Sunday, January 3, 2010

Low-Fat, Low-Sugar Chocolate Toffee Scones

scones-small plate

Now that it's the first of the year and oodles of folks are vowing to get in shape and eat right, it's tough to think about giving up all of your favorites. Moderation is the key, and these scones will keep you on track without feeling deprived.

I haven't made these for years, but something got me thinking about scones yesterday and I just had to make them again. This is a recipe I adapted from who-knows-where but I found something very similar on Recipezaar. I'm 99.9% positive it's not where I got the original, but it's very close. Maybe the person that posted it found it the same place I did. Regardless, I slimmed it down and think they turned out pretty good.

If you're looking for a Starbucks-like scone, this isn't it. It's not biscuit-like because there's no butter. WHAT? A scone without butter? Some might not even consider this a true scone, but it's a great, better-for-you substitution when you're jonesing for some baked goods with your morning coffee or afternoon tea. scones-platter

Low-Fat Low-Sugar Chocolate Toffee Scones
Feel free to use real sugar in place of the Splenda. I know there are many people out there vehemently opposed to the stuff. Just sub equal amounts of sugar. If you're not worried about the "low-fat" part of it, you can use whipping cream in place of the milk.
scones-ingredients
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Heath toffee bits
1-1/2 cups 1% milk (you can see from the photo that I used fat free milk - I substituted a scant 1/4 cup half and half for some of the milk)
Optional: turbinado sugar, 1T butter or milk for tops

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. line large baking sheet with parchment or use a large baking stone. Whisk together flours, Splenda, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add toffee bits. In stand mixer or with hand mixer, beat milk until peaks form. It won't be like whipping cream. Mainly you'll get lots of foamy milk, creating lots of volume - that's why you'll need a large mixing bowl. Add whipped milk to dry ingredients, mix until combined.
 whipped milk
Turn out on to generously floured counter and knead until a soft dough forms, about 1-2 minutes. It's going to be sticky. That's OK. Use just enough flour to keep it from sticking to you and the counter. A bench scraper comes in very handy here!
scones-dough before knead
Divide dough in half and roll into 1/2" rounds. Cut into 8 pieces and place on lined baking sheet or stone. They can be close together; they rise up and not out. Repeat with other half of dough.
scones-split dough
scones-disk
scones-cutting
scones-cut
scones-on stone
Brush with milk or butter and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. I forgot this step and pulled out the sheet after they'd cooked a few minutes and used milk and sugar on half. On the other half, I waited until they'd completely baked, then brushed lightly with butter and sprinkled with sugar. Note that the milk-brushed scones "crackled".
scones-butter

Bake for about 20 minutes, until scones rise and turn lightly golden brown. Serve immediately or cool completely on racks and store in airtight container. Yields 16 scones.

scones-crumb

Dwight enjoyed these, too.

D: I like these better than the others.
Me: Others?
D: Other scones I've had. Maybe the were different. They were really dry.
Me: Yeah, these don't have any butter so they're not like other scones. Like biscuits.

And then he ate another one. See, even dudes like these scones. They're not crumbly or rich. They're almost cake-like and have a nice, subtly sweet flavor. If you divide this recipe into 24 pieces instead of 16, they're about 90 calories each, have 2 grams of fat and 1 gram fiber, based on previous calculations. Those numbers might not be absolutely accurate, but they're close.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

2 comments:

  1. I think I just drooled a little on my keyboard. These look fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chocolate toffees still taste good even without butter.

    ReplyDelete

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