Apricot White Chocolate Scones

Happy New Year!  For a special New Year's Day breakfast, I made these Apriot White Chocolate Scones.  I always forget how quick and easy scones are to make, plus they are much more economical to make at home than to buy them from a local coffee shop.  Tastier too!  The slight tartness of the dried apricots and the sweetness of the white chocolate chips are such a wonderful complement.  I made several changes to the original recipes to lighten it up a bit:  used fat free evaporated milk instead of half and half, used light butter and also replaced some flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  The result was a delicious scone with a nice, moist texture (no dry scones here!). 


Apricot White Chocolate Scones
Yields 8 scones

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup cold butter, cut in pieces (I used light butter)
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/3 cup white chocolate baking chips
1 egg
1/3 cup fat free evaporated milk
melted white chocolate and additional chopped apricots, for topping (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
2. In a food processor, pulse flours, sugar and baking powder until combined.
3. Add butter to food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form.  Pour mixture into a medium bowl.
4. Stir apricots and white chocolate chips into flour mixture.  Stir  in egg and gradually add evaporated milk until dough forms a ball (Note:  You may need slightly less than 1/3 cup).  Knead dough a few times while in bowl. 
5. Pat or roll dough into 8-inch round on prepared cookie sheet.  Cut into 8 wedges (a pizza cutter works well) but DO NOT separate. 
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let sit on pan for 5 minutes and then separate wedges (Note: I used a serated knife to ensure clean cuts).  Let cool completely.
7. Optional set:  Drizzle melted white chocolate and sprinkle with chopped dried apricots, if desired.

Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker