Whole-Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

The negative temperatures here in the morning (and afternoon, and early evening) is becoming the new norm. I don't remember it ever being this freezing in the valley - and we've lived here for quite a while. The sun can be pretty deceiving, too. It looks like a beautiful day outside, then the minute you set foot out that front door, your nostrils freeze shut.

Thankfully, my husband gifted me a way to run inside through these frigid months (last year I ran outside the entire season, but never did it get this cold.) So instead of busting out the running tights and freezing my teeth out every morning, I get to run inside in a tank and shorts. The only cold I feel is the distance from my front door to the car, and my car to the front door. I miss running outside, and think treadmills are boring, but I think I'd rather run in temperatures above the zero line. Sanity is important this time of year.

When I come home from running, I love to make all-fruit smoothies (I don't always have the time, but I love it when I do). This week we have fresh slices of banana, and frozen peaches, blueberries, and raspberries to work with. So when I saw this scone recipe needed raspberries, there's no way I was going to spend $4 a pouch on fresh raspberries. I just thawed out a cup of those delicious berries from my frozen stash, and called it good. It worked out just lovely, I must say.

These scones were freakishly simple to make. I'm not hard core enough to knead the dough by hand, so I let my stand mixer fitted + dough hook do most of the work. The dough came out beautifully, and the raspberries gave it such a wonderful marbled swirl. These scones bake right up in the oven, so there's no soak-and-fry-em-up-in-oil ritual required.

Also, this was my second attempt at using whole wheat flour. It's still not my favorite, but I still find myself (yet again) wanting to try recipes with it listed in the ingredients. I think the next time I make these scones I'll use all white flour. If you like whole wheat, keep the full amount. For me, it was certainly worth a try using the wheat - and a lot healthier, from what I understand. Using ricotta in scones is genius - and has opened up a few more possibilities. I also immediately fell in love with how hearty these were, yet still having that decadent fluffiness. Every so often, you'd bite into a juicy piece of raspberry. This countered the not-too-sweet flavor of the scone. I think these would go well with a drizzle of honey or a slab of melted butter down the center. Maybe this could serve well as a breakfast treat with a side of seasoned egg whites. Good, good stuff.

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Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

Ingredients:

1 C whole wheat flour 

1 C all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 C sugar

1/2 t table salt

6 T cold unsalted butter

1 C fresh raspberries (frozen raspberries work fine)

3/4 C whole milk ricotta

1/3 C heavy cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or use parchment paper. 

2. In the bottom of a large mixing bowl, mix flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together with paddle attachment on a stand mixer.

3. Blend on low until mixture resembles coarse meal. Roughly chop the raspberries on a cutting board and stir them into the butter-flour mixture.

4. Switch attachment to dough hook. Add ricotta and heavy cream into mixer bowl. Raspberries will smear - but no worries. 

5. Transfer dough to a well-floured counter. Flour the top of the dough and pat it into a 7-inch square about 1 inch tall. With a large knife, divide the dough into 9 even squares. 

6. Transfer dough with a spatula to prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until ightly golden at the edges. Cool in pan for a bit, then transfer to cooling rack. 

Recipe from: the Smitten Kitchen cookbook

Makes 9 scones.