Another cool morning and another new scone. This time, a rustic honey-cornmeal scone.

Honey-Cornmeal Scones
From Once Upon a Tart...Soups, Salads, Muffins, and More by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to mix.
• Add the butter to the bowl all at once, and run the food processor for about 15 seconds. Continue to mix, pulsing now so you have more control, until there are no chunks of butter left and the mixture looks like moist crumbs.
• Remove the blade and dump the crumbs into a large bowl.
• In another small bowl whisk the eggs to break up the yolks.
• Whisk in the milk, honey, and vanilla.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the crumbs, and stir with a wooden spoon spoon, stopping as soon as the dough comes together and there is no flour visible. Don't work the dough a moment longer than necessary.
• Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to scoop the batter out and plot it onto the baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between scones.
• Bake the scones for 20 - 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Cool on a baking rack for a few minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

About this recipe: Feel free to use regular old all-purpose flour. I used unbleached just because I had it. I also used dark-brown sugar instead of light-brown. The butter crumbs came together quickly with the help of my food processor.

When I mixed the wet ingredients together, it took a little while to get the honey to incorporate evenly--letting it sit for a couple minutes and then stirring again helped. Once it was combined I dumped it into the butter crumbs and only had to stir 6 or 8 times and my batter was done. I scooped out my scones using a 1/2 cup measuring cup. The batter is rather sticky so I had to use a spatula to scrape it out of the cup.

I had parchment paper today so I didn't have to keep as close an eye on the scones which was nice because I was doing laundry at the same time. My scones baked for about 20 minutes and they were done.

These scones are very yummy and tastes exactly like a sweet cornbread in scone form. The consistency is lighter than an actual cornbread. The cornmeal gives it a lot of texture and an ever so pleasing crunch. I found them to be relatively sweet for a scone. The honey is a nice sweetener and makes it more interesting than just using more sugar. And combining it with brown sugar is inspired. I might cut back a little on both to make it a little less sweet, but that's just me. I really enjoyed this scone very much, especially that it's different that an every day mostly flour scone. You should consider some dried fruit to give it a less monotonous texture. I think dried blueberries would work well.