Cranberry & Orange Scones

A different twist on scones that will leave you both satisfied and wanting more.

Ingredients:

For the Scones:

• 2 cups (250g) bread flour (plus more for hands and work surface)
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• zest from 1 orange
• 1/2 cup (115g) butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup (120ml) cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (100g) white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Nielsen-Massey brand recommended)
• 1 cup (125g) dried cranberries
• optional: 1 Tablespoon (15ml) cream and coarse sugar

For the Orange Glaze

• 1 cup (120g) icing sugar
• 2-3 Tablespoons (30-45ml) fresh orange juice2

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°C. Adjust baking rack to the middle-low position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (or Spray & Cook). Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and zest. Grate the frozen butter (I use a box grater). Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the cream, egg, sugar, and vanilla together. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Slowly and gently fold in the cranberries. Try your best to not overwork the dough at any point. The dough will be a little wet. Work the dough into a ball with floured hands as best you can and transfer to a floured surface. Roll out gently to a decent thickness of about 3cm or so. Use a cookie cutter to cut out hearts or the shape of your choice. Place scones at least 2cm apart on the prepared baking sheet. Brush scones with optional 1 Tbsp cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. (Makes them shiny and gives a little extra crunch!)

Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely while you make the glaze.

For the glaze, simply whisk the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice together. Add a little more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more juice to thin. Drizzle over scones. (recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

Scones are always the best served while slightly warm and with a dollop of cream. We tried the Nicoletta pastry cream mix which was very quickly whisked with milk into a delicious “instant” option.