Maple Oat Scones with Pecan Crumb Topping

I've been on a scone jag recently. And this recipe is my new favorite. These scones taste like you magically transformed a stack of pancakes with maple syrup and toasted pecans into a scone. This is because I used a slightly obscene amount of maple extract: 2 1/2  tablespoons total. I am placing an Amazon order soon just for a good extract for these scones. They're so crumbly and comforting and perfect with coffee or tea. They are also pretty forgiving in terms of substitutions. In this recipe you could use whole oats or oat flour or maybe even leftover oatmeal. You could use whatever type of nut you prefer. Next time I'm gonna sub buttermilk for the cream for an even more pancake-y flavor. The possibilities are endless.

To make the dough you mix all your dry ingredients together in one bowl and all your wet ingredients together in another bowl. 

Then you cut the butter into the dry mixture. A pastry blender is super handy for this:

Then you stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until the dough just forms. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and mold it into a circle about 8-10" wide:

Then you cut the dough into 8 pieces like a pizza and add the topping and put the scones on a greased cookie sheet:

Getting the topping on is actually the hardest part of this recipe. It's gonna look like way too much, but because the tops of the scones expand quite a bit it's not. Make sure you put the crumble topping on before you transfer them to the baking sheet and pick up any stray clumps of sugar that fall off otherwise you'll end up with burnt topping all over your baking sheet (I speak from experience here). Bake them at 425 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. And voila! The perfect sidekick to a cup of coffee/breakfast treat/afternoon snack/dessert:

Maple Oat Scones with Pecan Crumb Topping
Yields 8 scones
(Adapted from Charmie777"s Recipe)

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup oats
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1/2 cup half and half or cream (you could probably safely sub whole milk or buttermilk too)
2 tablespoons maple extract
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (if you don't have honest to goodness pure maple syrup, just sub 2 more tablespoons of sugar)

For the Topping:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon maple extract
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. In a bowl, make the topping. Stir the brown sugar, extract, and flour together. Cut in the butter and then stir in the nuts.

2. For the dough, mix all the dry ingredients except the butter in one bowl. In another bowl mix together all the wet ingredients.

3. Cut the butter into the dry mixture and then mix the wet ingredients into the dry until a dough just forms.

4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and mold into an 8-10 inch circle. Cut into 8 pieces and press the topping over the tops of the scones.

5. Transfer the scones to a greased baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until light brown.