Caramelized Pear & Bacon Scones

You're welcome. (And, I'm sorry!)

I'm thinking my first cookbook will be Scones 101. I love 'em. Because, what can't you put in a scone and call a meal? And hold it all in one hand, no less. Breakfast, lunch, dinner? Scone. Snack? Scone. Fruit, grain, meat, dairy? Scone, scone, scone, scone.

Okay. Maybe not. But these are good, and I think you oughta try them.

Ingredients

6-8 slices bacon

3 firm D'Anjou pears, peeled, cored & diced

1 TB vegetable oil

2 TB brown sugar

2 c. all-purpouse flour

2 TB flaxseed meal

1 TB baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

8 TB cold, unsalted butter, cubed

3/4 c. chilled cream or half & half

egg white (optional)

course sugar (optional)

Caramelized pears? Check.

Flax seed meal adds a nutty flavor. And totally counteracts any negative health effects of bacon*.

Double check.

Fats worked into the dough? Check.

Rolled/patted out 1" thick.

Cut.

Cool, if you can stand the wait.

Here's the written version:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment.

Fry that bacon, then set aside to drain and cool on paper towel-lined plate. Reserving just 1 TB of pan-drippings, add in 1 TB vegetable oil and caramelize the pears, in the same pan, over medium heat. Stir occasionally; once they start to brown a bit, add in the brown sugar. Continue to cook until you have some nice dark brown spots on mostly golden-brown/translucent pears. Set aside in paper towel-lined bowl to cool and drain.

Whisk together flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder and cinnamon in large bowl. Work the butter in quickly, using fingers, until consistency is that of coarse crumbs. (Set this in the fridge to remain cool, if you're still waiting for bacon and pears to cool down. Don't add warm stuff to your dough, or the texture will change for the worse, when the butter melts.)

Toss in pears and bacon. Pour in as much cold cream (up to 3/4 c.) as you need for dough to begin to hold together.

Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead once or twice to get the dough together. Pat or roll out to 1" thick (~11"x7" rectangle). I highly recommend a bench scraper for pushing flour underneath the dough, to keep it from sticking to your surface -- also good for shaping sides and cutting.

Cut into 12 triangles. Place at least 1/2" apart on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Optional Egg-White Glaze: Whisk egg white with 1 TB water and brush on top of unbaked scones. Go even further by sprinkling tops with course turbinado sugar, if desired. (Egg white with 1 TB maple syrup is another good option! Just plain cream or half & half works, too.)

Bake on middle rack of oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown on tops.

Cool on rack, then quickly give at least half of these away so you don't eat them all yourself.

*Totally not true.

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