Banana Scones with Walnuts and Maple Glaze

What to do with all those ripe bananas! While I love a delicious banana bread recipe, using up ripe bananas for loaves and muffins gets a little monotonous, so I went in a slightly different direction and baked up some banana scones. They resemble the breads and muffins that I usually make with all those leftover bananas, but they are toasted and slightly crunchy on the outside while remaining flaky and moist on the inside. Toasted oatmeal and lemon/blueberry scones have always been my favorite go-to scone recipe, however, after baking up a batch of these beauties, I think this recipe is now at the top of my scone list!

(If you own a kitchen scale, I always recommend weighing your ingredients when given the option, for more precise measurements. Weighted measurements are included for this recipe.)

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large ripe bananas)
• 1/4 cup (60g) plain Greek yogurt (or any plain yogurt or sour cream)
• 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 and 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour 
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 Tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, frozen
• 1 cup (125g) chopped walnuts (optional) *as another option, add the walnuts in with the maple glaze to top the scones instead of mixing in the batter)
• top before baking: 3 Tablespoons (45ml) milk and coarse sugar (I like to use Demerara sugar)

Maple Glaze

• 2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup
• 1 cup (112g) sifted confectioners’ sugar

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F . Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the mashed bananas, yogurt, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract together. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. Grate the frozen butter (I use a box grater to grate it; a food processor also works for grating). Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with a pastry cutter, two forks, a food processor, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
4. Drizzle wet ingredients over flour mixture, add the walnuts and then toss the mixture together with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Try your best to not overwork the dough at any point. The dough will be sticky and a little wet.
5. For this step, I prefer to flour a work surface and shape the entire batter into a circle (flour your hands to keep the dough from sticking.) Use a flowered knife to cut the dough into eight equal pieces and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Alternately, you can drop 1/4 cup of dough each, at least 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet for free form shaped scones. Brush scones with milk, then top with a little coarse sugar, if desired, for extra crunch.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and cool as you make the icing.
7. Make the icing: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and maple syrup together, whisking occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and whisk in the sifted confectioners’ sugar. (Stir in chopped walnuts if you prefer to use them in your icing instead of inside the batter.) Drizzle over scones.
8. Scones are best enjoyed right away, though leftover scones keep well at room temperature or in the refrigerator for about 3-5 days.

recipe credit: Sally’s Baking Addiction

photo credit: Rose Kesting