Thursday, June 4, 2009

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients

  • 2.5 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar (plus 3 tbsp, if using fresh cranberries, which you should be doing)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
  • 1.25 cups chopped fresh cranberries (or dried, if you must)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 tsp orange extract
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a large sheet with parchment or wax paper.
In a food processor, pulse the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter together until it resembles a coarse meal. Set aside in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, toss the chopped cranberries together with the 3 tbsp sugar until thoroughly coated. Stir into flour mixture.
In another small bowl, beat together the egg and egg yolk. Stir in the milk and the orange extract. Add the whole mess into the flour/cranberry mixture and work together with your hands until well-incorporated.
On a well-floured surface, and using well-floured hands, pat the dough into a 1" thickness. You'll probably have to add more flour. I swear, I had to add like, 2 more cups of flour to make this not sticky. Using a cookie cutter about 2" diameter, cut the dough out into rounds.
Place rounds on the cookie sheet and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden.
Eat.

Thoughts: These came out a little flat (topologically, not flavor-wise). I'm not sure why -- maybe add some leavening? I don't know. I think these could have used more cranberry and more orange extract. Also, it was a great idea to use fresh cranberries; they add a really nice tartness that you can't get with dried cranberries. I'm wondering if we can use our griddle scone recipe as a base, and still add blueberries or cranberries. Would they cook sufficiently on the griddle? Stay tuned. Daniel really liked the texture. I wish they had been a little more fluffy and puffy, but what can you do?

Disaster Index: 3/10

Update: We tried the suggestions in "thoughts", using the Scottish scones as a base and using both blueberries AND cranberries. Much improved. 1/10. Would bake again.

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