomes crispy and the inside is still soft and fluffy. If baking them at a lower temperature achieves the same result, please let me know. Thanks!

Thanks to Jennifer at Domestic Goddess for thinking up this great idea and also thanks to Sam at Becks & Posh for hosting SHF this month. Enjoy!

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar