Wake and Bake
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[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

All the flavors of carrot cake, in breakfast form.

About the author: Carrie Vasios is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios

Every recipe we publish is tested, tasted, and Serious Eats-approved by our staff. Never miss a recipe again by following @SeriousRecipes on Twitter!

Ingredients

  • For Scones
  • 2 1/2 cups (13 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup grated carrots, squeezed between two paper towels to get out excess moisture
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/4 cup diced candied ginger
  •  
  • For Icing
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Milk

Procedures

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Grease pan with butter.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter to cut in butter until it is the size of peas. Add buttermilk and stir until dough forms. Stir in carrots, raisins, walnuts, and ginger. Pat dough evenly into prepared pan. Score top lightly with a knife to make 8 wedges. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to completely.

  3. For Icing: In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add milk by the tablespoon if too thick, until desired spreadable consistency is reached. Cut scones along score marks then top with icing.