Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

Happy Friday!

This week has flown by and it’s crazy! I know I didn’t get back from Florida until Tuesday afternoon so we were almost already halfway through the week but still. Crazy how fast time flies. I feel like I say that all the time but it’s true. Today’s the last day of May and then tomorrow is June. WTF. Time needs to sloooooooow down.

I graduated a year ago. May 27. Which is insane to think about, that it’s been an entire year because it really feels like it’s only been a month or two. Which is insane and terrifying. But also exciting, I guess, when I think about all that’s happened in the past year, like moving across country to pursue acting.That’s a big one. But even in NJ, my mom and I spent a bunch of Sundays going on ‘outings’ before I’d have to go to work – museums, cute towns, parks. I celebrated my 23rd birthday going to Far Hills Steeplechase and then having friends from both home and school come together to go out. I worked 3 different jobs but ultimately only stayed at the restaurant and had some amazing co-workers. I went to Vegas twice to visit Ryan and he came to NJ. I took voice lessons, went into NYC as often as I could to see some plays and musicals.

And then since being in LA, slowly making new friends, filmed a short film, got cast as a lead in a web series, signed with an agent. Found a job, good apartment…

Huh. I guess when you put it like that, as scary as time flying is, I did do quite a bit this past year. But regardless, time does need to slow down.

Anyway, so I first made these scones a little over a month ago (again, what?!) but forgot to take pretty pictures of them since I had brought them to Vegas with me, and me, my boyfriend, and his roommate ate them with breakfast one morning. Delicious. I was just mad I didn’t have any extras to keep in my freezer at home. By the way, they’re delicious with this Pomegranate and Raspberry tea from Twinings. So much raspberry! Yum.

And about 2 weeks ago, I found raspberries on sale for a great price so I picked up two packages. The first ones went into making these brown sugar muffins that were SO good. I was torn between doing another mini cheesecake recipe with a raspberry swirl (I’ll do that eventually) or making these scones again. Boy am I happy I made these instead.

Scones with whole wheat flour tend to be a little too dense or dry, but the half and half flours coupled with heavy cream AND ricotta makes for a moist and tender scone. The raspberries muddled through the dough offer a great tart and sweetness to the scone which is just the right amount of sweetness, especially with only 1/4 cup of sugar in the whole recipe.

These scones would be great for a brunch with friends or to keep in the freezer for the mornings you need a little pick me up. All you would do then is preheat the oven and then bake them! Yum.

And since, well, it’s Friday, that means it’s basically almost the weekend so you should make these scones for brunch. And then invite me over.

Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

makes about 9 scones

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cold
1 6-oz package fresh raspberries
3/4 cup part skim ricotta
1/3 cup heavy cream

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut up cold butter into small pieces. Add the butter to the dry ingredients, and either using a pastry blender or a fork or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal (or the biggest pieces are the size of small peas).

Roughly chop the raspberries into half/quarters on a cutting board and gently fold them into the flour mixture.

Add ricotta and heavy cream and using a spatula, gently stir and fold them in to create a dough. In the bowl, gently knead the dough with your hands so it comes to together.

Carefully transfer the dough to a well-floured board and flour the top of the dough. Using your hands, pat it out to a 7 inch square and about 1 inch tall. With a large floured knife, cut the dough into 9 even (or as even as possible) squares. Carefully transfer the scones to cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze scones for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and bake for about 15 minutes, until the scones are lightly golden brown around the edges. Let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.

Note: Only bake the scones you’ll be eating. Scones are best served fresh, so after the step of freezing for 30 minutes, transfer the unused scones to a freezer safe bag and store in the freezer until ready to bake. You won’t need to defrost them – you might just need to add a few minutes to the baking time.

[source: adapted from Smitten Kitchen]