One of the saddest things you should probably know about me is that I’m a terrible host. I don’t mean to be; in my head, I’m the kind of person who would find out you were coming over, quickly gather some wildflowers from the side of the road, put them in an old Mason jar, pour-over some coffee from a local roaster, steam cream from an upstate dairy in a spouted glass and pull out something warm and enticing from the oven right as you arrived. In my head, I understand that none of these things are terribly difficult to pull off. In reality, were you to come over right now, you’d find a plate of pears (one with a toddler mouth-sized bite removed) and mostly-empty jar of something delicious, but alas, too delicious to have lasted until you arrived, on the table, a colossal explosion of wooden train tracks and fire station parts all over the carpet and a fireman in a time out (“What did he do?” I asked. “He did NOTHING!” I was informed. Well, then…). Also notable is the absent aroma of freshly-brewed coffee. Upon closer inspection, you might see that I don’t actually own any coffee-making apparatus. And not a single warm thing has left the oven this morning; we had stove-top oatmeal for breakfast again.
Seriously, you’d revoke my book contact if you saw this place. I might have kept this to myself forever, but I have been found out. I have been found out because in the last month, more strangers have entered my apartment than have in the three-plus years we’ve lived here. They come under the auspices of writing articles about tiny kitchens or wanting to watch me make a recipe from the cookbook, but I know the truth: they want to see how we really live and when they find out, well, I hope they are relieved because are all of the fruits in your bowl intact? Are no firemen in unjust time outs? Good, you’re a step ahead.
Nevertheless, because this is my website and because on my website, I get to try (occasionally) to put my best foot forward, I am going to tell you about the morning two weeks ago that I had two guests over and I actually pulled off hospitality. Mostly. I mean, one person had been here before, thus she knew it was smart to bring coffee in. But these scones were so wonderful that I think they make up for all sorts of things, like the pile of platters and bowls that sit on a corner chair, have spilled out from a cabinet so long ago, we don’t even notice them anymore. I started with a recipe for scones I’d made a few years ago, but instead of apples, I used pears (not the one with the bite taken out; you’re welcome) and instead of accenting it with cheddar, I used chunks of bittersweet chocolate. These enormous roasted pear and chocolate chunk scones — assembled the night before, baked directly from the freezer before my morning guests arrived — were a revelation; craggy, hearty, a little crunchy, tender in the center, crisp at the edges, gorgeously bronzed and an ideal balance of light sweetness but late-October indulgence. I am not sure I’ve ever made anything so good for breakfast guests before, or will ever be so coordinated before 9 a.m. again.
Four days! Until The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook leaves my “kitchen” and hopefully makes a home in yours. That’s less than 100 hours. This is.. wild. We’re getting a little giddy with excitement for the NYC launch on Tuesday evening. Do you think it would be rude to uninvite Sandy? She seems the type that could really wreck a good party, and we don’t need any of that.
One year ago: Homesick Texan Carnitas
Two years ago: Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese
Three years ago: Silky, Decadent Old-School Chocolate Mousse
Four years ago: Paris + A Deep, Dark Salted Butter Caramel Sauce and Pink Lady Cake
Five years ago: Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
Six years ago: Easiest Baked Mac-and-Cheese
Roasted Pear and Chocolate Chunk Scones
Tweaked from The Perfect Finish
Makes 6 generous scones; you can absolutely make these a bit smaller and reduce their baking time accordingly
3 firmish pears (about 1 pound or 455 grams)
1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated or coarse for sprinkling
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) table salt plus additional for egg wash
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
1/4 cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chips)
2 large eggs, 1 for dough, 1 for glaze
Heat oven to 375°F. Peel and core pears. Cut into 1-inch chunks. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange pear chunks on parchment and roast until they feel dry to the touch and look a little browned underneath, about 20 minutes. Slide parchment paper with pear chunks onto a cooling rack (or onto a plate in the fridge or freezer to speed this up) and cool to lukewarm. Leave oven on. Line baking sheet with another piece of parchment.
Whisk flour, baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar and salt together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Toss in cooled pear chunks, bits of butter, heavy cream and 1 egg. With the paddle attachment, mix the dough on low speed until it just comes together. Don’t overmix. Add the chocolate chunks and mix for 5 seconds more.
On a very well floured counter, pat out dough into a 6-inch round. Cut into 6 generous wedges and transfer to baking sheet at least two inches apart (do as I say, not as I did here!). Whisk remaining egg in a small dish with 1 teaspoon of water and a pinch of salt. Brush each scone with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.
Bake scones until firm and golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Serve, and pat yourself on the back for your excellent host skills.
Do ahead: You can get this recipe all the way to the point where you’d bake them, and instead cover the pan with foil or plastic wrap and freeze them overnight. Bake them directly from the freezer in the morning; they should only take a few minutes longer. For longer than overnight, transfer frozen, already shaped, scones to a freezer bag until needed. In both cases, brush the egg wash/sprinkle the sugar on while still frozen, before baking the scones.
These look delicious, can’t wait to try! And don’t worry about Sandy, we New Yorkers don’t let a storm stop a much-anticipated book launch! Can’t wait.
I can’t wait to try these this weekend. I will be there on Tuesday come hell or high water. Literally.
I just made this recipe or attempted to. I’m not sure what went wrong. Does the type of pear matter? Mine were ripe but firm & they roasted nicely. When I added the pears, cream, egg, butter, & chocolate chips the dough was very wet & hard to work with. I had to add quite a bit of flour before I could even shape them. They came out flattish, the taste was pretty good but I’m sure it would have been better without the extra flour. Any suggestions?
I made these for a second time today, and mine turned out more wet as well this time. I believe I over mixed the dough (oops!), but I also had bigger chunks of pear. Last time I made mine about 1/2 in pieces and did more like 1 inch this time. They’re out and look a bit more flat, but they’re still delicious!
I’ve made these twice, and am wondering if there’s an error with the amount of flour. I’ve had to almost double the flour each time because I had a sticky wet mess. I could try putting the SWM into the oven as is, except that I have such giant blobs that won’t come off my fingers, it’s difficult to see how it could be done. Help, Deb? Anyone??
PS: Got the new cookbook for Christmas and I am beyond excited!
I floured my hands and my work surface more the second time around! It definitely helped. Next time I’ll try less mixing (with crumbles and a bit of flour left that I’ll incorporate into the dough on the work surface).
May also try freezing some ! :)
Did any of you have a problem with these burning with the temp and baking time called for here? Asking because the scone recipe I use for several flavor combinations has me baking them at 400°f for 17 to 10 mins however I actually cut the baking temp down to 375°f (same as the temp for this recipe) yet only bake them for 17 mins. If I were to leave these in there for the time called for they would burn. I know baking times are different for everyone due to our ovens but I do have a oven thermometer that sits in my oven to give me the exact temperature reading…
These look delicious but I ended up throwing the dough out because it was so wet and sticky. I added at least another quarter cup of flour and it still stuck to my fingers. I see others have had the same problem so feel a bit better about my failure!
yummmm! reminds me of the apple and cheese scones (that I made recently)…love those and I”m sure I will love these, very excited to try them!
Deb – the scones look yummy, can’t wait to try making them. Though nothing can ever really top your mom’s apple cake in my book. But really I just want to say — THANK YOU – for keeping it real. That is the best kind of hostessing I know.
Deb, I always do a few roll & turn’s with my scone dough now. It’s not that hard and makes them rise up beautifully. Just a suggestion…I flour, roll out into rectangle, brush off extra flour, fold in thirds, do a half-turn and then roll again. 3-4 times is enough to create some terrific layers. It sounds like so much more work but once you get used to doing it as part of the process, it doesn’t seem like a big deal and the pay-off makes it worthwhile.
Do you think this would work with the other scone recipe you’ve posted before, “Dreamy Cream Scones”? These puffed up just like those and that recipe is my go-to now… so wondering why you went with the Apple-Cheddar scone dough instead of the Dreamy Cream Scones one! Thank you!
Chiara — The apple-cheddar dough has an egg. I don’t like eggs in plain scones but with all the stuff going on here, the extra binding is an excellent thing. Trust me, I am very picky about scones and these are heavenly.
sorry, make that a quarter turn.
Deb- I’m sure your a perfectly gracious host (albeit one with young child which changes things a bit)- but I can only imagine you warm and inviting with outrageous scones on hand- which make up for pots everywhere! I hope Sandy is nice to you on your big day- can’t wait to check out the book.
They look fabulous! Does it have to be pears? Could I try blueberries or apples? (My pantry if currently pear-less – but I do have apples and blueberries!) Roast the apples in advance or no? Frozen blueberries okay?
These look delicious! Sending my bf to the store now for pears. Question: Did you mean to toss in the “bits” of butter, or just “a bit”? I’m sure you probably meant the former, but I found myself looking in the rest of the recipe for where I should use the rest! Making these tomorrow. :)
Oh hello. Pears and chocolate are a classic combo, but I’d never thought of combining them in a scone before. Looks amazing!
These look delicious. I love it when you describe food as a “revelation”. It makes me feel less dramatic when my husband rolls his eyes at my assertion that a new recipe I’ve tried is “life changing”.
I will be laughing all afternoon about the fireman in Unjust Time Out.
On an unrelated note, I just made your wheat thins, and oh my gracious merciful heavens, they were good. So excited for your cookbook!
I am on such a pear and chocolate kick right now. My favourite low-guilt treat is broiled pears on low-fat ricotta with a few dark chocolate chunks sprinkled on top; sometimes I make it extra delicious by mixing a couple of tablespoons of graham crumbs with a little bit of butter and patting it down in the bowl first as the ‘crust.’ De-licious!These scones look like they might become my new obsession…
I LOVE scones and your pear twist sounds spot on! Oh boy, I want one right now with a hot cuppa:) Have a great and cozy weekend, Deb! xoxo
I’ve always found scones to be like eating chalk. But these really look like they’d be tender and worth the effort.
Best of luck with the launch/book tour, Deb. I’m looking forward to getting my copy in the mail!
Your style of entertaining sounds perfect to me, especially the wooden train tracks.
I’ve never made scones, but I keep thinking I need to. These lOok amazing!
Tried these, but also ended up with a Very wet (couldn’t call it) dough. Even chilled for several hours it was still too wet. I put it in a 9″ cake pan, hoped for the best, and it was Delicious!!! I’ll try again, but also wondered about the flour amount. (I weighed everything)
Amazing combo!!!
You are a mind reader! I was just thinking of making chocolate chunk scones. Your apartment sounds like every other mother and toddler at home scenario, including mine. Hope the fireman is released soon :)
Looks delicious, all it needs is a little butter shmeared on it to go with the coffee!
This looks delicious. I will definitely try it. We are a pear-obsessed family right now, thanks to our little one.
Do you mind if I ask how you core those pears so perfectly? I am preparing two or three batches of pear baby food a week (with 8 to 10 pears apiece) and my pear coring looks nothing like that!
Yay! I just received notice your book will be on it’s way to me soon! ^___^
Pears and chocolate are a glorious combination (I always order Poire Belle Helene for dessert if it’s on the menu) can’t wait to try this.
I was just wondering if I should bake something to bring with to a get together on Sunday morning and then BAM! These come along. I. Can’t. Wait. to make them. p.s. I had roasted pears with dinner last week and they are becoming my new favorite. p.p.s. I have been dropping hints like a mad woman all summer for your cookbook to be a gift at Christmas!
I LOVE the combination of pears and chocolate! It’s not even common to begin with and this is the first time I’ve ever seen it in the scone. Brilliant! Anise might be a great add-ins since it goes so well with pear!
Oh yum!! I´m adding these to my must bake list!
Gorgeous! Pears are so underrated in baking—love to see such a beautiful use for them.
NYC in the house and we ain’t scared of Sandy! Besides, the pear scones makes everything feel better. Hope the Fireman makes parole and gets his share of scones!
Oh my! I am tempted to leave work right now to go home and make these. They look heavenly!
Those look divine! What a fun combination of pears and chocolate!
deb! this reminds me of al di la’s chocolate pear cake that I ate last week and you made on the site a few years ago. I’ve wanted to make the cake, but dressing it up as scones seems like such a better idea.
can’t wait for tuesday!
Yum! I am going to have to make these ASAP. Can I just say that I really, really appreciate when you give weights for fruit amounts? Just “three pears” by itself is pretty ambiguous, so I love that you’ve given the weight too. Thank you!
What an endearing funny post! Thanks for the recipe. It looks delectable.
These look so good and I definitely want to try them, but I’m a little confused about the process, since it’s quite different from what scone recipes usually say. You say to put the pears, butter, cream, and egg in at the same time and beat only until it comes together. Typically I beat the flour and butter together until the butter is in pea-sized chunks, and then add the milk and eggs. So do you need to cut the butter into very small cubes to begin with, so that they don’t need to be broken down by the mixer? Or will the chunks of butter be quite a bit larger than I’m used to?
Also, your house sounds a lot like mine (two-year-old daughter): we have train tracks all over the place, stuffed animals in time-out, a big box in the dining room that’s actually a “play house”. You are far braver than me, to be inviting strangers into your home in the morning hours!
Deb the scones are gorgeous! Love the big chunks of apples and…chocolate! I love big chunky and crumbly morsels that are woven throughout batter. Texture is a beautiful thing. They’re so pretty!
And that should read PEARS not apples. Sorry have apples on the brain, clearly :)
Scones are my favorite breakfast food ever. Adding chocolate and pears is just awesome!
These look delicious. Any chance of metric weights and measurements for the Europeans? Even just for the butter. Thanks! Out of interest, how do you measure butter in tablespoons, especially when it’s cold? Do you keep cutting little bits and packing it into a spoon?
Hi Deb! I’m away at college right now and am without my electric mixer. I’m sure it’s fine, just wanted to see if mixing by hand will achieve the same texture? Thanks so much!
Yummmmmm……
I had to do these by hand as I am sans a mixer. They turned out fabulously, despite a mishap with the pears. The pears felt dry to touch as instructions indicate, but when I mixed them with the dough they saturated the dough and made it slimy and to my perception unsalvageable. I baked them anyway, slimy mud piles instead of triangles, and they were somehow still perfect. Egg wash and all.
Staring into my oven now and seeing slimy mud piles, too. Hoping they turn out! While my pears were still “firmish” before dicing, I think they were still too ripe for this recipe. Definitely needed to wait until the last step to toss them in because they got mushed in on while mixing in the butter and cream. Turning the “dough” out on to the flour made me LOL because it was sticky and impossible to work with. Had to add significantly more flour to even handle. Also, could be too high a proportion of pear to scone base. I think this recipe, at least aesthetically, depends greatly on the state of pear one uses. Could use some re-working, IMO.
I never should have doubted. Despite my fears, these were absolutely scrumptious (although not as tall and beautiful as Deb’s)
These look so scrumptious, and Deb, thank you a zillion for the freezing tip! It may save my holiday weekend mornings to have a stash of these tucked away. Maybe then people will ignore my house full of toys in every single room. Anyway, to Jenny, many brands of butter here come with tablespoons marked off on the outer wrapper of the butter stick itself. Genius.
I think it’s perfectly acceptable to dis-invite Sandy. She’s a rude guest, anyway. This looks amazing. I am such a fan of the flavor combo and love scones!! Great job on the book, can’t wait to buy it!
Those do look wonderful! My kitchen is always clean for the most part and there are no firemen in time out, except for those wonderful weekends when my grandkids visit, then the house is a wreck, I am exhausted and so so so so very happy!
xxoo,
RMW
So no, “cut butter into flour” etc? Just put it all in the mixer and they won’t be tough? Also, “Toss in cooled pear chunks, bit of butter…” Does that mean all 6 Tbs?
Extended family descends upon my house next weekend for the baby’s first birthday. Must produce a decent breakfast at least one morning. I’m thinking these are happening. Just want to make sure I don’t botch them.
These look amazing and I cannot wait to try them. I love pears and chocolate together.
I feel you on the “terrible host thing. I’m on my own mission to become host extraordinaire this winter. On a food related note I’m in love with these scones. I get the baking itch when the snow starts to fly out here in CO.
Best!
Ash
damn
Terrible host or not, if you presented me with these I wouldn’t care less about anything else! :)
I love pear desserts… I want to make these and add a bit of cardamom. I can’t get enough lately!
This makes me want to have a reason to have someone over for brunch….
What a creative scone recipe! These look great. By the way, there’s nothing wrong with stove-top oatmeal. I have it all the time!!
I just bought pears and can’t wait to try these!! I’m with you on entertaining in the morning, who is awake enough for that?!
Jenny (# 38) –
In the US sticks of butter come with paper wrappers with tablespoon measurements pre-printed on them, so we just take the unwrapped stick of butter and cut the correct amount of butter for a recipe. See a picture here:
http://alignedleft.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/stick-of-butter-wrapper.jpg
To convert tablespoons of butter to metric – 1 Tablespoon = appx. 14.3 g of butter.
8 tablespoons = 1/4 cup, or 115 grams.
Usually you’ll be just fine to round down to 14 g per Tablespoon.
