BEST Sweet Potato & Spinach Savory Scones

I know it's not really scone season, winter seems to be the time to bake them, but every once in a while I like to have a scone.
So different from my usual cakes, scones seem so special.

I put SCONES in my search bar on the blog and so many good recipes came up.....strawberry basil rhubarb; date bacon; lemon poppy.....the list goes on and on.

I have had good luck baking scones. Whether I make them into little biscuits (easier method) or cut them into triangles, they always come out tasty and flaky moist.

I'm sorry to keep talking about heavy cream, but it's the secret ingredient in scones! Just like my dopey quiches, the heavy cream yields a beautiful texture when baking scones & quiche.

I was in the mood for savory scones, and this combo fit the bill. There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but I promise, these will be the best scones ever.

Scones can be tricky, unless you cut bake individual scones (biscuit method).
Since I like to make a disc, and cut them like a pie, it takes a little more patience and practice.
I had to keep an eye on mine and keep on cutting into them to insure they didn't fuse together in the circle towards the end of baking.

My usual baking time for scones is 20 minutes at 400F, but these big guys needed more time.

Here's how to bake them:

Best Savory Sweet-Potato & Spinach Scones (makes 8-10 scones)

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring work surface
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup plus a tbsp of granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
8 grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
10 tbsp cold, cubed unsalted butter, cut into small dice
a big bunch of leafy spinach (NOT baby spinach)
1 yellow onion or leek, sliced thin
1 roasted sweet potato (I cooked mine in the microwave!), peeled and diced
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (you can use feta or Gruyere)

Start by cooking the spinach with sliced onion in olive oil, seasoned with kosher salt, just a few minutes on low heat, until the spinach is wilted and the onion is translucent.
Add your cook and cubed sweet potato to this mixture and set aside.

Mix your dry ingredients and thyme into a large bowl and add in the 10 tbsp of cold butter, that have been cut into little pieces.
You will need to use your hands here, there is no other way, sorry. It's messy.

Start mixing the flour mixture w/ butter, using your fingers to incorporate the butter and flour. Keep pinching between your fingers until the butter is all mixed in with the flour. This will take about 5 minutes or so.

Add in your egg, Parmesan cheese and heavy cream and mix together.

Add in the cooled spinach, onion and sweet potato and give it another mix. The dough will hard to mix, but use your muscles.

Next step: Dump this mixture out onto a piece of parchment paper on a cutting board, and keep kneading, about 8 times, until a nice big ball of dough forms.

Put in fridge for 15 minutes to firm up and cool.

Now is the time to decide do you want to make individual round biscuit shape scones? Or triangle scones from one big round flat dough.

I like the look of the triangles, but there's more work involved.

Lay your cooled flattened disk of dough on a parchment lined sheet pan and with a wet sharp knife, cut into 8-10 pieces. Brush with an egg wash (1 egg and 1 tbsp heavy cream).

Bake 25-30 minutes at 400F. You will have to cut the pie into eighths again 10 minutes before the scones are finished. Use a wet knife to make the cuts, so the uncooked dough doesn't stick to the knife.

*Another method would be to cut the dough with a 4" round biscuit cutter and brush with the egg wash.
These will look more like biscuits, but you won't have to cut into the dough again during the baking......and the baking time will be less. More like 20 minutes.

The scones will be golden, but still have some give when you press down on them (you don't want them dry). Let cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

These are very big scones, so you might get 10 out of the deal.

They freeze beautifully and make a delicious lunch with a salad or on their own.

You can play around with the recipe; add in cheddar and bacon with the spinach, or kale and squash instead of the sweet potato, but this combination is a winner!

I hope you try them.