Avocado-Bacon Scones with Smokey Tomato Butter

The challenge: to create an original recipe showcasing avocados from Mexico in a new and different way. No tacos, no cilantro, no salsa....emphasis on new and different. Was I up for it? You betcha! Did I know what I was doing. No way! Did it work anyway? Yup!

It's funny how I go about creating recipes sometimes. I think up a name first. Scones were on my mind lately--I had just had a really tasty, albeit caloric little sucker, from, of all places, Target. They carry little mini-scones in some pretty tasty variations. So, as I was digesting my tasty little morsel (honey-almond, I believe), I was thinking about how I could make an avocado into a scone. It would have to be savory and have a really cool sounding spread to go on top. Hmmm....avocados, tomatoes, bacon, onions, chives....I could make this work. Plus---avocados (from Mexico!) were on sale for a dollar apiece! The fates were with me.....

Truth be told, I've never in my life made a scone. This meant that a little research was in order. Oh, I googled "avocado scone" and nothing much came up (which was kind of good, seeing that this had to be original). I figured that avocados kind of had the consistency of a banana, so I started there. When it was all said and done, this is what I came up with:

Avocado-Bacon Scones with Smokey Tomato Butter

• Smokey Tomato Butter
• 1 plum tomato
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon chopped chives
• ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• Avocado-Bacon Scones
• 4 thick slices bacon
• 1 ripe avocado
• ½ cup buttermilk, plus 2 tablespoons for brushing
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• Coarse salt for sprinkling

Cut an X into the bottom of the tomato. Blanche the tomato in a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water. Peel and core the tomato, remove the seeds and chop coarsely. Place the chopped tomato into the bowl of a food processor, along with ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon chives, ½ teaspoon liquid smoke and ¼ teaspoon sea salt. Pulse until well-blended. Set aside.

My daughter gave me a food processor for Mother's Day....I had to put it to good use. I imagine that you could blend the butter mixture with a hand mixer or a blender.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Fry the bacon until crisp; crumble and set aside.

Mash the avocado in a small bowl; stir in 1/2 cup buttermilk and the chives.

Into a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt; add the butter and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

I also used the food processor to blend the butter into the flour mixture...I went ahead and put the bacon and chives in with the flour and blended it all together. I'm guessing that not everyone will want to use a food processor, though, so I wrote the recipe as if I still didn't have one.

Stir in the crumbled bacon and then add the avocado mixture, stirring until the mixture is sticky, yet manageable. If the dough is too sticky, add additional flour, one tablespoon at a time. If too dry, add more buttermilk. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for just a few seconds. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into a circle, about 6 inches in diameter. Place the circles of dough on a large baking sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and separate slightly. Brush each wedge with buttermilk and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Many of the scone recipes I was looking at used heavy cream to make a nice crumb. I chose buttermilk since the avocado provides some good healthy fats (we'll ignore the fact that I also put bacon and butter in there, lol).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just starting to turn brown. Serve warm with tomato butter.

They weren't as green as I thought they would be. Probably a good thing....

All in all, a pretty tasty little appetizer....or bread course to serve with a salad....or a good side to have with soup....