6 Tablespoons = about 85 grams.
These look heavenly!
These look ridiculously wonderful – I am loving the combination of pears and dark chocolate.
PS. I’m glad to hear that you’re only human too. ;)
Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside; Love that description. Also, anything that involves chocolate that you can eat at breakfast gets a thumbs up from me!
Its midterms week and as you can imagine im super stressed. And whenim stressed i bake. and when i bake i come here :) Admittedly I’ve never had pears & chocolate before but it sounds like something good to munching my nerves off! Hope sandy doesn’t hit us too hard :(
Could you hold them in the fridge instead of the freezer? My freezer is jam packed – no room for even a small sheet pan.
When I opened my blog reader, and saw this picture, my first thought was “Well. Now she’s gone and done it.” Of course, I’m not sure exactly what “it” is, but holy hannah, do these look awesome! Roasted pears? Chocolate? Oh, yes please and thank you.
Deb, you always ruin a girl’s diet in exactly the right way. :)
Thanks in advance!
Oh my gosh, reminds me of your bittersweet chocolate and pear cake that I love so much. I will have to make these soon.
These look super delicious – pears and chocolate? Genius! I have to tell you that your buckwheat dutch baby with caramel is my favorite of your breakfast recipes, though this will give it a run for the money. Stay safe and hope Sandy doesn’t ruin your book debut.
Will try these this weekend! In the meantime I am impatiently waiting for Amazon to tell me my book has shipped, because if I don’t get it on Tuesday with the rest of the world, well, I’ll pout. Really seriously pout.
I have been reading and enjoying this blog for years for its delicious pictures and recipes, but, as a mother of a toddler, I have to say that I also really admire your truth and honesty about just how nuts a house can get (in an amazingly small amount of time, I might add!) Stovetop oatmeal is a HUGE improvement over the cereal bar I fed to my 2 year old as we madly drove (“Mommy, are we late again?”) to daycare this morning.
Oh, YUM. I absolutely love the Al di La pear and chocolate chunk cake you posted back in 2009, but I rarely make it because it’s an enormous cake — I will definitely be making this more often!
Aw….I wish I was the kind of host that’s in your head, but I think I’m probably very similar to your reality!!!
Those scones look heavenly and I will also be looking up your apple/cheddar version. Great idea about freezing the night before – I might have to steal that tip!
Sadly, my fruits look the same way. And it is often me who is put in to the timeout (“for not listening. Understand?”). I will be making either these or the apple cheddar version for breakfast tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll appease my little dictator.
Just try it! I did a small variation, I used apples instead pears. It was deliscious!!!
THANK YOU dear host :)
Can’t believe I need to wait another 3 months for the book :( Have asked any and all American friends to get one for me but no luck yet. It’s Christmas soon, I guess. Hopefully someone will get sent on a last minute business trip beforehand!
Will try these! The creamy dream scone recipe is a go to, and I always add chocolate chips to it. This recipe reminded me of this amazing scone preparation video I’ve watched more times than I care to admit. Your photos/recipes and this video prove that making scones is an art. Enjoy!
the scones look great. I.m gonna try this recipe tomorrow for sure :P
oh wow – how did you know I have a load of pears in the fridge that are just begging to be baked into something yummy! And we have no plans tomorrow…now I know what I will be doing!
and…do you think it will work with yoghurt instead of heavy cream. I don’t have any heavy cream in and would love to make these first thing in the morning.
Deb, congratulations on the book launch. So exciting! I have been reading your site since almost the beginning, and I am so pleased that you have gained the recognition that you deserve.
I wish I could see you in San Francisco, but money issues dictate that I must hope someone gets me the cookbook for my upcoming birthday. Best wishes, and may the beautiful weather wait for you!
In the meantime, these scones are going to happen.
What a delicious combination! I once made pear brownies, but I love the idea of a scone with chunks of pear and chocolate so neither ingredient is overshadowed by the other.
that’s so delicious. :) I love it.
I think your son has the right idea with the fireman in time out. Can you imagine the chaos if “real” firemen did nothing? ;)
Like everything else from your kitchen, these look amazing! I’m thinking I’ll have to try a gluten-free muffin rendition. Thank you for inspiring :)
Yeah on the cookbook – BOO on Sandy!!!! I’d like to stock up since I know we will be stuck in on Monday and Tuesday BUT I also know we will be out of power!!!! So today tomorrow and Sunday I’m cooking everything from my freezer. My oven wont turn on after the power goes out so I’ve got to get cracking! MAZEL on the new book!!! I’ve for a whole list of your sweet blog posts to bake.
Well, I could brag that my fruit bowl is intact and no firemen are being unjustly punished here but that’s only because my curly headed muffin is 23 now. The lego’s (which honestly are the most painful item you will ever step on while barefoot) are boxed up and waiting for guests and maybe a grandchild someday in the future. Meanwhile, those scones look amazing. Like that wicked cake you introduced us to but more acceptable for breakfast :-)
Pears and chocolate: a marriage made in heaven! Can’t wait to try the combination in a scone…
These sound like such a good idea.
Delicious flavourcombo! Great for the fall! :)
I only had two pears and I forgot to do the egg wash, but these were still pretty darn good.
I’ve been making scones with a cup of barley flour ever since I read about your strawberry cake. You have to try it!
Your post made me laugh. I remember the little kid days. The house was always a mess. Nothing was ever put away. Toys made it into the refrigerator. The refrigerator! No reason was ever given but it was a favorite holding place one summer. Now I must admit that I have never reached my mother’s you-could-eat-off-the-kitchen-floor status. But the dishes are done. The living room looks like a living room. And if there are any clothes not folded and put away it’s not my fault because they do their OWN laundry. I will never have to fold little socks again! Anyone could walk into my house without embarrassment. Better hostess days are coming!
Anyone who’s existed on virtually no sleep for three years, AND managed to write a cookbook plus a wonderful blog is a STAR in my book. My house is a mess and I live alone!
These are in the oven now and they smell great!! Next time I just might skip the pears and do all chocolate chips! Thanks!!!
Many thanks for sharing your most gorgeously yumful recipe, and your behind-the-scenes confession. I confess I can’t even find my kitchen right now. It’s somewhere under piles of papers and an art project or two that somehow crept onto all the counter spaces and the chair places! Thank goodness I can still reach the fridge. ;)
Cheers!
Your cookbook came to my door this week! (So many things I am excited to try- i also love the cover below the book jacket). I actually have 3 pears on my counter right now so I think I am destined to make these for breakfast tomorrow:)
Pears and chocolate! This week I made chocolate juniper brownies!
I always freeze my scones right away – with only two of us a whole batch is HUGE. Then we eat lovely scones all week long for breakfast, dessert – whenever we want!
What an interesting combination! Can’t wait to try it out!
These looks amazing. I love pear… can’t wait for your cookbook! I pre-ordered it from amazon. Not sure you know this, but it’s paired with Jerusalem for an extra 5% off. No brainer there. I bought both.
Nirinjan — Aw! Ottolenghi’s new book is WONDERFUL. Plus, it’s cover feels like a pillow. So, delicious and cozy, can’t beat that.
Marissa — I think yogurt would work, since it’s not a big part of the recipe.
Ratika — That looked so delicious. Love the video.
Sharon — I don’t think they’ll get wrecked in the fridge but the freezer is better. It will halt the baking powder’s process better.
Gale — Yes, it’s fascinating. Every time I make scones this way, I’m in doubt that it will mix up okay, but it always does. Bit = bits. Fixed now.
Jenny — Weights now added. Had to run out very quickly after I posted this and didn’t have time earlier. :(
statgirl — I know; it’s so not the way I usually do it either. But it works. It’s fantastic. Basically, by the time the paddle has smashed up the large pear chunks a bit, the tinier butter chunks are all perfectly incorporated and the dough comes together.
Jennifer — I use a melon baller for cores. And then my knife just to cut a little wedge out where the stem is.
Oh, these sound utterly luscious! I’m a bit iffy about chocolate-fruit combos in general, but pears are on the approved list (along with oranges and cherries; other fruits need not apply). This feels more like a winter recipe to me than a fall one, so I might save it for a cold January morning.
Those look wonderful!
And please tell me you make your stovetop oatmeal with milk instead of water? Soooo good, and only needs the tiniest of sprinkles of brown suger and some rasins to be perfect! Nom. When I don’t have time to make oatmeal on the stovetop I just put it (with water) in my (tiny) rice cooker and make sure to stir once half way through. I can make tea and get dressed while it is cooking instead of watching a pot and stirring.
These look delicious! Pears and chocolate! Why didn’t I think of that!! Definitely making!
Oh my, these are so good! I used sour cream and a little milk because I didn’t have any cream. I used a comice, d’anjou and a red pear, to”mix” it up. I had a hard time getting them to hold together, maybe because of the sour cream, but the end result was so good. You have given me another recipe to wow people with.
Thanks!
Oh, so you’re a normal person then?! Good to hear!
Yeah, yeah, the scones look divine blah blah, but I’m stuck on the fact that you are the parent of a 3 yr old, yet you have no coffee maker. How does that work?
Well I have been reading your blog for all of 7 minutes and not only am I now salivating rediculously (I JUST FINISHED a perfectly delicious and filling dinner – I am not hungry) but I cannot wait for your book to come out. Luckily for me, I randomly purchased both pears and chocolate at the grocery store this week, so maybe I will start out by trying these amazing looking scones!
I’m going to trust you on it being okay to use the mixer to make these scones. I’ve always questioned it’s use for making pie dough and such. Can you imagine, I’ve blown off Rose Berinbaum (or some such notable) for using the mixer for pastry that usually require a delicate hand..what a know it all, eh? I just made your creamy dreamy scones a few nights ago to use as shortcakes. They were delicious and it took everything in me not to mix an egg in with the cream. I think I prefer the egg in scones that I eat plain so that they aren’t quite so crumbly, but these worked well as shortcakes for the juicy strawberries we seem to keep being able to get. They stayed nice and crisp, though crumbly; a good contrast to all the moist fruit and juices. I still make your pear bread so I am excited to try these, too.
I used 1 1/2 cups of flour it came out wet and sticky.
Your scones with a hard Pear Cider–perfect afternoon decadence.
Oh my, these look so decadent and yummy! I love to combine pears and chocolate together, I think it’s the classiest fall combo but I’ve never tried it with scones. I’ve recently made a pear and nuts cake (you can find it on my blog!) and it was so moist and delicious I can’t wait to use pears again, so I guess this one will be the next recipe I’ll be trying :)
Have a great weekend!
xo, Elisa
I’m so excited for your book! I’ve requested it for our library system, but I’ll be sure to get my own copy!
Is your book available overseas? I am in Ireland and interested in it. Thanks
You’re brilliant; you know that, right?! I am laughing all my
way to the kitchen to make these. And when are you coming
to London with that book of yours?! Good luck with the launch!
Pears and chocolate? In. A. Scone. I’m in! These look and sound delicious.
These look plain fabulous! What a treat!
These look delicious and I’d be happy to bring my own coffee in exchange for one of these scones:-)
These look awesome! Is there any specific type of pear you would recommend for the scones, or in general for baking?
When I read your post, I just wanted to come over to your house and give you a great big hug. My, but you’re a darling. I would have brought coffee. These scones look so much like the ones I make, and now I’m going to have to make some (of yours). Life sometimes takes the edge off my joie de vivre, but when I come here, it comes rushing back. Thank you. Counting the days ’til your book comes in the mail.
Jenny (38) and Jennifer (51) – I just had to make an amendment to save you any mistakes. There are 16 Tbsp of butter in 1 Cup, so 8 Tbsp would actually be 1/2 Cup, and 6 Tbsp for the recipe would be 1/4 + 1/8 C.
In Canada we get butter in 1lb (454g) bricks, which are roughly 2 Cups.
p.s. these scones look AMAZING, can’t wait to try them!
amazing!!! my congrats – and i have to mention how great it is, that you are also informing about the grams, now. for the europeans, the cup-measuring is always quite diffi :)
I love the fireman in the unjust time out.
I purchased a case of MacIntosh’s and I am down to the last 30 or so. I have frozen and canned as much as possible and I was running out of choices! My husband and I have a running joke that with your recipes we could certainly open up a bang up restaurant! I am going to try these with the apples……I can already taste them! Do these freeze well, has anyone tried? Thanks so much, we love your recipes!
For those of you (like me) that prefer to measure by weight, or live in a metric world, this site is has awesome calculators! I have only had luck making popovers and such by cooking this weigh :)
http://www.calculateme.com/cUKRecipes/recipe-volume-to-weight-conversion.htm
I learned from a scientific minded chef many years ago that when working in differenty environments (i.e. altitudes) results will vary dramatically. Since I began converting recipes, I find my results are far more predictable and so much more like they are meant to be!
One of my favorite recipes of all time is my late father’s “Scottish Oat Scones”. Over the years, I have modified these rather plain treats to include dark chocolate chunks + flaked coconut, lime zest + pistachio nuts, orange zest + dried cranberries, lemon zest + poppy seeds and sliced almonds + dried currants. Since I became a vegan 2 years ago, I’ve had to “veganize” Dad’s recipe to replace the dairy products, an easy task with all the wonderful substitutes available today.
With that said, this recipe looks completely amazing! I guess I wasn’t brave enough to use fresh fruit in any of my previous scone attempts because I thought it would make them soggy, but you’ve convinced me to give it a try. Thinking out loud, I wonder if a recipe like this could also support fresh apples, plums, mangoes or berries? Anyway, I can see how perfect these scones will be for family breakfasts, or for blessing the neighbors with an edible holiday gift. Thank you!
these look amazing!! i have bacon cheddar scones in the oven right now… i think i’ll be trying these next!
congrats on your book! xx
littlekitchie.blogspot.com
Quick question, I would love to make these for tomorrow morning but don’t have a stand mixer (or food processor). Should I mix the cold butter chunks in with my flour first (with my fingers till crumbly) then add the pear, cream & egg?
Thank you!
Holy deliciousness! Do you think these would work with whole wheat flour instead of white? & congratulations on your book…can’t wait to get it! x
Free the fireman! Justice for firemen! (Sorry, couldn’t help myself) I have the book on pre order in Canada. Excited to know I should have a parcel soon. What is better than parcels in the mail? Pears and chocolate ranks up there… David Lebovitz has an amazing chocolate bread that is life transforming with a poached pear. I am thrilled to know I have all the ingredients for these scones today! Sorry kids, pumpkin carving will have to wait.
What would a book signing be without a good hurricane? Invite Sandy, let her swirl your line around the block of readers into shape! Pears and Chocolate go together like nobody’s bizness…I have a chocolate cake recipe with pears baked into it that is my all-time favorite…so I know I’ll love these scones. I’d love to have me a fireman in time out!
you are my genius kitchen inspiration. my go to source for great recipes. I rely on them so heavily that i have often entertained using them first time (no family per-trials). pretty much all of them land up getting multiple repetitions and turning into all time favorites. thank you thank you thank you. just wanted to mention the quantity of pears – 1 pound cannot possibly be 255 grams. looking forward to making these.
Can I still be invited to the book signing in Portland? At Penzys across the street from Powell’s we’re all hoping you’ll come see us.
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These look warm and cozy for the upcoming storm. Here’s hoping all goes well for the book release and that your kitchen is not truly smitten by Sandy.
Pears combined with Chocolate?!?!?! I bet this is AMAZING!!!!! :D
Recipe looks great! Just one thing with weight conversion though:, 1 pound is 454g, not 255g. With pears it’s not really a problem, but it might be for flour/butter etc :-)
My diet is over in a week and my husband said to me yesterday “The first thing to come out of the oven has to be scones!” Perfect! Can’t wait for your cookbook!
Deb…these sound delicious. I’m in Canada and received the cookbook early this past week. It is fabulous – congratulations! My partner and I sat down immediately to scour the book and we’ve already begun making some of the recipes. Yum!
My scone trick comes from America’s Test Kitchen. Use frozen butter grated on a box grater! Amazing results. These look fabulous! A must make this rainy Northwest weekend.
I am definitely going to try making these. And I have to say, I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for your cookbook! I actually created a wedding registry on Amazon, JUST to register for your book. And happily, it has been preordered for me! Can’t wait!
Yay! Both of our latest posts are chocolate!
Love it!
http://beautyandthebutterdish.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-bite/
The perfect way to start a cool blah day is with a cup of hot tea or coffee and a warm scone. There is just something about the combination that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. As always, your photo of the finished product looks wonderful.
I hope your bronchitis is better. Happy traveling.
I am making these right now, and my scale says that 3 oz of chocolate chunks is closer to 1/2 cup than 1/4 cup. Could that be a typo in the recipe?
That looks so good! I have always loved scones.
These look amazing!! My pears are in the oven as I type. Thanks for the recipe =)
To me, that is EXACTLY what a scone should look like.
These sound fabulous! But, I’m sorry, I’m beginning to mistrust you. When you say you have no coffee-making paraphenalia at home, do you actually mean you do not drink coffee? Tea? I just don’t think I can get behind someone who’s not a functioning caffeine addict.
