Maple Bacon Scones

The must-use ingredient in this week's recipe contest between The Grody Gourmet and me was maple syrup, a tribute to Amy's recent trip to her home state of Vermont. If you look at her blog, you'll notice that while I call it a friendly competition, she refers to it as "death match." That's how she is.

I am not a big fan of maple syrup so this challenge perplexed me, until I remembered an episode of No Reservations in which Anthony Bourdain (swoon) went to Portland and ate a maple donut with bacon at Voodoo Doughnuts. Inspiration! Which led to this:

Maple Bacon Scones
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup heavy cream
4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine dry ingredients in food processor. Add butter, cut into 1" squares, and process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add syrup, cream, and most of the bacon bits (reserve a few Tbsp. for sprinkling on top of the finished scones); pulse until dough forms. Turn dough onto floured board and roll out to a round about 1" thick. Cut into 8 wedges and place on a prepared baking sheet about 1" apart. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. nonfat milk
2 tsp. maple syrup
Combine all ingredients and drizzle over top of cooled scones. Sprinkle reserved bacon bits on top and let glaze harden.

A photo of me putting scones into the oven, for no other reason than Max was home sick that day and loves pushing the camera buttons.