Here’s another item to file under: Necessity is the mother of invention. I wanted to bring scones to a morning meeting, but I was out of eggs, and I didn’t want to run to the grocery store. I googled “breakfast, no eggs” and the first recipe that came up was epicurious.com’s Bacon and date scones.

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I was a little nervous they’d be a little dry without the additional liquid from the eggs, but they were the perfect recipe for the day. I had all the ingredients. As a bonus, it had the sweet-and-savory combination that I love, like cranberry-spinach salad, strawberry-spinach salad with blue cheese, brie en croute with any number of sweet insides (another blog at another time), sweet hot chicken with snow peas, sweet hot shrimp with broccoli, sweet hot tofu, and last, but not least, roasted sausage and grapes with garlic mashed potatoes (also another blog at another time).

Savory bacon and dates scones
adapted from epicurious.com

10 ozs thick-cut bacon slices
2 c all purpose flour
¼ c sugar
1 t vanilla
1½ t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
½ t coarse kosher salt
¾ c coarsely chopped pitted dates
½ c (1 stick) chilled butter
2/3 c buttermilk*

Preheat oven to 400°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Cook bacon using your preferred method (I prefer in the oven, it cooks evenly, and unattended) until cooked through, but still tender and not crisp, turning occasionally. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain; cool. Pour bacon drippings from skillet into small heatproof bowl and reserve.

Using one hand, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Coarsely chop cooled bacon. Add bacon and dates to flour mixture; toss to coat. Coarsely grate butter into flour mixture. Again using one hand, stir in butter and buttermilk until large moist clumps form. Continue to combine mixture until all dry ingredients are incorporated and a soft dough forms. (Scones can be made to this point and refrigerated overnight to bake in the morning for warm scones at breakfast.)

Transfer dough to parchment paper. Pat into 8-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges. Pull scones apart. Brush with reserved bacon drippings. Bake scones until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Serve warm.

*If you do not have buttermilk available, you can combine 2/3 c milk and 2/3 T white vinegar and let stand for 10 minutes.