… swans off to the kitchen to make her third batch of tea for the day …
I don’t feel so bad about the legion of Lego men around our house in various cases of dismemberment from the plastic sharks that also abound. I have to go downstairs now and defrost my pear chunks from the freezer and make these scones now. I had a hankering for some fall sweetish type thing and here you are. They look divine. And like JanetP above, I’m off for my tea to warm me up while I bake.
Just made a batch of these (even though pears are not strictly speaking seasonal at the moment here in New Zealand), and they look great. But you should note that one pound is 455 grams, not 255.
Saving this for next years crops of Pears
maybe I will break down and buy some so I can make then sooner
:)
Eunice
Made these this afternoon – delicious!! To late for coffee, but just as good with milk. Dough wasn’t sticking together but one egg white helped. Love all your recipes! Thank you!
I not only made these, but am eating one right now. They are fabulous. Make these. Soon.
Deb – every once in a while I make scones and they end up more like scone-cookies. Tasty, but they’re flat and cake like and not the rich, lovely clouds of breakfast that I desire. Would it be from butter that’s too warm? From overworking them? (I added extra flour in the end, because the dough was quite wet) I want to love these…where did I go wrong? *hangs head in shame*
Just made these in the sad excuse for a kitchen they offer in the school dorms. still came out okay (despite the super lo-tech approach). my room smells fantastic and my roommates and i are full and happy! great recipe!
Is it weird that “stovetop oatmeal” piqued my interest, and I’m disappointed that search through your recipes didn’t yield any results? I don’t know how to make yummy stovetop oatmeal. My son and I eat Quaker reduced-sugar packs all fall/winter. I would love to know how you make yours :)
This looks great. My usual scone recipe began life as a 2007 Family Fun Magazine strawberry scones recipe. From that I experimented with great success with whatever fruit is seasonal, with using whole wheat flour for half the flour, and with turning the batter out on to a silicon baking mat directly instead of a countertop. That way, you don’t have to mess with extra flour and risk break-ups from clumsy transfers to the cookie sheet. Once you cut the wedges you simply slide the scones into their baking position. Also, I prefer to use a light cream wash instead of an egg wash. I wonder if it really necessary to roast the pears. Have you tried it with raw pears?
Do you 450 gr of pears? Because 1 pound is not the grams you say.
Thanks
These look amazing! I can’t wait to give them a try.
I’m in the UK and have been an avid reader of your blog for a while now. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered my Amazon book order had been cancelled (not at all your fault I know)! However, I have managed to find a UK based seller who is importing a copy for me and I hope to get my hands on it asap after the launch date. I will of course be keeping my pre-order of the UK version too. I have a growing selection of cookery books (not as large as my MIL who has hers insured separately she has so many!) and have no doubt yours will be well used and housed in my ‘constant use’ pile in the kitchen.
Hey I love the idea of the pears and chocolate together! Your scone recipe is very different from mine, which I just posted on my blog bakingblondebites.com! Check it out if you have a spare minute. Thanks :D
Correction: 1 pound is not 225 g (for the 3 firmish pears)
Wow, I just made these this morning and added a bit less chocolate and a bit of chopped roasted almonds.. wow is all I can say, so so good!
Made these yesterday and they are fabulous!!
My solution to hosting is to only invite over other people who have toddlers. Then we can bond over the mutual chaos.
I only had 1.25 pears. They were good but maybe I needed more pear to make them “heavenly”.
I just had the worst experience making these scones. I followed the recipie to the letter but maybe the roasted pears were too juicy or something because my batter was so wet and sticky I had to add a LOT more flour and still was unable to cut them. I literally plopped the dough onto the parchment papered baking sheet, flattened and shaped as much as possible, and placed in the oven. Once they baked about 20 minutes I cut them and baked for another 10 minutes. They are not the prettiest but they taste good. Unfortunately, I made a huge sticky mess of my kitchen and making these scones was really stressful with the wetness of the dough and all.
BTW, I did skim through all the comments to see if anyone else had made these prior to getting started
Beautiful presentation. We share the same technique in mixing, forming and presentation. I am excited to try your recipe. Mine is so basic, but good. I plan to share it on my website someday soon!
Love your work and look forward to the book. My family has a lasting giggle regarding your site. When my (now) husband’s family met my own, my cousin shared one of your recipes with them. My (now) in-laws were very confused when they couldn’t find the recipe on “smitten kitten” (not a clean site). We’ve been laughing ever since and I know exactly what I am going to get a bunch of people for Christmas! Will the cookbook be out by then?
Thanks again for sharing your craft…
dina
I also just had a terrible experience making these scones. The batter came out very wet and I have had to add a lot of additional flour and put the whole mess into the freezer because I couldn’t cut it or get it to form into anything. I have made scones before and never had this issue. I am wondering if the pears added too much moisture?
This looks delish! I love anything with a chocolate-pear combo!
By the way, your beautiful book arrived in the mail last week (thank-you pre-order!), so yesterday I made the Butter Popcorn Cookies. While they didn’t spread like the ones in your photo, they were so yummy and elicited the funniest reactions from all of the tasters! Either way, everyone agreed they were addictive!
Deb, I think there may be a small typo in your gram conversions. You say 3 pears, roughly 1 pound, but the grams you have listed (255) is closer to 1/2 pound. It won’t mater to most people who will just grab three pears, but for those people who want to be exact.
My pears are cooling now, and I can’t wait to try these!! Also, can’t wait to get my book and meet you in Toronto in a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately fell for the 225 grams-description :/ So of course the result is pretty dry + bland. Too bad.
Just got an email that the cookbook will be here Monday! *flails wildly in excitement*
I never comment online, but I made these this morning and they are *delicious* (and easy to make). I emailed the recipe to all my foodie friends! My mixture was also a little runny (compared to the pictures), and I couldn’t get them into ‘scone’ shape – they looked more like 6 large cookies (the texture after baking was perfect, though). I think it’s because I barely floured the dough – that might have held it together better. And I used 3 pears and a generous 1/4 cup of unsweetened chocolate chips.
I almost fell over when I saw your cookbook on the shelf at my Fairbanks, Alaska bookstore. My pre-order had not yet been shipped, so I cancelled it on the spot and rushed to the counter with my copy of your book. Last night I started flagging the recipes I wanted to make and then gave up when I flagged the first ten or so, no sense putting a flag on every page! This morning I’ll be making the dutch baby for breakfast. Can’t wait! The book is beautiful.
I just made these this morning, and yes my dough came out *very* wet. Believe the recipe when it says to be generous with your flour on the counter. I used a rather large knife to cut my circle into sixths, and then used the blade to transfer the scones to the pan, as there was no way I could do it just with my hands. They needed to be reshaped a bit, and were a little rustic looking, but after post-baking taste tests, I can guarantee that they’re delicious.
Made these yesterday – delicious! I made a few substitutions (milk for cream and an apple for one of the pears) and they still turned out great. Reminds me of fall.
Deb, i simply adore you- these look divine. i will bake this week and report back!
I made these this morning and they were wonderful. I had no trouble with wet dough (I actually added a bit more cream because my dough was crumbly), but since I didn’t use a stand mixer, I think my butter chunks ended up too big. In the oven, there was a flood of butter on the baking sheet and I totally panicked. However, the scones still came out perfectly. I can’t imagine how amazing they’ll be when I follow the recipe *exactly* next time and use a stand mixer instead.
I’m lucky this fall–several neighbors with apple and pear trees who don’t pick the fruit. Just last week, while walking the dog, I foraged a good load of Bartletts from the ground. I haven’t tried your scones yet, but I like to roast the pears with a little olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. Even the underripe pears are a delight to eat. Nice on salads or on pancakes.
I love to read your blog and I don’t think it would be unkind to “uninvite” Sandy. We’re in the path too and last year when Irene came “uninvited”, she left a tree on the corner of our house as a calling card. Today I’ve made Almond Oatie Cookies and Granola, but not for Sandy, but for us as comfort food if we lose power! (And even if we don’t) Your scones with pear and chocolate look amazing and I will be making some of them soon. Good luck!!!!
Pre-Sandy party tonight, here! (Lancaster, PA). All invited. Broccoli rabe and pasta (Deb’s recipe), wine, more wine, and popcorn, followed by these scones!
pear+chocolate=HEAVEN!!!! could your ‘bittersweet chocolate and pear cake’ get any better!? You had to turn it into a scone (which is my absolute favorite type of pastry)! Why Deb!? Why!?
I can’t wait to make these! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I loved your site and recipes, and I am thinking if you can make it more popular ?
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I check your blog daily for new inspiration. Funny you had a scone recipe today. I was just dreaming about them. I’ll have to get some pears. I’m never out of chocolate. I’m hoping to get your book for Christmas…
Has anyone tried making these with a partial amount of whole wheat flour? If so, how much did you use/substitute? If not, do you think it could be easily subbed? thanks!
These look great and they will definitely be accompanying me on my drive to Santa Cruz later this week. You’ll still be in Santa Cruz right? Don’t let Sandy keep you from California! It was 80 degrees today and not a cloud in the sky. Its the place to be. (Also, while in Santa Cruz, go to the Surfrider Cafe for a Skippy Burger.)
Thanks for the great recipe. I roasted pears last night. This morning, I just assembled them together and baked them. So easy to make and tasted gooooood! I am sure I will make them again :)
I saw your cookbook at Costco today, love it.
These scones look delicious. I made the apple and cheddar onces last weekend – looking forward to trying this recipe.
What??? Your cookbook is already on the shelf at Costco and I preordered 6 months ago on Amazon, with Prime, and it still isn’t here? I’m pretty bummed, kinda sorta feel like if you order 6 months in advance you shouldn’t receive it after the masses at Costco…. Live and learn, I guess I’ll never do that again.
Wish I had read the comments before proceeding with this. I think they will taste good but the dough was SO runny and I basically threw balls of wet dough into six spots on my baking sheet. I’d never made scones before so I didn’t know how much extra flour to add when shaping them and cutting them up. I am inspired to try again, with much more flour!
Love the chocolate and pear combo for fall!
stay safe from sandy!
Made these today and they were wonderful. With us and the in-laws here i think they lasted about 15 minutes. I didn’t have any trouble with too-wet batter, but i was unwilling to drag out the mixer and used the traditional pastry blender approach instead. They were very delicate though (usually a sure sign of deliciousness!). I also found when i got out my chocolate that all i had was UNsweetened, not bittersweet, so i opted for dried cranberries instead. The little bits of pear were wonderful.
Can’t wait for the cookbook! As my husband said when i told him “Deb” was putting one out (you know, ’cause we’re on a first-name level), “Well, we’ve certainly used enough of her recipes for free. We should pay her for some.”
Sooo-HO excited, now that I’ve pre-ordered your cookbook! My kids are excited, too. In fact, they recently reminded me to place our order. It will be in our greedy little hands very soon.
I was semi-disappointed that the Jacob link didn’t lead to a pear with a bite taken out, but the egg story made up for it. =)
Oh man – I want to eat these right now. Got to go buy those ingredients pronto. Can’t wait to see you Friday at the Beverly Hills signing G-d willing!!!! So so totally excited to meet my fave cooking guru in person!!
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is magnificent, let alone the content with yummy image!!
I am going to make these this week. They look so yummy. Also, can you believe that your book comes out TOMORROW!?!? I am super excited to see you next week in Vancouver. My mom and I are coming out, and hopefully my book will be here in time to get it signed! Yahoo! This is super cool.
Also, I made the chocolate stout cake for my beer-loving dad (and family) last night and it was a hit! Thanks for every single recipe. :)
OMG there’s a hurricane coming and I’m out of chocolate!!!
In unrelated news, your book shipped! WHEEEEEEE!!!!
So, I made the apple and cheddar scones a couple of weeks ago (I didn’t comment afterwards, shame on me, will fix asap) and they were so so good.
And this variation? The chocolate-pear combination that I learned to love with the bittersweet chocolate and pear cake??? I bet they are delicious as well, and they will be breakfast rather sooner than later!
Just wanted to wish you good luck and all the best with the book tour, I can’t believe the book is out tomorrow!!! I’ll wait patiently for my copy to cross the ocean (amazon.fr says it will be here by the 6th of November) and I’ll hope that in spring you’ll be crossing the ocean too, for a (fingers crossed) european tour!!!!
Have fun and cherish every single moment!!!
E.
Made these last night and just like you said, the dough came right together in the stand mixer. Had no idea scones could be done this way. Can all scones be done this way? Or just scones with egg? Cannot vouch for the final product as they are in the freezer waiting for my house guests this weekend. I can vouch for the deliciousness of the dough, though, which was completely awesome. … Wait, I’m not the only one who nibbles on scone dough, right???
My husband has been asking me to go back to baking sconed for months now. This looks like the perfect recipe to get me back in the scone baking spirit. I hope I get to see you when you’re in DC. Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook!
I’m eating one warm from the oven on this cold rainy day, and it is just heavenly. I used 1/2 cup bittersweet chips, and do not regret it! :) These really are perfect, and so easy to make. The outside is crisp and the inside tender.
I have never before made scones in a mixer, but it absolutely worked here.
Thanks Deb!
(Hopefully the fireman gets removed from time out, as his services may be required to deal with Sandy!)
Hello! Another long-time follower, first-time commenter. LOVE your site, your recipes, your writing and your photos!! Your Sharlotka and your Red Wine Chocolate Cake are favorites I come back to again & again! I’m not the writing type, but I noticed a couple of funny things on this page, so I thought I’d let you know … there are two links that are reversed: “Recipe for scones” links to the Amazon page for “The Perfect Finish”, and “The Perfect Finish” links to your Apple and Cheddar Scones recipe. Also, the ingredient list states, “1 1/2 tablespoons granulated or coarse for sprinkling”, but the recipe itself reads, “sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar.” (Same thing on the Apple-Cheddar recipe.) Nothing earth-shattering, but since your pages are so perfect, I thought you’d like to know.
These look so fantastic! I’ve been intimidated by scones and biscuits (i don’t know why), but these might just be the thing to get me over it.
I got an email from Amazon on Friday that your cookbook has shipped! I’m so excited for its arrival and can’t wait to see you in 1 week in Portland!
How ironic — you posted this recipe just as I was gathering ingredients for the pear and chocolate cake you posted back in 2009! That cake is a favorite in my kitchen, and as it has won me over absolutely to the gloriousness of the pear/chocolate combination, these scones will surely be baked in my oven as well. (PS Can’t wait to see you this weekend in SF!!)
I hope that you and your family stays safe and sound during this hurricane.
These are fantastic! I found they went a bit limp the next day from the moisture in the pear, which could be an error on my part, but it’s just more reason to eat them all at once!
I followed the recipe perfectly but had no luck! The batter was very wet and sticky, and the addition of a little extra flour did not help. Perhaps the pears were too juicy?
I was in Costco here in Mesa, AZ yesterday and saw your new cookbook. It’s amazing. Love it! Best of luck!!
Just got the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook today! THANK YOU!!! It is BEAUTIFUL, and I can’t wait to start cooking–I chose a recipe to make TODAY about 2 minutes after it got here.
I had the same problem most people had making these. They were ridiculously wet.
I suspect there is a typo in the recipe. It needs to be over 2 cups for the flour or I don’t see how it could work. Even after I added a bunch more flour, they didn’t come out anything like the picture above (much flatter – almost eggy). I would love if the recipe could be revised to avoid this problem since the flavors seem great.
No luck for me either : ( Super wet dough that I couldn’t get to take shape. I don’t have a stand mixer, so I cut in the butter with a pastry blender and then added the pears and did a pass or two to get it all mixed. Then, added the cream and egg and tossed with a fork, but it was runny like cake batter. Maybe too much smashing of the pears and juicy pears? Will get more pears and try again : )
I am home sick from work today and was pleasantly…not surprised, because Amazon told me it was coming, but I have your book in my hands! And it is beautiful! I read cookbooks like novels and am therefore not even through the breakfast section yet, but so far my response to the turning of each page has mostly been “oh god, why am I not eating this right now??”
Congratulations, Deb :)
its looks really delicious need to taste it
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What better on this stormy Sandy day than to try a new recipe. These scones are beyond amazing. Your directions are also perfect. I can’t wait to make these Thanksgiving weekend when my daughter comes home from college. Thanks so much!
DEB! IS THERE ANY CHANCE THE BOOK LAUNCH WILL BE CANCELLED?! I’m dreading the prospect. In the event that the storm gets the best of the city tomorrow, will there be a makeup? Scones look DELISH, btw. #pissedatsandy
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luck with these either. The batter was wet and they ended up flat, and un-scone like. :( I wonder if the pears were too warm when I added them to the flour? I love the pear and chocolate combo, though, so would love to try these again if there is a fix.
I just made these (in the oven now) and had the same trouble as several other commenters with way-too-wet dough. I scraped it back into the bowl, added more flour in spoonfuls and mixed it by hand… I probably added another half cup or so before it seemed firm enough. It still didn’t really cut and hold the wedge shape, but they looked (and smell!) promising. In the interest of full disclosure, I used Asian pears which may have been juicier than what’s called for, and I used half-and-half instead of heavy cream because I’m not running out to the store during this hurricane!
