2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
6 Tablespoons palm sugar, plus extra for topping the scones
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1 cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, drained and chopped into small pieces
2 Tablespoons whole milk, for brushing the scone
For the glaze:
1-2 Tablespoons pineapple juice
1.5 cups confectioner's sugar, more if needed
YIELD: 8 scones
- Preheat your oven to 425°F. Position rack in the middle of the oven.
- Add the flour, baking powder, palm sugar and salt to a large bowl. Use a whisk to combine.
- Combine the coconut milk and vanilla extract in a large measuring cup.
- Cut the butter into 1 Tablespoon-sized pieces, add to flour mixture and incorporate using a pastry cutter. You're looking for a pea-sized consistency for the butter. It's OK to leave a few larger pieces in the mixture.
- Add the coconut milk mixture to the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Stir to combine with a large spoon. You might not need all the coconut milk. You are looking for a consistency where you have enough liquid so that you're able to form the mixture into a "shaggy" dough ball that is moist enough to hold together.
- Once you have this consistency, turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Using your fingers, spread into a 9" x 12" rectangle. Try not to knead or work with the dough too much.
- Make sure the pineapple chunks are drained of any residual liquid. Distribute evenly over the dough. Then, using a piece of waxed or parchment paper, gently press the pineapple chunks into the dough.
- Using a spatula, fold the top third of the dough down onto itself and press a bit to seal in the pineapple pieces. Then fold over the remaining third. (See below).
- Gently press down to flatten the dough, then fold the dough as shown below to end up with a square, Use this technique to incorporate berries and other delicate fruits into scones, They won't get smashed into the dough, and the folding makes the resulting scone flakier than it would be otherwise.
- Press and shape the dough until you have an 8" square that's about 3/4" to 1" thick. The size and thickness of the scones at this point is really up to you. Cut along the diagonals to make 4 wedges. Then cut each wedge in half to end up with a total of 8 wedge-shaped scones.
- Place the scones on a large baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Brush the top of each scone with some milk, and sprinkle with palm sugar.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or more until the scones are baked through and slightly browned on top. Remove pan from oven, let stand for a few minutes, and transfer scones to a wire cooling rack.
- Mix the glaze ingredients together with a spoon until you get a relatively thick, but pourable / drizzle-able (is that a word??) consistency. Once the scones have cooled, drizzle the glaze over each scone. You can place a piece of parchment paper under the wire rack to catch any glaze that runs off the scones.