Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Orange Cranberry Scones

When I was in high school, I worked in a local bakery after school and on weekends. I wasn't actually doing any baking, just serving people, but it was a great experience and taught me a lot about dealing with "difficult" customers. Of course it was also a plus to be able to sample all the baked goods - I mean, I had to know what they all tasted like in case customers asked, right? This bakery had a huge selection of cookies, brownies, and cakes, but my favorites were the breakfast items. Carrot muffins, blueberry muffins, enormous cinnamon rolls, and several types of scones. These orange cranberry scones are crumbly, buttery, and fragrant - I highly recommend them!









Ingredients:

1 orange, zested
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 eggs
1/2 cup half and half
1 1/4 cup cranberries



In a small bowl, zest the orange and squeeze out two tablespoons of juice, being careful not to let any seeds get in.

In another larger bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add in the butter and use your hands or a pastry cutter to combine the dry ingredients with the butter until the mixture is sandy and crumbly. 


Cold butter chunks



Before mixing


After mixing - you can see most of the butter incorporated but a few bigger chunks are ok!

Next, whisk the eggs and half and half into the orange juice/zest.


Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir gently, just until the dough comes together. Add the dried cranberries and mix until they are evenly distributed. If you overmix, the scones will be on the tougher side and you don't want that!

Scoop out the dough into 12 evenly sized balls and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are golden brown. Serve right away, there's nothing like breaking into a scone with a crunchy exterior and a steamy, tender interior!


Before



After


Looks like Poppy has eaten one too many scones...check out that belly!




1 comment:

  1. Yum! Great pics, as usual. Haven't tried the recipe yet.

    ReplyDelete