Oh wow- I just pares and chocolate- two of my favorites! can’t wait to try this out myself!
Just got your book, hooray! I can’t wait to start! I think the skillet huevos are a must for this weekend. And these scones, too……
Hello! I have been lurking around your blog for a couple of years. Your stories and your recipes have inspired me. In fact, I even baked my sister’s wedding cake because of your blog! (I posted pictures from the February wedding on my blog.) My first layered cake was your double chocolate cake, which I made for my son’s first birthday. It was wonderful.
Thank you for being so witty and honest along with being a fantastic cook. Currently all of my pears are in tack, but I lost a banana this morning when my two-year-old son crawled across the table to steal one. Earlier that morning, we had trucks, blocks and tools scattered throughout my home and one construction worker confined to multiple time outs. Nap time never seems to come quite soon enough.
Thanks again for your blog. Your writing and photos me laugh and drool at once.
Is your book signing at Barnes and Noble postponed??
My new chocolate recipe is up too!!
YAY for baking with cocoa (in one form or another!! lol)
Devil’s Food Cake & Blood Orange Buttercream! Happy Halloweenie Deb :)
http://beautyandthebutterdish.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/devils-food-cake-blood-orange-buttercream/
I just got your cookbook! So happy! It’s beautiful and I love your introduction. Can’t decide what to make first though, the maple bacon scones or the vermouth mussels with tarragon oven fries…
The book just landed on my doorstep! I’ve only just glanced at it (baby’s underfoot), but I can’t wait to start tackling recipes. You had the release scheduled for the perfect time of year. Autumn cooking is the best.
One minor quibble. I was so excited when I found out I would be able to order a signed book. My book is indeed signed to Rosemary. Unfortunately, I am not Rosemary. I doubt there is any way to fix this, but I thought I would bring it to your attention.
Good luck with the “official” release! :)
I made these for friends the other night, and everyone absolutely raved about them. I didn’t have any problems with a runny batter, but for anyone who is, your pears are probably too juicy. Ripe pears should be firm with just a little give around the top of the pear near the stem. I’m dying to make another batch, and after reading the comments, I’m thinking I’ll sub in a little whole wheat flour and swap out the chocolate for dried cranberries. If they turn out tasty I’ll let you know! So excited to get your book in my hands tomorrow!
Wondering since I don’t have any heavy cream if buttermilk would work ok in this recipe? I’m not usually a baker, so hoping someone can let me know if this is a ridiculous no-no or its totally fine.
Thanks!
Got the book today & just finished reading through it. Wow, it is phenomenal. I love everything about it! Congratulations Deb!
I hope you and your family are staying somewhere safe during this crazy storm! My thoughts are with you and everyone in NYC right now!
I hope you and the family are safe! I JUST got my cookbook today and have loved reading through it! I adore the family picture that you included! I can’t wait to break it in – in a cloud of flour from one of those cakes! :-)
Made these tonight while riding out the superstorm in Queens. Amazing!!! So light and just the right amount of sweet. Pre-ordered your book on Amazon and looking forward to receiving it. Hope you and your family are safe.
Shana – I didn’t have cream either. I used milk but slightly less than the amount called for.
Oh Deb, I am so sorry about the cancellation of tomorrow’s event.. I was really looking forward to the celebration of your wonderful book launch. If I am this upset, I can not even imagine how you must feel. I hope you are safe..have heard that downtown lost power. We still have power on the UWS..but our windows are pulsing and howling..something I have never heard before…Here’s to sunny days and a reschedule that will be even better.
Came home from a long and lousy day to find your book on my portch! I’m so excited I’ve been carrying it around all evening (and may or may not have actually jumped up and down when I opened the box and saw your beautiful cover). I made the husband put my little monkey to sleep and am just about to dive in.
Hope you and yours are staying warm and safe!
haha! so nice to know nobody is quite perfect. i had a friend coming for lunch last week and made this beautiful soup out of fresh vegetables, fresh bakery bread, and warm chocolate chip cookies and last minute it fell through. today she finally came over and we had old soup and mediocre grilled cheese (and the house was a mess). sigh. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt!
Deb – I am SO sorry to hear that the first big book event got canceled. Being dry and safe is more important, of course, but I would imagine your heart was bursting with excitement. We are all thrilled for you and know that all of the other events will be fabu. Best of luck getting to LA for Friday.
These look ahhhhhmazing! Can’t wait to see your cookbook (I’m giddy too!!). :-)
I just got the cookbook today! Unfortunately it is a Christmas present for my sister and her husband, but I might have to sneak a few test recipes first ;) It’s beautiful~ I should have ordered one for me too…
Stay safe over there! Sandy sure does seem to be a doozy!
Hi Deb:
Tracking Hurricane Sandy from out here in San Diego. Sending good thoughts and best wishes that you, hubby and baby boy are safe and sound.
PS – Scones look scrumptious! Love the fall fruits; we are going on our first pick- your-own Fuyu persimmon trip this weekend!
Gah, I’m so insensitive. Here I am worrying about mis-signed books and you’re out there dealing with a hurricane.
Enjoying the recipes for fall! I hope that you and your family are safe.
Deb!!!! Your cookbook just downloaded onto my kindle…I’m reading it as I type this. It is amazing!! I feel like we are old friends after reading the introduction. I really wish I were Able to come chat with you in your tiny kitchen and eat delicious food. I hope to meet you in a couple of weeks in Seattle! Congratulations on an amazing and wonderful book
What a fun combination! My current favorite scone recipe is from the Williams Sonoma Baking cookbook, but it is just a straightforward currant cream scone recipe. Looking forward to trying something a little more interesting! I also appreciate the tip about freezing the scones. I’ve never tried that before.
Deb, I was wondering if there isn’t a typo in the chocolate amount. 3 ounces/85 grams as well as the photo indicate 1/2 cup rather than 1/4. No?
Very sorry about the event cancellation. I’m sure you are heartbroken, but what a story to tell your grandkids, way more dramatic than a smooth, hitch-free launch. And you are far too sane (underneath all the wedding-cake type kitchen insanity) to feel sad for too long, right? Besides, there is the whole tour thing to look forward to, as well as a rescheduled NYC event. And finally, between you and me, this is by no means the last book launch of your life, right? :)
As they say, when life gives you lemons, make candy! Stay warm over there.
what a fabulous recipe!!! you are so perfect. I am following you…
Deb, I hope you and your family are safe and sound *prayers and good wishes*! So sorry about your book launch party being canceled :( I asked for your cookbook for my birthday in November, but I underestimated how hard it would be to wait for it as everyone else runs out to buy theirs! Be safe!
Thinking of you and yours this morning from Wisconsin. Stay safe!
I rcv’d a msg that my cookbook has shipped!! Can’t wait! Hope to see you in Chicago on Nov. 19! I am planning on being there, hopefully you will be able to make it. Family and safety are first, though.
I got an email this morning that your cook book is about to be delivered. Can’t wait to go home tonight and find it in my mailbox! Also, I think this recipe looks really delicious, I enjoy any chocolate pear combination and this will be bookmarked.
Just wanted you to know that I’m thinking of you this morning, praying you are all safe and well.
Hi Deb! Yesterday my copy of your book was delivered (Christmas and Halloween in one week? Yes I think so.) You’ll probably be hearing this a lot over the next few weeks (and after): the cookbook is BEAUTIFUL. The jacket, th covers, the layout, your photos — gorgeous. It was all is could do to put it down at bedtime instead of heading into the kitchen. I’ve already added several recipes to my ‘must make now’ list (these scones, too…) and I can’t wait to sit down again and read through some more! C
Hi! If anyone out there is named Melissa and your 28th bday is coming up, I have your copy of Deb’s cookbook! Email me your address and I will put in the mail to you! janelle.briggs@gmail.com
Also, if anyone got my copy by mistake, telling Janelle to work hard on her dissertation, please email me!
Thanks and happy cooking!
Hurricane Sandy, second day off from work, our wedding is today and The hubby and I still have power, it can only mean one thing! Smitten kitchen party! I’m making these now and later I’ll be making a throw back, tomato and sausage risotto :D Can’t wait!!!
I surfed into this site for the first time to check out a recipe (can’t remember which one now) and was quite excited about your scone recipe.
But then I came across your comment about Sandy and wanting to un-invite her (or something similar).
I am still smiling after I found out that it is not a person you were talking about – but the mega-storm with that name.
I made these last night and they were….not successful. They were SO moist when I was rolling/patting them out. Like goopy. I ended up adding maybe a cup of extra flour just trying to get them to barely hold together. Then, upon baking, most of the butter melted out onto the bottom of the pan. The flavor is good, and lord knows, I’ll still eat them, but they didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped.
My thoughts on what went wrong: my pears were too ripe/did not roast long enough, and released too much liquid into the dough; the butter didn’t get appropriately cut into the flour (next time, I’ll add the butter before the pears and other ingredients); given the ripeness of the pears, the egg was just too much; it took so long to get the scones to hold together that the butter wasn’t that cold anymore. Prolly a combination of a lot of the above. I’ll update if I make them again to better results.
It was pouring down rain in the midst of hurricane Sandy and my doorbell rings. I open it and there is a box with a big smile and no truck in sight. (I wouldn’t stick around in this weather either). In the box is my cookbook! Now I have something to keep me occupied while the power is out. Can’t wait to get started on it. plenty of idle time to prep. Thanks Deb. Hope you and all your readers are safe.
Hoping you and your family are safe at home. All the best.
you may get sick of hearing this..but: It’s here! It just arrived on my front step… and it’s beautiful! Congratulations on your second “baby”! :-)
Deb, hope you are faring well in Superstorm Sandy and have evacuated somewhere safe and dry.
I do wish I had read all the comments before making these last night – I was in the wet/gloppy dough club. My pears were riper than those in Deb’s picture, although not mushy. I wonder if roasting them longer would have helped? I too, added at least another cup of flour, begging my husband to come help me do so since by that point my hands were a sticky, gooey mess! I eventually got them onto individual pieces of parchment and into the freezer but forgot to bake them this morning. I’m sure they’ll still be edible, but I’d love to try gain with firmer pears and see if that really makes the difference.
Made these this morning! They cooked up in 20, 25 minutes from the freezer and my oven thermometer said 375 ºF on the dot. 1″ pear chunks were quite large; I might shoot for ~3/4″ next time. Trader Joe’s 70% bars work great. :)
Reading other comments — hmm; I didn’t have any issues with soggy batter. Mine was pleasantly dry and just held together. I mixed by hand, chopping the butter pretty finely before I added it instead of cutting it in with a pastry blender, and subbed half-and-half for cream, so I don’t think any of that contributed. I had firm Bartlett pears, which I roasted a little longer than the given time to get them to brown a little — I guess it’s all down to the pears!
I was one who made these with no problem (185), and maybe this will help somebody: my pears were the round asian ones and so hard that my daughter thought one was an apple. After they roasted they were still firm and dry to the touch. I didn’t add them until they were cool. I cut them into smaller pieces, and i didn’t use the mixer but cut in the butter by hand and just mixed in the pears at the end. The dough was very delicate but manageable and made a wonderful crumb. The second time baking is what made the pears soft and juicier.
I figure the lack of a post today means you’re stuck in a power-less section of the mess of NYC. Hope you’re finding good ways to entertain the little one, and at least you have a gas stove!
The cookbook arrived this morning! Can.not.wait until work is finished to sit down and savor it! Afternoon tea and the cookbook!
Deb, imagine my delight when I opened this and saw that I 1.) have all of the ingredients and 2.) It looks delicious.
Next, if you will, imagine my EXTRA delight when I opened my door and I had a package. I opened the package to find what must be thousands of beautiful recipes! For me! Thank you for writing it! I am obviously very excited. I don’t usually use so many exclamation points but your cookbook is here and it is beautiful!
Hope you and your family are safe!! Thinking of you from AZ. I can’t wait for your cookbook to arrive hopefully today!!!
What joy to come home to a BEAUTIFUL SK cookbook today! Deb, it’s a masterpiece; I am excited about every recipe. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and your constant passion!
YES!!! Picked up your book about an hour ago, here in Ottawa, Canada. What a beautiful book!
Hello from Oslo,Norway
Hope you all are safe.We are following the latest news from the east coast on CNN.
I made these scones yesterday,the tastes soooo good! My 10y old son,wanted me to make them again today.
I have a question,is there any possibility to get a signed book ordered from Norway.I have followed you for some years now,and really look forward to get the cookbook! Bjørg
Your scones look so rustic and satisfying. Your pears look deliciously fresh and adding chunks of chocoalte is probably the best idea ever! Lovely scone, Deb!
Hello from Auckland, New Zealand.
Hoping that you and yours are safe and dry, Deb. Have been following the news and sending positive thoughts your way.
Luan.
Got your cookbook today! A very welcome respite from the power outage, lack of heat and hot water in DC. So glad for the distraction. It’s amazing, Deb. Congratulations!
IT CAME!!! Despite the chaos of Sandy, my book arrived safe and sound in Canada….. I hope you & your family are safe – lack of post today makes me think you’re powerless, but hopefully warm and dry. The book is stunning, every inch what I hoped it would be and much more. Reading it cover to cover with a cup of tea, cannot wait to test out each recipe. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Mixing pear and chocolate in what looks like the very best kind of crusty-topped scone. I think you must be the kind of terrible person I’d like to know better.
Just got the cookbook in the mail – a birthday present I have been waiting for since June! I am so excited! Thank you for your hard work and for sharing with us!
Squee! I’m at work anxiously awaiting the Madonna show later tonight…when guess what? The mail guy delivered your book to me! I. cannot. wait. to. DEVOUR. it.
Congratultions! It has a nice heft which feels so good in my hands.
Thank you!
Joan
Just received your cookbook in the mail today! Hope you are dry and safe while you wait out the hurricane.
Oh my goodness! I just got your cookbook. Absolutely gorgeous…well, what I have seen. My 6-yr-old son confiscated it, starting leafing through and ordering up every recipe he laid eyes on…I think you have a winner on your hands, if you were targeting the under 10 crowd, anyway.
Can’t wait to start cooking!
Hope you and your family are safe and warm!
These look amazing! I will have to make them.
I revisited your pumpkin muffin recipe when Sandy was bearing down on my Brooklyn apartment and ocean water was a few meters away on 3rd avenue threatening to spill into my street. I’d be lying if I said they didn’t sustain me through the storm (and my anxiety about it). None are left today and I don’t feel a bit bad about it. Thank you for your endless comfort-food-baked-goods. Also super stoked to hear when your book release is rescheduled to. Was planning to come today…
Just received your cookbook in the mail! Did a happy dance in excitement…as soon as the mail guy left. Can’t wait to read/try all the amazing recipes!
All I want right now are these scones and some hot chocolate. Definitely adding pears to the shopping list.
Are y’all okay? Hoping you and your adorable family haven’t been swept out to sea. :(
Same thought here – hope that you guys are holding out! Stay safe!
Hi Deb,
Anxiously awaiting the book, and hoping that you and yours are all well.
IT CAME!!! That order I placed “Oh So Long Ago” came through for me, and there on the stoop is the book! I have a nice fresh cup of tea and a piece of candy from the Halloween stash, and your book!!!!!!!!!!!
oooooh! i just got my book. it is beautiful and i am so excited! thank you and best of luck!
I just settled in with your beautiful book and a slice of cake (your Pink Lady cake, made it for my little girl’s birthday party on Sunday, divine!), and the intro made me a little weepy with how nice it is, and how nice you are. Thanks for being my go-to source for ANYTHING I want to find a recipe for–I know your version will be whole, rich, delicious, and if it’s hard, you’ll tell me so before I’m up to my elbows in icky things. Thanks for telling such sweet stories with such lovely pictures while you’re sharing your great recipes, and thanks for being a total stranger whose emails I can’t wait to get. You’re awesome.
I got your book today! It was like a mini-Christmas. I love love love it. I greedily flipped through to see all the recipes, and now I’m slowly reading the text. I can’t wait to try all the things!
Love these! So decadent–they totally satisfied my chocolate craving. I wouldn’t have thought of having the pear with the chocolate, but I love the combination of textures. I can’t wait to make them again for company (instead of for a week of breakfasts). Thanks for the great recipe and looking forward to using your cookbook–hope Sandy didn’t dampen too many of your plans for the book’s release!
Just letting you know you are thought of.
I have a tree full of pears that will be made into wine but I will save plenty for recipes like this. Yumm!
Deb! I just received your cookbook in the mail today and I absolutely love it! I’ve had it preordered since July and I have to say, the wait was totally worth it. The photography is stunning and I’m sure the recipes are just as delicious. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes this weekend. — Jess
Oooooh…. Smitten Kitchen Cookbook has arrived! I have managed to select some recipes for the week. After a whole lot of, oh my, where to start? Tiny but Intense Chocolate Cake, Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns and Fingerlings Vinaigrette with Eggs and Pickled Celery will be prepared in the days to follow.
I hope you weathered the hurricane okay.
Congratulations on your beautiful book!
