Caramel Apple Scones

I still have a bag of apples from my parents' farm that I'm slowly baking my way through. It's taking a while, though, since most recipes call for only a couple apples unlike when I made the two giant feed sacks of apples into applesauce.

These scones from Recipe Girl are a good use for a few apples. I adored the caramel drizzle but found the scones themselves to taste a bit too much like baking soda. Perhaps some tweaking to be done there. Or I'll just make the drizzle.

Caramel Apple Scones

Apples
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large Gala or Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped finely
1 tsp. cinnamon
Dough
3 cups Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
1 cup Greek vanilla yogurt
Caramel Icing
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 to 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat mat or parchment paper. To prepare the apples, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the apples. Stir and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until apples are softened. Stir in the cinnamon, and set the apples aside to cool (or to speed up the cooling process, remove them from the heated pan and into a bowl).

In the bowl of a mixer, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Add the butter, and mix again until coarse crumbs form. Stir in the yogurt and apples until the dough comes together. (It will be dry, so you may need to eventually use your hands.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form roughly a 14 x 4-inch flattened log. Use a sharp knife to cut triangle-shaped scones (11 or 12). Gently pull the triangles apart, and set them on your prepared baking sheet in the same rectangular shape, leaving about 1/2-inch between scones. When they bake, they'll have some room to spread and crowd into each other.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are cooked through and no longer doughy in the middle. Let the scones cool for a few minutes, and then gently coax them apart with a knife and move them to a rack over a baking sheet.

In small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and cool the mixture slightly. Stir in the vanilla and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add up to 1/4 cup more powdered sugar for desired consistency. Drizzle icing over warm scones. Makes 11 to 12 scones.