Apple Scones

Old-school apple scones with no butter, no milk, and no fuss. The dough comes together like a pie crust: cold vegetable shortening cut into cinnamon-spiced flour until coarse and crumbly, then bound with cold apple juice. The technique gives you flaky, tender scones that happen to be dairy-free as a bonus.

Apple juice is doing more than just hydrating the dough. The natural fruit sugars caramelize at the edges as the scones bake, and the gentle apple flavor underscores the chopped fresh apple inside. Combined with the raisins and a hint of cinnamon, this is essentially apple pie filling baked into a scone.

The shortening creates flake the same way it does in pie dough; visible chunks melt in the oven and leave behind steam pockets. Don’t skimp on cutting it in. Stop when the largest pieces are pea-sized and you’ll get bakery-style flake instead of dense biscuit.

Pro Tips

• Keep the shortening cold. Pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes before cutting it in for the easiest pastry-blender work.
• Chop the apple very fine. Bigger pieces stick out of the dough and burn at the edges.
• Add the apple juice gradually until the dough just holds together. Wet dough makes tough, dense scones.
• Bake on the upper rack so the bottoms don’t overbrown before the tops are golden.

Variations

• Substitute pear juice and chopped pear for the apple version for a more delicate fall flavor.
• Add 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts for crunch.
• Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar before baking for a sweeter, crackly crust.