Happened to see your book today (at my Costco here in Oregon) & after flipping-through it, had to purchase — it’s beautiful! Hope you & your family are safe.
Pictures look beautiful as always. Sounds like the perfect way to start an Autumn morning, a chocolate and pear scone with a nice hot cup of coffee.
i pre-ordered your book in may and was so excited today when it arrived on my doorstep! i had to make myself put it down so i could actually get some things done today! the pictures are stunning and the recipes sound amazing. nothing from the smitten kitchen has ever disappointed me in my multiple years of following your blog so i can’t wait to cook my way through the book! hope you and yours were unscathed by sandy. congrats on this huge milestone and stay safe in nyc! :)
Deb,
I got my copy of your cookbook today and it’s one of the most beautiful things I have ever held in my hands! It feels good, it smells good, the pictures are absolutely beautiful and the pictures of Jacob here and there just make me squeal with delight! I am sure you are super proud of it, but I couldn’t be happier to finally have it in my kitchen! Thank you so much for all the hard work that you put into it.
Deb, I am soooooo excited when Amazon notified the shipment of your book this morning. I’m in Japan, by the way, thought to throw that in. So now you know you’re famous here, too! :) In 7-14 days, I will get your book and I will cook my way out of that book like a happy prisoner! :)
OK, definitely going to try this recipe over the weekend. Will also make the apple scones for brekkie tomorrow.
Hope you are well and not suffering some kind of cooking withdrawal from that bitch-of-a-hurricane Sandy. From the bottom of my heart and in all seriousness – I hope you and your loved ones are well.
My comment is not related to this post, but I just got an email from Amazon telling me that my Smitten cookbook is on its way – I can’t contain my excitement!!!!!
I just made these, and like klp, the dough was unmanageable. I used three small pears, maybe they were too ripe, but I ended up adding at least an extra cup of flour. They were only a little soft, not super ripe. They’re in the oven now, I’ll report back when they’re done.
I just got the cookbook and I love it! Can’t wait to see you in Napa. P.S. I hope you and your family are safe from the storm.
I’m so excited to get your book this week! I just got the notification that it’s been shipped!
And I can’t wait to see you in LA on Friday. Welcome back to warm weather!!!
These look wonderful!! My parents have the most amazing pear tree, but the pears all come off at once, so I end up freezing them. Do you think they would work for this recipe? Or would they be too soft or too wet? (By the way I just got your book!!!! I can’t wait to go take a hot bubble bath and start reading it!!)
Report back: still delicious. I should have added more baking powder when I added more flour, though, they didn’t rise much.
scones is my favorite,cant wait to make this recipe….
YIPPEE! Your cookbook came by UPS today—it was a gift from my niece. I’ve known it was coming since last March and can hardly wait to sit down and savor each page. Hope to see you in Texas on November 30.
Just made them! They tasted yummy, but they came out much flatter. I tried to cut them as shown above from the 6 in circle before putting them on the baking sheet but they didn’t hold their shape, too gooey. Did anyone else have this problem? Mine ended up cooking in 22 minutes.
Any tips for how to improve shape?
I know everyone else has already said this- but your book arrived today! So worth the wait and wait and wait! :) Been a loyal reader since the beginning.
Hi Deb, just want to say I hope you are dry and cozy! Stay safe!
Just want to let you know I just got your book delivered yesterday and it is so beautiful! Mazel Tov!!!
received your book yesterday! i make your carnitas, french onion(in my fridge now), best cocoa brownies, red velvet, buttermilk waffles, lemon braided bread, meatball subs, new york cheesecake, rhubarb snacking cake, apple muffins, and leek toasts on the regular. to name a few. In-laws coming to babysit on friday and i think the heart-stuffed lemon bechamel shells will be on the menu! i’ve seen that recipe before and put off making it. 2nd will be the eggplant with tahini and chickpeas!! thank you!
I made these scones yesterday and ended up eating 2 of them! They were so tasty right out of the oven that I couldn’t control the urge to eat them. The pear and chocolate combination is great. I do have a habit of making minor changes or tweaking a recipe so my contribution was using a bar of organic dark chocolate with orange flavor. It definetly worked for my taste buds and I will continue to mix it up a bit.
Forgot to tell you in a previous post that I ordered your cookbook and can’t wait to get it in the mail! I’m so glad that I found your site b/c I’ve already made several recipes and have enjoyed them thoroughly.
These were absolutely amazing! Sad to say they were all gone within a day!
Had the same experience making these scones. The batter was too wet. I did everything to the letter. I roasted the pears, took them off the sheet, let them cool and added to the batter. I had a sticky mess too. Ended up adding more flour , shapping and freezing a bit to firm up shape before baking. Is there a typo on the flour amount? I would like to try them again… please advise.
Thank you,
Has it really been six years?! I feel like I am on your site all the time (either drooling or cooking) but am constantly coming across new-to-me posts and recipes from years ago. I am so excited for your book and signing…. is it weird to say I can’t wait to meet you?!
I’ve been drooling over this recipe since you posted it and since I had pears on hand an time, I made these today and they are delicious!! I froze them right away and baked them fresh for an after-dinner dessert. Family loved them!!
I don’t have that kind of mixer with a paddle attachment and decided to follow your meyer lemon and cranberry scone recipe. I pulsed the dry ingredients in the food processor, added the butter, dumped it all in a bowl and added the rest of the ingredients. It came together nicely and tastes delish.
i made them tonight ( with a 4 month old baby crying in the background the whole time!)vand they were so delicious!! i had a very manageable dough and here are a couple things i did:
-i mixed the dough by hand
– i used very cold butter
– i added the pear at the very end ( i used bosc pear)
hope it works out for everyone!!
Just heard you on NPR!!!! I was sad I had to get out of the car before you were done, but excited to see you in Austin!
Yay! Hearing you on NPR! Woo hoo!
yes! help! i made these and like a few others the dough was so wet. i couldn’t even cut it. but i had some pretty juicy pears, so i’m wondering if that is the issue. do you have a recommendation for how to “fix” the dough if we find it too wet?
I am baking these as I type… my dough was fine until I added the pears at the very end. I think the pears were probably still a bit too warm and melted the butter… so my dough became wet and mushy. My tip to others would be to make sure your pears are dry and cold!
love this recipe!! i just made them today, gluten-free & dairy free – YUM. I used coconut oil in place of the butter, and GF flour in place of regular. I also added a little xantham gum to bind it. They came out great! Thank you for the recipe ~ I can’t wait to get your book!!
*Small question – could this recipe be used as a base for any combo of scones?? i would love to try chocolate & dried cranberries, or coconut & chocolate…
kimpeck — I actually prefer this scone as the basis for ones with simpler stuff in them, like dried fruit. It’s even more delicate. The one here is wonderful, but requires a different balance of ingredients due to the big old chunks of fruit.
While I’m sure I will devour these in whatever state they emerge from the oven in, I had some troubles here! I’m pretty sure the ripeness of my pears was to blame. While they were still on the firmish side, I think they were a bit too juicy because they disappeared into the dough and I was left with a very wet mash that needed extra flour before any cutting could take place. Keep those pears on the less-ripe side! :)
Thanks Deb. You are awesome and I got your book today. Love it.
Like Isadora, I think my pears were a bit too juicy. I roasted them for twice the time and then decided to just run with it. The dough was way too wet to fold out on the counter. I scooped them out of the bowl with my hands and plopped them on the parchment paper. They are now baking and regardless of their presentation, they are going to taste amazing.
Ha! I did the trick you suggested to put the scones in the freezer and pull them out in the morning. My guests were super-impressed! I think they have to be the best scones I’ve tasted! Thanks for the recipe! Congrats on the birth of your book! :)
Now I know what to make with pears from my ever producing one They look SO GOOD.
I love that you are NORMAL like the rest of us
:)
I also had the problem of really wet sticky batter. I mixed by hand as I don’t have a mixer. Please advise on how to avoid this in the future as I really like the recipe otherwise.
Sticky batter — Actually, this is just a really sticky dough. My advice: don’t fret! Don’t work it any more than needed. Generously flour your counter. Scrape the dough in one big plop onto the floured counter. Flour the top of it. Pat or roll it just a couple times. Cut the scones into wedges. Use a spatula to transfer them to the parchment-lined baking sheet. The less you touch it, the less the stickiness will bother you. The result is a very tender, moist scone, the furthest from anything you’ll have at a coffee shop.
Andy — Bwah!
To be fair, firefighters have things to do that really need doing. Perhaps he’s in time-out for doing nothing and idly watching an orphanage burn to the ground.
we love scones! I’ve never tried a your recipe before but I really love all the images and the details that you provide! Thanks – will need to try this this weekend!
These are the most delicious scones I have ever had! I love the pear chocolate combination. I didn’t have any problems with the batter being too wet to handle. I think firmish pears are the key. These scones almost taste a bit like your pear and bittersweet choc cake.
Deb, the feeling of arriving home to find a copy of your amazing book waiting for me at my door-step, sent anonymously (I have a hunch that a dear friend living 16,000km away has something to do with it) almost brought me to tears. To make a total experience out of it, I will only allow the first read with a plate of these delectable looking scones! Thank you :) (And thank you Noa, my secret carrier pigeon in Sydney).
I had some leftover poached pears in cinnamon wine sauce so I cut those up instead (and briefly roasted) – I think it amped this up even higher. Delicious. I woke up the other morning in s giddy mood and decided I was cooking whatever was at the top ofyour blog that morning. Lucky me I got these scones for breakfast!
I have pretty much all the ingredients for this, and REALLY want to make these scones, but currently avoiding dairy and soy, which is in pretty much all butter substitutes. Any thoughts on making these with vegetable/canola or coconut oil?
Amy — It’s worth trying with coconut oil. I would not soften or melt it first. I do think that it will leave the scone dough even softer and possibly more annoying to work with, as coconut oil liquefies just about the second it touches warm hands. You’ll probably want to put the dough in the fridge for a few minutes to firm it slightly before patting it out on the counter.
Just made these, and I had some extra time so I dragged out the mixer to make them exactly as directed, rather than mixing the batter by hand as I normally would have.
Wish I hadn’t; it looks from the comments above like people who hand-mixed had better results. I dealt with the sticky batter as directed, handling as little as possible, flouring the top, using a dough scraper to gently place it on the baking sheet. The resulting scones taste fine but they’re flat with a texture like fluffy cookies. I’m going back to hand-mixing all scones and biscuits from now on.
These were a huge failure; half my fault and half the recipe’s fault. My fault: I only had an extra large egg and 130 g AP flour, so I had to substitute 60 g cake flour. The dough was waay too wet. I tried to compensate by adding some additional cake flour, but I didn’t go far enough. So, everybody, don’t try that!
Recipe’s fault: the paddle on the mixer totally pulverized the big pear chunks, further adding to the way-too-wet problem. Because I saw the pears getting destroyed, I wasn’t able to sufficiently mix in the butter–huge pools of it leaked out. That is definitely a problem with the recipe’s method–I can’t ever see a reason to completely pulverize the star ingredient, taking it from pear chunks to pear paste. And I followed that part of the recipe to the letter, firm pears and all. I would consider making this again, but hand-folding in the pears and the chocolate at the end.
I think I love you… No I’m sure!!!
Now, what’s wrong with stove top oatmeal???
Seriously, though, I love the idea of combining pears and chocolate in a scone… almost makes them sound healthy :) As to the dreams of being a wonderful hostess that you are not, I totally feel you. I’m always seeing the little flaws in my home and spread whenever people come over… but trust me, they keep coming because it doesn’t matter!
These were absolutely smashingly delicious, as you know. Yes the dough is dreadfully sticky and gooey. But your pictures showed loads of flour on the board so I just went with it. Ended up with 9 scones, not six, as they didn’t transfer well…but am NOT complaining. ;-) The roasting step is a little extra work for a huge extra flavor!
Roasting the pears took a lot more than 20 minutes for me and even then they did not get the texture I was hoping for. I was desperate to start the scones so I said what the heck and took them out of the oven after 40 minutes. It made my dough mushy because unlike your scones, the pears got mixed in. I have to say, this is one of the recipes I’m most proud of. Like shout from the rooftop, post on Instagram (TWICE!) and then share on Facebook so people worship me and I can tell them it was all you sorta proud. I’m done.
I don’t eat egg so I used my usual eggless scone recipe but added roasted pear and chocolate. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! Thank you so much for the inspiration. This is now my default scone.
Also, I’m so glad I can upload your recipes straight to my pepperplate app, thanks for that too.
Hi,
This is delicious! One of the best things I’ve eaten! It’s fluffy and crunchy at the same time and just wonderful really. Even though I am always slightly suspicious of recipes for anything sweet that involves salt, this was totally worth it. With the chocolate, just wonderful. I just wanted to add that I did also encounter some problems with the batter, since it is very sticky and I think the pears weren’t cooled off properly before I put them in. Even though I read the messages and knew what to expect, I also did it the wrong way :P
Outstanding! I cannot wait to make them again. I am thinking it would be a nice way to start Thanksgiving Day!
Hi, again! I made them again ( I know, it sounds like much, they were so delicious I had to make them for my coworkers) and they turned out exceptional! Be sure that are your ingridients are cold when you put them together. Also, I didnt use a mixer, just a big spoon and then my hands to form a nice round pie. It was perfect!
I made these last night and baked them this morning and they were one of the BEST scones I’ve ever made! I’ve baked a lot of scones since they are one of my favorite things to eat. If you’ve never made scones or biscuits before, it may help if you ” cut” in the butter w/a pastry blender or a fork into the dry ingred. by hand and then you can either use the stand mixer or just in the same bowl, add the remaining ingred. My bosc pears were not overly ripe and I roasted them for 33 min. in a convection oven. Use plenty of flour on your board and hands since this is a more sticky dough, and they will come together. I used 1/4 c Chocolate Chunks, but will add 1/3 c next time and they took only about 25-26 min. to bake. Baking straight f/the freezer worked perfect. These turned out much better than the Blueberry Scones f/ATK I made on Sunday! Also made the recipe on the book cover for dinner and of course, delicious!
I’m enjoying your book! congratulations. I’m sure I will enjoy these as well tomorrow morning as I’ll need fortification for the insurance adjustor. Ugh Sandy.
I also cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender before folding in the egg and the cream because I didn’t think my roasted pears would hold up in the stand mixer. Maybe my pear variety cooks up softer? After those came together, I added the choco and the pears. Resulting dough very wet and final product flat, but delicious. I did drizzle a wee bit of vanilla bean paste over the roasted pears. They just looked so naked!
I also made them last night and my student devoured them. No wet dough – but I mixed the dough and finished it up including chocolate chunks before adding very gingerly the pear chunks. I think this helped to keep the dough dry – the pear pieces did not break up and were delicious. And I did not bother with triangles – just made even sized clumps of deliciousness and baked them.
First time I’ve attempted something of yours and OH MY GOD – these were SO delicious. Also so easy to make! Really amazing recipe. Thank you!!
I just made these this morning for brunch for my boyfriend and me–delish! I mixed the dough by hand, roasted the pears(forgot to peel, whoops!) at 390 degrees for about 40 mins and they were nice and dry. I did notice that after the pears cooled they oozed a bit of juice out, so I added a sprinkle of flour to them to absorb it. I also grated my frozen butter directly into the flour mixture, whisked the egg into the cream(added a TOUCH of almond extract) and mixed these barely together. I folded the pears and chocolate chips in at the very end. I then plopped the still somewhat crumbly dough onto the counter and gently worked it together into a patted down disc. I cut it into 8 triangles just so I would get more yield to try to make them last a bit longer lol Needless to say, they came out perfectly! Slightly crispy on the outside and super moist on the inside. This will definitely be my go-to scone recipe, varying the mix-ins.
Thanks Deb!
Thanks Deb!
lol they were so good, I thanked you twice!
Congrats on the book release!
And I once found a toy firefighter stuffed inside the locker of the toy firehouse. I’m watching my kids to see which one is most likely to give swirlies.
Totally tempting recipe! I am also a big fan of the pear-chocolate cake from 2009.
Well, I had the opposite problem from most people–my dough came together in a fairly stiff mass, too much for my little hand mixer to handle! I used 3 or 4 pears, can’t remember, but I also had to roast them for more like 35 min to get them to look and feel dry. I did cut the pears up smaller than 1-inch chunks; I was worried they would be too big to go into the dough easily. But I think my hand mixer kind of pulverized them.
Good: texture and overall taste and feel–and I don’t usually make scones, so this is a big win.
Might tweak next time: leave pear chunks bigger, fold them in by hand at the end with the chocolate, maybe a tiny bit of vanilla, lemon juice or even pear liqueur to wake up the pear flavor just a bit more.
these turned out to be really good even though i got really scared when i saw that my batter was very wet and i had to add a lot of flour to it. it must be due to the pears though, even though they were firm, because i had used that recipe before and had just added raisins instead of the pears/chocolate and the consistence was very different.
thanks for the recipe, the brunch i hosted was a success!
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Had these last week, and they were fabulous! Probably going to have to make again this week. Oh darn.
