Caprese-Pesto Pinwheel Savory Scones – photo tutorial

Caprese-Pesto Pinwheel Savory Scones have all the wonderful flavors of a caprese salad. They are light, moist and filled with a delicious pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella throughout each scone. You can enjoy these delicious savory scones for brunch, a light lunch or dinner with a salad, or an any time of the day snack.

Let’s BAKE!

INGREDIENTS:

PESTO

1 cup fresh basil, packed tightly
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons shredded parmigiano cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

SCONE DOUGH

8 tablespoons butter
2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

FILLING

6 slices mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed, drained, blotted with paper towel, and coarsely chopped

TOPPING

1 egg
2 tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons shredded parmigiano cheese

DIRECTIONS:

PESTO: After I the first time I made my own pesto, I have never gone back to buying pesto at a store. Pesto is so easy to make, and I seem to always have the ingredients on hand. In a food processor, combine basil pine nuts, 2 Tbsp. parmigiano cheese, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. Process until smooth, scraping sides. Drizzle olive oil through food chute with food processor on, process until well blended. You may need more, or less olive oil to make your pesto creamy and ready to spread on your dough. Set pesto aside.

SCONE DOUGH: Preheat oven to 400 degree F. I always start my scones by grating the butter and putting the grated butter in the freezer for a few minutes while I get my dry ingredients together. This way the butter is just the right size for mixing into the dry ingredients, while keeping the butter as cold as possible. When you bake your scones, the cold butter will create steam before it starts to melt, and that steam will create wonderful pockets of flakiness in your scones.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Stir in frozen butter. Because we grated the butter, we can just stir in the butter.

Whisk together 1 Tbsp. pesto, which will add a wonderful pesto flavor to the scone dough, and buttermilk; add to dry ingredients. Mix until just together (do not overmix).

Place dough on a heavy floured board and pat into a square. Roll out into a 12″ square. Fold into thirds, and then fold into thirds the other direction (you should have a square again). Because we have handled the dough and the butter is starting to warm up, put the dough on a floured plate and put into the freezer uncovered for 5 minutes, which will help keep the butter cold.

FILLING: Remove dough from freezer and roll dough into 12″ square. Now it’s time to add the wonderful caprese-pesto filling. Brush entire dough with remaining pesto.

Sprinkle pesto-covered dough with the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes have too much moisture which ruins the texture of the scones, so use sun-dried tomatoes. Lay mozzarella slices evenly over the top part of the dough. As you can see in the photo, I lay the mozzarella on the top part of the dough because it will slide a little as you roll the dough. I like using sliced mozzarella because it melts evenly throughout the scones as they bake, giving you a soft, cheesy layer in the scones. Roll dough into a tight log (like a cinnamon roll).

Cut log into 12 equal pieces. Place cut-side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

TOPPING: Brush tops with 1 beaten egg, which helps give the scones a nice golden brown color. Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp.finely grated parmigiano and 2 Tbsp finely grated mozzarella, which gives the scones another dimension of cheesy goodness.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15-18 minutes (until golden brown and delicious). Remove scones with parchment from baking sheet; cool on cooling rack for 5 minutes, finely grate additional parmigiano on the tops of the rolls, to taste.