BEST SCONES I’VE EVER EATEN. have already made them twice. thank you!
Just made these yesterday and the flavor is great! My dough was really wet and after adding an additional 1/2 cup or so of flour, the pears had disintegrated into the dough. Next time I’ll fold them in by hand at the end, though I thought the diffused sweetness of them helped somewhat for my taste for sweets. Very tasty!
Thank you Deb for the response to my questions about coconut oil. I have 2 dozen muffins in the freezer leftover from my son’s 3rd birthday party, but I have been dreaming about pear chocolate chip scones. If the coconut oil doesn’t work I might try adding pear to this recipe: http://www.theppk.com/2007/07/bikram-baking-ginger-chocolate-chunk-scones/
I am so sad your talk in Brookline was sold out an hour after they started giving out the tickets! Any chance they will open up another talk?
Hi Amy — I am sad it sold out so quickly too! However, both that event and the one the night before will be opening for a signing after the ticketed part is over. I know that a signing is not as exciting, but I make a huge point to talk to everyone and not just rush through them and would love to meet you too.
Long time lurker…first time commenter.
I’ve been wanting to make these for a while but had no pears. Today was the day. Boy, was that dough sticky…and then they all melted together in the oven, but they smell wonderful and are certainly edible. I just want to say how much I appreciate your warnings of potential pitfalls and possible “failures” in the kitchen. They, along with the comments from other readers, help me laugh at mistakes and go forth in my mission for some form(!) of perfection. Thank you!
I just made these and they are a revelation. I’m about to whisk them off to a get-together and hopefully amaze my friends. I don’t have an electric mixer, but I mixed them with my hands (which was pretty fun, by the way) and they turned out great. Thanks!
OMG MINE JUST CAME OUT OF THE OVEN AND I DIDN’T WAIT FOR IT TO COOL DOWN BEFORE I ATE IT. THIS IS DEFINITELY A REVELATION – IT DESERVES CAPS!!! IT IS SO GOOODDDDDDDDD
Hi, I made these last night and I was prepared for the wet dough so I had my spatula handy but I found they turned out more like muffins – really moist, not too crumbly (which I think of when I think ‘scone’). I don’t think I mind the muffinyess since it basically turned it into a giant muffin top, which is the best part. I can’t wait until I get my copy of the book. I’ve been a lurker for years and maybe commented twice.
Just made this for Thanksgiving morning. It was perfect as breakfast as I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I did roast the pears for about an hour but that may be the fault of my oven. The pears were dry and lightly browned. Thank you for posting this recipe. It may become a holiday staple.
Hi Deb, my mom and I just made these. Our dough was rather soupy, but we formed six wedges on the parchment lined cookie sheet and hoped for the best! They fell apart a bit, the wedges turned into blobs, with a lot of excess butter pooling in the center. What did we do wrong? Despite their apperance, they still tasted good! Just not as pretty as your scones above!
Hi Lauren — Keeping the butter cold should keep the scones from feeling too damp (i.e. softened/melted butter will feel wetter). That said, the best scones have sticky doughs. They’re harder to form into neat shapes but they taste light and moist, unlike the typical coffee shop hockey pucks!
Just made these scones- they tasted great! But I agree with some of the other comments, the dough was a bit wet. It was a little hard to transfer to the baking sheet. Not sure what I did wrong, I cooled the pears and the butter was pretty cold. Would it help if I added a little more flour?
Hi Hannah — They are sticky, but I don’t recommend adding more flour — this will make them more tough and more dry. Just work quickly and enjoy the tender results!
I just made these last night – and I don’t cook but these came out delicious!! I used the semisweet choc chips, and 1/4 a cup is definitely perfect, as I ended up throwing a couple more in (thinking I didn’t see enough choc) & then it was maybe just a lil too much! The pear & the choc are such a delicious combination…
If I did want to make them smaller, you said to adjust the cooking time – what would you suggest?
Thanks so much for this recipe, I absolutely love it…
And the other question I had was; does it matter what kind of pears you use? I’ve never really even shopped for pears before but noticed there was ‘Bartlett’ and ‘Aubrey’ or something like that, ha! Is one sweeter than the other, or better to back with.
Also, I didn’t have a paddle – I just used the electric mixer on dough & then mushed the pear/choc in after with my hands, ha! It definitely did the trick!
Hi Helena — Mostly, you just want a firm one that’s not too wet. Usually Anjou and Bosc are good for baking, but others work.
Looks divine. Sign me up to be one of the strangers who casually strolls through your home these days. I could pretend to be writing an article. And I’d promise not to judge the train sets and fire station bits and pieces. After all, I’d really be there for the food.
We Are Not Pear Eaters, So Will Try Raspberries As A Subsitute For The “Pears & Chocolat Chunk Scones”. Will Let Everyone Know IF Worked As Well As I Believe. Oh,The FIRST “Blog For Food” Ever Visited! Happy & STILL Waiting For “Count~Down” On Cookery Book. I Call You,”Smitten Kitten”.(^_^)
I made these for my bookclub last night and they were a huge hit! I have never made scones before as I have always been intimidated by the idea, but your recipe was easy (and fun!) to follow. I will probably be making another batch this weekend as the scones were so popular; I now consider myself the scone queen. Thanks Deb!!
Beautiful. I might turn these into more of a cream scone and make them for my friends who are allergic to (or otherwise cannot eat) eggs. The theory is certainly sound anyway!
Made these last night and threw them in the oven this morning. So delicious – buttery and moist! Substituted an apple for one of the pears. Thank you!
This is probably not you know Appropriate, but could I just say how much I like your writing? This is actually the second time I’ve tried to leave this comment – I can’t manage to define what’s so good about it in comparison to some of the other stuff, so I’ve given up on that. I just enjoy it. And the posts are wonderful too. Thank you. May your ovens be warm.
I have never prepared scones. Your recipe has inspired me. Love the chocolate with the fruit. Looks delicious!
Holy cow! This looks like heaven on earth!
Hey, these look so beautiful, thankyou! I couldn’t get hold of your book but I’ve had this page bookmarked for ages as my oven hasn’t worked for months, got it fixed on friday so I trekked to the shop in the snow to buy the pears for these, unfortunately I forgot the cream, is there any way I could use an extra egg or something? I have a couple of small chilly humans hibernating and don’t really want to leave the house again! Thanks again, you’re a diamond! X
Gayatri — Try milk instead.
I have just made them. They are super DELICIOUS. Although I have never made scones before, the recipe is very easy to follow.
thank you
My dough was very sticky. I think the problem was using my mixer to combine the ingredients. Even though I had it set on low I think it caused the pears to break down. Next time I’ll stir and fold my ingredients. Even though the dough was a challenge, the combination of pears and chocolate was delicious. I’ll definitely give this one a try again.
These look simply divine! Love the pear and chocolate combination!
I made 4 batches of these yesterday, and each batch required just under a 1/2 cup of heavy cream in order to make an actual dough. I also slowly streamed the cream in with a measuring cup, versus dumping it in and mixing (did that first batch – not such good luck). After my 2nd batch, I had the technique nailed, however, I think the directions need to be more explicit; I am an experienced baker, but for those who are not, they will need a little more information. Also, the sugar seemed a little light, and the salt a bit much (especially when mixed with the egg wash). However, after some tweaking, they were absolutely delicious.
Looks delicious, I will try it out. The thing is I can never follow a recipe from A to Z,I have to add something personal always.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!! you on on the cover of the NYT!!!! kudos.. loved you for so long (flipboard) and love my cookbook!!! good for you!!!!!!!!1 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/books/a-cooking-blog-yields-a-franchise-and-a-husband.html?hp
This looks great!
looks delish!
Perfect timing to have found you via NYT article! We’re down-sizing and getting ready to retire…which means no more family dinners for 15-20 or BBQ’s or parties for 25-30, because we’re going to be traveling around the US in our RV. Deb your recipes are quick, easy and made for our soon to be very, very small kitchen. You are an inspiration. Ordered your book yesterday and can’t wait for it to arrive. Making these scones for breakfast tomorrow and the cauliflower fritters for dinner! (I think you may have a new niche here)
WOW! These look incredibly good. a MUST try! I will attempt these in the next few weeks! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve made lots of scones and these were nothing like them. Much more of a batter than dough. Baked in a muffin top pan. Tasted like cakes, okay, but not enough sugar and no pear taste. Not quite sure how I missed the mark.
Ms. Perelman, you’re my hero. I spent 25 years in a NY apartment with a 24-square-foot kitchen. You’re my hero. Oh, I said that already. Love your book. I’m giving it away this Christmas like candy.
This is a brilliant recipe. I was setting out to make Christmas gifts for neighbors and friends, and this looked so good, both conceptually and pictorially, I had to give it a try.
It’s simple, simple, simple; and tasty, tasty, tasty. So easy to make, batch after batch.
My whatever:
1) I mixed my pears: 1 Bartlett, 1 Bosc, and 1 Comice. (Having just made SK’s Cauliflower Gratin with purple and gold and white cauliflower, I was woo-woo-ing over the colors available at the market. No – I don’t know the subtle differences amongst the pear-iffic varieties. Other than: brown, beige, and red. Sorry for my callous bourgeois sensibilities. Oh well. The results tasted pretty damn good.)
2) Just for fun, I also mixed the chocolates.
3) I am giving this food-stuff as gifts, so I made them, froze them, wrapped them individually, and delivered them in half-dozens to the neighbors’ freezers with little cards illuminating the remaining procedures: the glaze, the baking.
I love love love that you can grab as many as you need out of the freezer and have a not-at-all-dry beautiful succulent scone (or 2, or 3, or you name it) in half-an-hour. This is a frickin’ delicious fulla-taste NOT-DRY scone.
Yes, the batter is a moist batter. (I read that in earlier posts, as suggested.) But I just followed Ms. Perelman’s directions. Well-flour your surface; well-flour (and keep flouring) your hands. I used a pastry scraper to keep things in line. Don’t worry about extra flour on the surface of the 6-inch round; it’ll take care of itself. Keep flouring your hands, as needs be. Everything will be alright.
These scones are so beautiful when you cut them from the round that you might be tempted to eat them then and there, like raw-cookie-dough. Don’t. You’re cheating yourself of greater glory.
Your ever-lovin’ fan, Bryan
I love the combination of pear and chocolate – these look exactly like the type of thing I should bake for breakfast one of these days!
Wow these look absolutely incredible! I am running out to the store right now to buy some pears!
These were wonderful! even though I had to use a gluten free flour mix, the taste and texture were still fantastic and for once I didn’t feel like I was getting second-rate baked goods bc of the gf flour mix. A big thank you!
I just wanted to add: the dough using gf flour was NOT as sticky as others report and, in fact, the moisture level in this case was perfect and easy to work w.
Maple Bacon Biscuit-I couldn’t find these on your website to ask you a question so I figured I’d just put it under biscuits. I just got your cookbook for Christmas and these were the first things I made. I loved the flavor but unfortunately 425 degrees for 13 minutes over cooked them. I used convection bake. I was wondering why you cooked them at such a high temp, if it helped them stay flakey/moist or if you had another reason. I was thinking for my oven I’d try 400 but I usually bake everything at 350 unless otherwise stated. Just trying to understand your reasoning. Thanks so much a I look forward to more recipies.
Hi Jane — Sorry they overbaked. They weren’t tested for a convection oven. I’m unfamiliar with them, but believe that things need to be baked at a lower temperature or for less time as they are far more robust. The high temperature is because the hope is that they’ll cook quickly and get toasty on the outside before drying out inside.
I made these just before Xmas. We are very lucky to live in a wee Scottish village opposite our butcher – Roy. When I went in to pick up our Xmas order Roy and his assistant were flat out and had been working till late the night before too. I returned with 2 of these scones with Cornish clotted cream and jam for him and his assistant, Liz ( as well as some mince pies!). He told me the next day and I quote “that was the best scone I’ve ever tasted”! Your recipe is truly globally revered!!
I am now writing to say, I finally tried this recipe, January 5, 2013 and OMG, it’s delicious.
I first heard about your blog through Apartment Therapy’s Kitchn portal when they did a tour of your little kitchen (Sk 2.0) and how you cook in such a space. You are my kind of gal as I work in a space not much bigger, and yes, it’s a rental, though a double galley and my prep counter is a bit less than yours, though I do have a pull out cutting board to work with and it’s between the stove and fridge.
Saw this recipe and it just jumped out at me.
This being my first time making scones from scratch, and my first time measuring via weight and my Escali scale too. I also got to try my electronic probe thermometer to test the oven’s temperature. (it may run a bit hot, but can’t tell for certain since the markings on my oven knob have mostly worn off).
But I did it, and very tasty, though I used Geradelli’s Semi Sweet baking morsels as that’s what I had on hand and probably should’ve put in a bit less than called for so the pear (Bartlets) to shine a bit more.
Love your breezy writing style and your photography is fantastic.
Keep it up!
Deb,
Just read above my initial post from Jane about overcooking her scones in a convection oven, you never indicated in the original recipe here on the site to raise the oven temp to anything more than 375 and that is roughly the temp I baked mine, though I did get mine a touch too dark in a couple of places but didn’t feel dry inside though and almost forgot the egg wash however.
I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but my scones just don’t rise. My dough was very wet and sticky even after i was more generous in using extra flour for my countertop and hands the second time. I cut the butter into very small pieces, and froze it before adding it to the recipe, but both times saw pools of butter form on the cookie sheet as the scones baked. They tasted great, but did not have the form they should have. Anybody have suggestions? Oh, and I had fresh baking powder so I don’t think that could have been the problem.
Hi Lizzie — I am not sure why they wouldn’t have risen, but pools of butter usually mean that the butter pieces were too big to melt into the dough, rather than out of it. If they’re a little more incorporated next time, you shouldn’t see that again.
this is the one recipe of yours i have not had great luck with (and i have made MANY of your recipes which turn out GREAT). I think i didn’t roast the pear long enough to dry it out as the mixture ended up wet and goopy. I added a good amount more flour to make it workable. then they just had a strange tangy flavor to them. Not sure what that was about.
That being said, scones have never been my strong suit. oh well!
These just came out of the oven and they taste fantastic! A note to those who don’t have stand mixers – I cut in the butter (just a little bit, didn’t overwork it) and then mixed in the other wet ingredients. For me, I think because it was more difficult to incorporate the wet ingredients by hand, I had to add a little bit more cream (few tbsp). But, I just made sure the dough looked like it does in Deb’s fabulous picture, and they turned out great. I also made sure to get the pears nice and dry, and used pears that were more firm and not too ripe.
sound fandabidozi! please will you give me name of your book and can it be bought in great britain?
Too good!! I’ve made these at least 5 times and I can’t stop eating them, and nor can my husband, so I have to lose this recipe! Very dangerous ! I sub buttermilk for the heavy cream and they seem to turn out ok..actually more than ok I guess if I can’t stop eating them! The last batch I also did 1 cup of flour, and then 1/2 cup of spelt flour to ease the guilt of compulsive consumtion..again these are too good!
I have tried these twice more since the first attempt, and had better success with texture,etc. I would agree that while the choco-pear combo is great, you have to be careful not to get too chocolaty. so don’t go (much) over the 1/4 cup.
Do you think it would work to make these muffin-shaped? Like, in a muffin tin? Given that the batter is a lot like your thick muffin batter anyway, and then I wouldn’t have to get all goopy…how would the temp/time be different?
Ack! Tried making these with frozen pears and they released a LOT of moisture into the scones. They still taste good but are flatter and not as craggy and beautiful as yours, Deb. Next time, I’ll go fresh!
I just noticed there’s a typo (the number 2) next to 3 firmish pears. It says, 1 pound or 255 grams.
Okay, these are delicious! I wasn’t shopping for a new scone recipe, but I’m totally caught up. Yum.
Once I discovered your website and book not too long ago, I’ve been experimenting and cooking up a storm! I loved everything I’ve made, but this one was a toughie… but as a disclaimer, I haven’t had much luck with scones and biscuits in general. Like some others, I had a problem with the batter– very wet and would not hold its shape. Once baked, it deflated and ended up more like a cookie. Like some others, I attribute this to riper, juicier pears that I ended up using (I roasted them in the oven for much longer to get them browned and firmed to what seemed like to no avail). Also, I think the 1/4 cup chocolate and the weight may not have matched quite right? By weight, I ended up with something like 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (unless chips are not the best to use…). Not that too much chocolate is a bad thing… :)
Btw, I tried the whole wheat raspberry ricotta scone recipe which tasted so awesome, but I have yet to master that perfect scone texture that doesn’t come up spongy. Any advice out there? Anyway, this does not detract from the fact that I absolutely love, love, love your website and book!
If one doesn’t possess a stand mixer can you use a food processor?
I haven’t tested it with a FP but theoretically, it could work. Be very very very careful not to over-pulse the mixture. You want chunks of pear and tiny bits of butter to remain.
Awesome mother’s day treat! They turned out perfectly. Thanks!! :)
Thank you for giving me permission to add chocolate to scones. You gave me the courage to make a version of these scones using turkish apricots and chocolate.
This is my second time making these scones and I added toasted slivered almonds. That got me thinking about pears/wine/cheese/nuts. Have you ever put your cheese and wine spread on these or come up with any crazy (and share-worthy) variations?
I made these beautiful babies this morning and they turned out amazing. The pears added a nice moist texture to the scones, and the sweetness of all the ingredients harmonized perfectly. A good recipe indeed!
Sadly, my dough was extremely wet – more like a batter. There was no way to cut it into pieces, as in the photos, even after adding another two tablespoons of flour.
I wish I’d seen Betsy’s comment at 401 before I tried this. I did use very firm pears, but perhaps should have let them roast a little longer till they were dryer. After they had cooled, there was a bit of sogginess to them. Also, I wish I’d added the butter first to the flour and worked it into crumbs, then added the wet ingredients, then the chocolate, and then lightly toss in the pears by hand. My mixer tore through all those lovely chunks before the dough could come together and I had a wet mess to work with (with no pear chunks!). Had to add a ton of flour before I had would you could call a dough. Oh well. My coworkers will have failed experiment scones, and they will like it. :)
I don’t have a stand mixer, but these worked just fine with a pastry cutter. I whisked the dry ingredients first, then cut in the butter with the cream and egg. I added the pear and chocolate at the end. They came out deliciously!
I just noticed that it says 1 lb of pears, but the metric measurement is marked as 255 g. That should be about 455 g instead.
That said, I can’t wait to eat these. They’re in the oven now!
You are correct; it was incorrect. Now fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
This recipe looks awesome. I finally decided to make them yesterday. I had a huge mishap. My ingredients never came together it was a cake like batter. What did I do wrong? I was thinking perhaps the pears I used were to large or ripe and didn’t weigh them first? What a mess I added more flour until I finally tossed the whole mess I created. Sad in LI NY. Although the baked pear smell through the house was yummy. ;)
Hi Laura — Can you tell me more about what you mean by it not coming together? Did it not bake through? Was there a lot of separation where the chocolate and pear ended up? Do you have a photo? I don’t mean to drill you with questions, heh, just want to help.
Hi Deb, Drill away ;) I used my Kitchen Aid mixer and after I had all of ingredients mixed it was loose like a cake batter. I kept adding more flour to try and “dry” it up thinking it would come together. (which of course we know is a no no) I added about 1+ cups of more flour and was able to get it out of the bowl but knew it was a goner at that point – don’t ask what happened next on the counter and my hands ;) more flour and it was wet/sticky. I wish I took a few pics now. hmmm well, rethinking that picture comment perhaps I should hang my head in shame rather than showing off the mess.
Yeah I had the same problem as Laura. It looks like a disaster. Wanted to have them for Christmas brunch but I seriously don’t know if they are even worth bringing up to my parents to bake (I work the overnight shift tonight.. boo, so I wanted to have the dough all ready to bake tomorrow morning.) Any pointers? Any way to salvage this batch?
Just made this recipe which I’ve wanted to try for ages. Prepped it all last night, froze it, and popped it in the oven this morning to be freshly baked for company. It was perfect. I don’t have a stand mixer so followed the advice of Betsy above — first cut in the butter by hand, then mix in the wet ingredients and pears, and finally fold in the chocolate. I did need a smidge of extra cream (maybe a tsp) to make it come together. Deb, your advice in comment 322 was spot on and probably saved me from messing up the scones, I followed it to the letter and just used flour and a quick roller to shape the dough and a spatula to transfer. They came out soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, just perfect!
I finally made these scones this morning. Having made your whole-wheat raspberry ricotta scones many times last summer I decided to use much the same technique on these – pastry blender instead of mixer. I added the roasted pears last so the chunks stayed pretty much intact. I had no problems at all with the dough being sticky or dry. I did not have to deviate at all from the quantities given in your recipe. The scones baked up nicely and were moist with a nice texture while still being crisp on the outside. I don’t care for egg wash on much of anything so I brushed the scones with a little cream then sprinkled with turbinado sugar. My doubting Thomas husband was once again won over by your recipe. He does not care for pears but said I could make this scone recipe anytime.
Thanks for the Recipe its quite new thing to make at home.. :)
Made these this morning for brunch with friends.
I just made by hand – cut butter into dry ingredients and folded in pear, egg, cream and chocolate chunks.
I use half and half 70% and 90% Lindt chocolate – so good! Not too sweet at all.
I also cut into 8 wedges and they were a good size – maybe even a bit large.
Thanks Deb for another winner!
Hi, quick question, how big are the butter pieces supposed to be? I put in half-inch size pieces that didn’t get battered down much in the mixer. There are big pieces still left.. will I have a problem when I bake these guys up? I guess I’ll soon find out!
Ally — I think you’ll be fine. How did it go?
Deb, it came out more than fine.. the BESTEST scone ever. You are a scone genius!!!
Pears and chocolate sound like quite a match! Yum!
I have made these a few time and just wanted to say Yum! They are so totally lush…what a treat!
Can I use buttermilk or greek yogurt instead of heavy cream?
These are delicious. Made them before as written with pears and chocolate. Recently I had two pounds of very ripe peaches on hand – so I decided to give the recipe a try with peaches instead. I left out the chocolate and added some ground nutmeg, they were amazing!!!
I have not tried this recipe (yet) but wanted to tell you that this post warmed my heart. It is so honest and funny, especially the description of the pear with the toddler mouth-sized bite removed. Thank you for sharing your recipes and blog!
I have made double batches of your blueberry scones more times than I can count, changing them up sometimes to raisin and cinnamon. These sound great and would, I imagine, work really well with that basic recipe, too.
Deb,
These taste amazing, thank you, but unfortunately they flattened out A LOT in the oven and came out looking more like cookies than scones.
Any idea why that may have happened? Overmixing? Butter that was too cold?
I would appreciate any tips!
These scones look delicious! It’s nice to know that despite your gorgeous photos your life is not perfect! It makes the rest of us feel better. I clicked on your blog because I love the name of it- and then some. Good luck with the book!
i made these scones on the morning of my 21st birthday because i had nothing else to do that day, being home on spring break and all. i followed the recipe to the t last year and it was then, after a large bowl of shashukah, that i realized that these were hands down my absolute favorite scones ever. probably nothing would beat these. they’re just too good to me.
fast-forward almost a year later to today and i realize, slowly, that i haven’t baked anything since the clock struck 2016. in the blur of 10 months it seems every recipe i’ve come across called for so much time and money, one of which i don’t really have, and the other too much of. so i came back to this one as i had some dark chocolate from trader joe’s and a hefty box of korean pears that my boyfriend gave my family for the new year. except this time i really made a mess of the recipe because i realized as i was whisking the dry ingredients together that i didn’t have 1. eggs 2. heavy cream 3. table salt (yea.. yea…..). i made do with almond beverage, low fat yogurt and rock salt and holy crap, deb, this recipe is indestructible. i’m enjoying each ridiculously sweet/salty/soft/crumbly bite i’m having, maybe more-so than i did the past 3 times i’ve made these. maybe. your original recipe is still spectacular, but maybe it’s the fact that i managed to salvage the mess that could have been and made it to something definitely memorable.
thank you for always inspiring all of us to bake and cook, and to enjoy them all the same. i hope 2016 has been well for you, and hope this year will be another year full of great creations. cheers!
Long time reader, first time caller :)
I’ve made these scones 4-5 times, always with the same result – an absolutely delicious scone, but (like many commenters here) only after wrangling hapless passersby to dump a full cup of flour on my hopelessly sticky hands once the soup-like dough was on the counter, in order to make it look even close to the photos of the divided dough.
I think I finally cracked the code yesterday by using straight-from-the-store, so-firm-I-wouldn’t-eat-them pears. Absolutely no extra flour needed to shape the dough, and an impossibly fluffy & moist scone. So if you’re having wet dough woes try using firmer pears and/or roasting them longer to dry them out.
Thanks so much for yet another unbelievably excellent recipe, Deb!
These look delicious. I was looking for something to bring to a friend, I’d be baking Tues night and flying out Wed so they would not be eaten until Thursday….. how were they when they weren’t completely fresh? Thanks!
When I saw this recipe that combined pears and chocolate, I knew I would make them. I made a mistake and used both eggs in the recipe, but it worked out. In fact, the scones were lighter, like angel biscuits. They are beautiful when baked. I most likely will make this recipe again and switch with using apples or blueberries. I also didn’t have any cream, but I substituted some Greek yogurt.
Hi…made these this morning and the batter was very liquid. Not at all what I expected from making other scones. I checked all the measurements. In turning the batter out, it went to an 8 inch round that was almost impossible to shape…and certainly no wedges. The resulting “scones” still had a nice flavor. I will give them another try just based on that.
I didn’t have cream, so used crema (Mexican cultured sour cream) instead… and made them more savory by using crumbled blue cheese instead of chocolate. Left the quarter cup of sugar in the dough, but sprinkled black pepper instead of sugar on top of the egg wash. They were delicious, and so very tender.
The dough is not coming together, much to soft.
It is in the refrigerator now, what did I do wrong?
HELP! My dough is incredibly sticky!! What do I do?
I think my pears were too wet, my batter was total slop, and so I added more flour and now the butter is melting all over the baking sheet. Yikes 😂 I think this might be my first SK disaster!
Don’t have heavy cream. Is there a substitute?
It’s less rich, but you can use milk.
These did not turn out for me. I suspect it is because I hand mixed instead of using the electric mixer. The butter melted all over the pan as it wasn’t properly incorporated into the flour, and the scones flattened instead of rising. The flavor was good, but the texture was all wrong for a scone. I just called them “pastries” and served them anyway.
OK, so I just took these out of the oven and got my first taste. The flavor is fantastic, but here’s the interesting part. I made a double batch. On one baking sheet they were perfect. On the other, I had the same problem as Julie: too much spreading and leaking butter. Other than doubling the recipe, I followed it exactly. Two possibilities I can come up with for this – could it have been the position in the oven? The batch that came out right started on the bottom rack – I switched them halfway through but at that point the problem was already apparent. Or, could it have been overmixing? The batch that spread too much was at the bottom of the stand mixer and when I went to take out that dough I noticed a little unincorporated flour mixture at the bottom – so I mixed it in really quickly before making the round. Deb, if you have time to comment on this one, what do you think?
Leaking butter is usually butter bits too large, doesn’t have to affect final texture or mean anything bad unless there’s so much butter loss that remaining pastry is tough. These scones do spread more than sturdier ones, I presume it’s the chunky ingredients and softer dough. If they’re spreading to the flatness of cookies or that they’re no longer scones, though, something else might be wrong.
I have made these scones for the past two weekends and I absolutely love this recipe! Because I also love chocolate I use almost an entire semi-sweet baking bar – roughly 3/4 cup of chopped chocolate – which really makes them decadent. The final product is just as pretty as it is delicious, and best when eaten straight out of the oven.
I love this recipe so much-and have made it a handful of times but it has never quite worked out for me until today, mostly because the pears always got beat to smithereens in my mixer. Operator error though for sure. But today, I started making these, realized I didn’t have any butter and substituted all cream (3/4 cup) instead. I also hand mixed it this time (easier with no butter) and was able to preserve the lovely chunks of roasted pears.
This looks amazing though I don’t have an electric mixer. If making this with hands should I mix flour sugar salt and butter first and put the rest after? I’m worry if I crush the pear while working on flour and butter if I put it first. Thanks.
Did you figure out whether doing it as you’ve suggested, when not using a mixer, works? My pears are in the oven now…I’m going to try as you suggest it and will report back!
Ok – I whisked the dry ingredients, then cut the butter in with two knives (couldn’t find my pastry cutter). Then I stirred in the wet ingredients, then the pear, then the chocolate. My dough was pretty wet and I probably overmixed. So I added flour at the turning out on a floured surface part, and hoped for the best. Even though my 6 pieces were more like wet blobs, I spaced them on the baking sheet and they did rise as well as spread a bit. Tasty delicious despite the wet batter!
This was a great recipe! Easy to follow and tasted amazing. I don’t have food processor or a kitchen aide mixer, so I just mixed with a spatula. Mixed until it was well combined. This may be why mine didn’t rise as pictured, but it still was yummy. Ended up cooking a tad longer until the tops of each scone was slightly brown. Will definitely make again.
Hi Deb! This is my first incurssion in one of your recipes. I made the scons, but the dough was so “creamy” and wet that was impossible to keep them shaped when transferring to the baking sheet. They sort of “melted” and completely lost shape and height. The taste vas delicious as well as the texture. What do you think that happened? Thanks a Lot!
I would like to remind all you wonderful food bloggers that not every home cook is fortunate enough to have all the bells and whistles that make your recipes turn out fabulous. Some of us do not own Kitchen Aid stand mixers with the paddle attachment and many of us do not own food processors. It would be very generous to include low-tech ways of proceeding with your recipes and I’ll bet that there would be far fewer “fails” if you provided alternatives for some of us country gals. Thank you for your consideration.
I‘ve made these without using a kitchen aid or a processor. Just used hand tools and a hand mixer. No biggie.
Of course, and I almost always try to. You do not need a stand mixer for this. The butter can be blended in by hand, with a pastry blender or your fingertips, as with any other biscuit or scone.
Good morning. I just had to send you a note of thanks for making me laugh my head off and turn my whole morning around. I am 100 years older than you but can recall so well those mornings- 3 under 4 in tow- when nothing was going to go the way I planned.
Your aspirations at hospitality match my desire to actually cook something that rises a notch above suspect. With a household comprised of 1 raging carnivore,1 vegan, 1gluten-free+ veggie , 1 veggie- only- possibly -fish- please- check -in- daily- to- confirm, and me, I just don’t care , I often want to just skip meals altogether and just move into whole foods – permanetly!
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to take heart and know you made this gal smile at a memory that I can now enjoy fondly but remember well what mess all around you can feel like in the moment. Your recipes are wonderful as is your writing and I bet you make those around you giggle daily. That means everything.
Warmly,
Deborah
My husband can’t do dairy. Do you think I could sub in almond milk for the heavy cream? Or coconut cream? Any ideas? These look amazing and I want them NOW haha
Should work just fine, good luck.
I just made these. I haven’t tasted them yet, but I’m sure they will be delicious. Same problem everyone else had with flattening of the scone and leaking butter. I cut the cold butter into 1cm squares.
May need to note that some pears can be very moist even after roasting so it would be wise to account for that extra moisture and perhaps not add all of the cream too the mix. Also I would suggest to incorporate the butter with the dry ingredients first and make sure the butter is the side of a pea or smaller, if you just cube it into “small” cubes it may end up melting during the baking process and you won’t get any rise out of them and will have a pool of butter on your baking sheet. I would add the pears after the butter is nicely broken into the flour and then slowly add the liquid ingredients. Also a big note everything has to be Cold and you have to work fast!
Thanks for the tips, Ira, I followed them and the dough is looking a lot better this time! We’ll see if there is still spreading.
I grate my butter, still frozen! Works every time.
I made these and they’re definitely good but not amazing like the cranberry scones (to which I also added chocolate chunks). Maybe my pears weren’t that great. I scaled up the recipe by 1.5 and weighed the ingredients, and even after adding extra cream it was a quite a bit more dry than I expected. I used a pastry cutter to cut in the butter before adding in the roasted pear, cream, and egg, and hand-mixed it after (which I think makes it easier not to over-mix. If I make this recipe again I think I might add some nutmeg or cinnamon to complement the pear.
I also shaped these into rounds by hand (without extra flour because they were already dry) and made them smaller than the recipe calls for. They baked up in a little less than 20 mins, and didn’t lose their shape or height.
I’m actually really upset with this recipe. My dough was way too creamy – it wasn’t scone consistency at all. It was more like cupcake batter. I added flour to try and make it workable, but it didn’t help. I bake scones for my work week breakfast every Sunday and I was really excited about this new variety. But now I just wasted a lot of time and I am going to have to start over and make something else. When you work as many hours as I do, this sort of disappointment makes you want to burn your kitchen to the ground.
The gram measurement for flour is very inaccurate. Instead of 190 grams it should be 230 based on using 1 1/2 cups. Made the apple cheddar ones with 190 and they were far too wet.
Like others have said, this time we mixed in the butter with the dry ingredients first and did not use a stand mixer. This combined with the larger flour measurement made a good consistency dough.
Can I double the recipe in one batch? Thanks!
Shouldn’t be a problem.
Like some others have pointed out, I had to add a LOT more flour to this recipe. I usually judge by the photos to see if I’m “getting it right”, and there was no way that the batter would have stuck to paddle of my stand mixer like in the photo. Is there a chance that this should have been 2 1/2 cups instead of 1 1/2 cups of flour?
It’s totally correct. It’s a soft dough, especially as the pears are added. But it bakes up beautifully. Be careful not to work the pears too much in.
It still doesn’t look like the picture with the paddle in the stand mixer, but…
next time I’ll trust in the process and see if it works better. (This is the only one of your recipes I’ve ever had trouble with!)
I hate dragging out my huge mixer so mixed dry ingredients in food processor then added cold butter and pulsed just enough to incorporate…then did the rest by hand…like I do with other scone recipes. Worked great…these are amazing!
I made these and mine didn’t turn out that well, I’m really not sure where I went wrong. They didn’t rise very much at all! Would this have been from over mixing??
Deb, I’m so sad. I’ve tried making these twice now and both times the dough has been more like a batter. This time I even added extra flour. They are so gooey that there is no way I can get it into a mound on the counter, let alone sliced. It’s like trying to slice room temp cookie batter.
Any tips?! Mine look nothing like yours.. this second time I resorted to scooping them out and making mini scones with a spoon.
Plus side- the taste and texture seem totally fine.
It’s definitely soft. Just get it in the approximate shape, try not to work flour *into* the dough, just use it to move it around. And don’t mix much. The wetness of the pears will make it worse.
I’m making these now and my dough is also very wet. I suspect it’s the pears. Looking at her pears I suspect they aren’t very ripe and are quite firm this much drier. My pears were slightly firm, but definitely not very firm and they definitely let out moisture into the batter and didn’t hold up into the big chunks of her pictures. Mine are still in the oven but if they’re good I’ll just try to adjust for ripeness better next time.
Not sure what happened with my batch but didn’t hold as a dough and baked out as flat cookie looking discs. Was there meant to be any leavening agent in these?
Deb,
After reading all the remarks, I went for it. The only thing I did differently was to bake them in a ceramic scone dish. It was a gift. I thought if they were going to flatten or run, best to contain them. They are beautiful! Wonderful. Thank you for this great treat.
This is one of my favorite recipes!! Do you think roasted strawberries would work instead of pears? I know berries have more liquid, but maybe they’d be okay after roasting?
I made them! I was thinkng about these scones since August but waited for pears season to begin. I thought I’d mess them up because a lot of people have commented they had problems but everything went great. I followed the recipe except I mixed everything by hand. They are lovely. Thanks :)
Hello all, I made these this weekend , as I was hankering after a lovely treat for myself after a hard week. They were lovely! Crispy tops and plush interior. I roasted the pears the day before and kept them in the fridge. Ran out of cream so used a tablespoon of yogurt thinned with some milk. I used my tried and tested food processor method for scones- pulse the butter with the dry ingredients and then add the wet and pulse 1-2 times. Then added the pears and chocolate and pulsed again. Minimally handled the dough, and cut them into wedges and froze them. Baked them from frozen as Deb suggested for 32min and I was in scone heaven :):)
Going to try these, since I loved Deb’s Cinnamon Sugar scones, but want to try them pairing the roasted pears with “Ginger Chips,” instead of the chocolate. I’ve had these two together in muffins, and the flavors really are great together; bet they’d be good in a biscuit-like scone too.
These were a disaster! I prepared the pears exactly as instructed and they were firm but not raw. They were roasted as directed along with apples for the apple/cheddar scones. Well, you should have specified that the pears could be too moist and need longer drying times ! The dough was wet, wet, wet even with additional flour! I ended up scooping them onto a cookie sheet, but with all the added flour they did not taste very good. The Apple /cheddar scones were perfect and this was my second time making them so I assumed that the pears would behave the same way. A waste of time and money for this not so cheap recipe!
I made these and they came out beautiful and delicious! Definitely a family favorite now!
I want to make them but am scared because of all the comments about how they were too wet and just came out flat- do you know how you avoided this?0
They are delicious. I used Bosc pears, dark chocolate chips, and grated frozen butter in the recipe. They are very tender scones.
I just keep making these over and over again. I think I loved them best when I froze them first, but usually I just can’t wait to bake them and eat them! I tried Asian pears last Summer and they were fantastic!
Thank You Smitten Kitchen 👌👌👌👌these are without a doubt the the best scones I have ever made Chocolate/Pear wow 🤩
I used this dough base but added toasted sliced almonds and cherries (from our cherry tree!) and they were amazing! My dough ended up being really wet even after adding a little extra flour, in part because the cherries were pretty juicy. I persisted and patted out a very sticky circle on some wax paper and cut them like a pizza. They sort of blobbed back together at the cuts because they were so wet, but I just wrapped the wax paper around the entire thing and popped it in the freezer. The next morning I was able to snap the dough at the cuts and bake them with no issues. Instead of the egg glaze, I used a vanilla/milk/powdered sugar drizzle over the top after they were partly cooled. They were delicious enough that I just made them again – this time quintupling the recipe and freezing the dough, in order to use the rest of the cherries before they go bad. These might not be a favorite for crumbly scone purists, but they were absolutely delicious!
Just made these and they’re good. Found the dough to be quite soft and sticky, but liberally flouring the counter and top of the dough helped a lot. I cut them out into circles. I also skipped the roasting of the pears and just used them raw. My scones turned out a little rubbery, but I think it’s because I only had half and half and not cream.
Unfortunately I had similar problems as others – the dough was extremely moist and the scones turned out very flat. I wish I had read the comments first and added extra flour, or stuck with the “very blueberry scones”, which turned out great.
Holy hell these are good! Followed the recipe exactly-ish – at the last minute I thought my butter cubes might be too big so I gently worked them into the flour with my fingers just a bit before using the mixer. First bite of the warm scone straight out of the oven and my arms shot in the air with sweet victory 💞
Longtime visitor and fan, first comment, whoo!! The perfect scone texture eluded me over a few recipes, until this recipe. These were FLAKY. Light. Bf and I inhaled ours so fast that the coffee supposed to accompany them was still brewing by the time we finished (oops). I grated frozen butter in as per advice from elsewhere.
I made them from frozen and they cooked perfectly in 32 min. They didn’t rise and burst forth in the Hulk-like levels of Deb’s photos (those things are ripped!), but sort of primly kept an even surface, which was a bit disappointing. Next time will try from fresh dough and see if any different, and keep disk thicker.
One thing: I found the chocolate level a wee bit on the wimpy side…could be bc I used chips instead of chunks? If chips, maybe double? They just sort of got dispersed in the dough, so that you’d run into one sporadically, “oh RIGHT you’re here”…not how it should be with chocolate in my book! Oh and the chocolate sort of didn’t melt in the oven, which was weird (though remember, cooked from frozen), but not a deal breaker.
I made these for the first time today and like most of the other commenters, the dough was SUPER wet. I don’t have a stand up mixer so just used my electric beaters, and I added the pear after I mixed the rest of the batter. Even carefully hand mixing in the pears and chocolate, the pears turned to mush thereby releasing all their moisture into the batter. I ended up adding about another cup of flour until it was “scone” consistency.
I like my scones a little bit on the smaller side, so I turned the batter out into two rounds and cut them up into 6 for a total of 12 scones. I skipped the egg wash because I’m running low on eggs, but they turned out great! They are more like pear sauce scones because there are no discernible chunks of pear in them, but the flavor is good. As others have mentioned, the chocolate is a bit light, I might put in 1/3rd to 1/2 a cup instead.
I’ve made these a number of times over the past few years, and have made them twice this month alone – they’re so good! I’ve used firm Bartlett pears and haven’t had any issues with the dough being too wet. I don’t have a stand mixer so I use a hand mixer to mix the dough partway, and then I mix it by hand the rest of the way.
Scones came out perfectly for me. I recommend following a couple of Deb’s instructions from the apple and cheddar scone recipe that should apply here, specifically about chopping up the roasted fruit, and how to add in the ingredients when hand mixing.
I have made these multiple times and I’m surprised by all the comments by people saying they don’t work! Leave the butter chunks large, and I’ve always frozen the unbaked scones overnight and cooked from frozen in the morning, which I’m guessing will solve some of the melting complaints. Today I used buttermilk instead of heavy cream and they were still perfect, so I’ll continue making that substitution in the future. I also quartered and roasted the pears in advance this time, and then took them from the fridge and chopped them before incorporating. Worked fine. This time it seemed like I had WAY too much pear for the amount of dough, but I scooped them into little mounds and they baked up nicely with the dough rising around the pear and chocolate chunks.
Can you double this recipe?
Yes
This is the first SK recipe that hasn’t worked for me. I used a scale for ingredients, used only 2 pears, and the dough was so wet it was like cake batter. I added in at least 60g of flour and had a consistency that I could at least use as drop scones. Next time I’d add the butter first and fold in the pears with the chocolate so they don’t get so beaten up and make the dough even wetter.
I’m an experienced baker but these were a disaster. The butter separated during baking, ran all over the sheet pan and left the scones flat as pancakes. Any suggestions as to what went wrong? The butter, already cut into bits, the egg and cream cake right from fridge.
These scones were so easy to make! The recipe was spot on and very clear. My kitchen smells amazing and the scones are delicious!
A great recipe for chocolate chip pear cookies! Scones… not so much. I used grated frozen butter, followed the recipe exactly, added extra flour aaaand got cake batter. Still very tasty but nothing like a scone. First time an SK recipe hasn’t worked for me.
These worked perfectly for me! I baked straight from the freezer the next day and the texture is so perfect and light, a delight.
Tips for those not used to working with wet scone dough: get your *hands* and the surface floury.
Dough is wet, but your floury hands will help pat it into the round.
Cut into 6ths with a LARGE knife, I used a carving knife. Then you just make one straight cut across the dough and aren’t dragging which makes it hard for triangles to keep their shape.
I transfer the dough to a baking sheet for flash freezing with a *spatula* so the triangles don’t fall apart before freezing.
This isn’t a cut out scone dough. You don’t want to handle the dough hardly at all. Hands off!
I baked 30 min at 375 straight from freezer with egg wash.
Thanks Deb!
Happy New Year! Finally made these. Used about 2/3 barley flour and 1/3 whole wheat flour, because that’s what I do, and used lite coconut milk and earth balance because I can’t do dairy. Accidentally forgot the egg and when mixing they were dry I added more coconut milk…and only then realized my mistake…and then proceeded to incorporate the egg by hand. We love them.
Even though we can’t host people yet, can I still pat myself on the back?
I made these despite the mixed reviews and I’m so glad I did! They turned out perfectly for me. Here’s what I did to avoid wet dough:
1. Chose quite firm pears
2. Dusted them with cinnamon before roasting (who knows if this did anything but it was delicious!)
3. Let them cool 100% completely, no question. I sat them out while I did an hour of yoga and came back to them.
4. Grated frozen butter into the dough
5. Mixed the butter in, then the egg, then folded the pears in, followed by the cream and the chocolate. I did it by hand because I don’t have a mixer. The pears stayed nice and chunky this way. I actually had to add a little extra cream to help it come together.
6. Froze the scones and baked from frozen the next morning.
Hopefully this helps anyone intrigued by the flavors but wary of the recipe! They turned out huge and fluffy and not dry at all, which is always my scone worry. Bakery worthy for sure.
Just popping on here to add to the (very) long list of reviews for this recipe, which I should have read before making these. Like some of the bakers here, I took a look at my dough after adding in all the pears and chocolate and liquids and thought “there is something wrong here for sure.” It was WAY too wet. So I kept adding more and after about 1/2 cup more the texture was not really improving. So I decided to make them in muffin tins since I knew I could never shape these into scones. Long story short, DON’T do that, they turned out very claggy and not pleasant in the mouth. I think my main flaw was choosing ripe pears (they should def be on the firm side) and not waiting for them to cool all the way. Also highly recommend doing this by hand so you won’t run into the fear of over-mixing them.
Sighhh. I should have read the recipe more carefully, and the comments. FIRM pears. Properly cooled after roasting, so the batter and the butter is cold enough as it goes into the oven… Probably I should have roasted my pears a little longer to evaporate more moisture out of them as well. Moisture content in fruit is always an important variable and I knew that…but they looked so good, I ignored the fact that as I peeled my pears, they oozed liquid and were starting to get mushy in my hand. Mine did the same thing as others with the wet creamy batter, soo much spreading and butter leaking out. Totally going to the store for better pears, for batch two. Also I might go easier on the egg wash.
Hi, Deb – I made these today and really struggled with the wetness of the dough, despite using lots of flour on my silpat to pat out the circle. Transferring the scones to my cookie sheet was nearly impossible. They were a bit of a mess, so I tried to reshape them before baking. They’re in the oven now and appear to be flattening. Any suggestions? Thanks so much!
How were they when they baked up? It’s a soft dough — and if your pears were very soft or juicy/ripe, it might have been more of a struggle — but it should bake up beautifully.
can pistachios, chopped, be added?
Sure!
Made these with walnuts instead of chocolate chips (didn’t add any additional sugar) and they were delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness for us. They freeze, and bake from frozen, very well.
Love this recipe and will definitely make it.
Question: why put the scones in the freezer over night? Wouldn’t it work just as well to keep the dough in the fridge? It would reduce the baking time.
These were a nightmare. My pears were ripe, so once roasted they added too much liquid. For me, this was a batter, not a dough. They kind of turned into a drop biscuit. Definitely not a scone. Smitten kitchen recipes never work for me!
I have had oodles of success with SK recipes over the years. I’ve also had my eye on this recipe as I love pears. This recipe also completely stumped me! I read the recipe and instructions thoroughly, but failed to read the comments/reviews. I roasted the pears and let cool at room temp. Added the pears slowly to stand mixer and ended up only using half of the pears bc it became far too wet! Additionally, I used the weighted measurements and cut the butter into small cubes. Attempted to salvage by plopping the batter onto a baking sheet – baked well and tasted delicious, but looked like cookies/muffin-tops! If I attempt these again, I will try to mix by hand, incorporate butter ahead of other wet ingredients, and use firmer pears/roast longer? (The pears I used were pretty firm!)
This is such a stellar scone recipe, I recommend it to everyone I know. Makes a lovely moist and tender scone, guests are always impressed! I try to keep a batch in the freezer for on the fly treats. I also love the apple/cheddar version. I didn’t have quite enough pear the last time I made these and used crystallized ginger to make up the correct weight, and nobody was mad about that. Pear, ginger, chocolate is my all time favorite combo.
Also wish I’d read the comments! Super super wet dough. Might have still turned out ok but 30 minutes was way too long and they were overbaked. A shame!
Here’s how I worked with the wet dough: I roasted the pears on a Silpat and left them on the mat to cool in the fridge. I worked the butter, cream and egg into the four mixture, then added the pears and chocolate at the end. That way the pears retained their shape and didn’t mush-up the dough. (I also sprinkled a bit of cinnamon in the flour mixture because it’s freakin’ Fall!!)
Then I floured the same Silpat on the same baking sheet, dumped on the dough, patted into a circle and could easily cut and sort of scooted apart the scones with my knife.
I find the Silpat much easier to use than parchment.
I baked these from frozen, adding the egg wash and sugar when they were still frozen. There was some liquid on the parchment when they came out of the oven, to the point where I was worried about soggy bottoms. When they came out of the oven, I got them off of the wet parchment and put them straight on the metal sheet to dry out the bottoms. Do we think it was from the egg wash? Or water from the pears? Or melted butter chunks?
Another smashing success from Smitten Kitchen! I grated frozen butter per another commenter’s suggestion and froze the cut scones overnight. Yes, the dough was wet when cutting and a bit different to work with but they baked beautifully from frozen (about 33 minutes) and were absolutely divine. Cannot wait to make again.
My scone baking hack is to grate recipe-size amounts of butter and freeze in freezer bags. That way, when the scone baking urge strikes, I have the butter ready to cut into the flour.
ok admittedly I am on an SK cooking binge this month… I just put these in the oven and I wanted to share that I read all the comments and was very concerned about what I’d do if the batter was wet and messy… and it was not. At all. It shaped easily into a 6 in round and cut easily into triangles.
-I used very firm Bosc (brown) pears that I probably would have considered too unripe to eat
-I roasted them for 30 min not 20 and floured them a little before putting them in the batter
-I added them last, with the chocolate chunks
-I grated very cold butter in and then used my fingertips/two knives. It was actually crumbly and I worried it would be TOO dry!
Will update when they come out.
Also! They seemed pretty definitely done at 25 min in an oven that was at 375 that long (but mine seems to run hot). I hope I’m right. They look gorgeous!
Hi Everyone! I have made these several times now and I have had some of the problems listed, such as a very wet dough and butter leaking during baking. After several tries, I think I have mitigated the issues I was having. I kept trying because I love the flavor of these scones (I also add some cardamom.) My solutions have been to:
–After whisking the flour, baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar and salt together, I cut the butter in by itself. Once this is thoroughly mixed and in tiny tiny pieces, then and only then do I add the pears, heavy cream, and egg. For me, adding these ingredients in with the butter prevented the butter from mixing properly every single time.
–The dough is still very wet. I have found that these bake up beautifully if you use an ice cream scooper to make drop scones. For me, this dough just never comes together enough to gather it on a floured surface and cut into wedges. But as a drop scone, it works great!
I made these for Christmas and they were delicious. I was wary after reading the comments about the consistency of the dough. Many people said their dough was too wet. After I roasted them, the Pears were dry enough and not giving off liquid. I used a liquid measuring cup for the heavy cream and slowly poured it in while mixing. Dough came together after adding only need 1/8th cup! Not sure why that is but the scones came out beautifully and tasted delicious. Make this recipe for sure but watch your liquid as you add.