Orange Cranberry Scones

On Saturday, I mentioned that I was baking something orange and this is it. Scones are such a lovely little treat. They are like a sweet biscuit and the technique is the same – blending the dry ingredients with the fat and then quickly incorporating the liquid and then very quickly getting them into the oven. The less you handle the dough before baking, the better your result will be. I will tell you right from the start here that I got a touch too much liquid in the batch you see photographed. I would have liked to see them rise a little more so I revised it down just a bit in the version given here.

Here is the line up of ingredientsTo begin, zest and juice a whole orange – part of the zest will go in the scone dough and part, along with the juice will go in the glaze – and lightly chop 3/4 of a cup of dried cranberries.And the cardamom was late getting out of hair and makeup so it didn’t get in the ingredients photo.Mix together
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
If your brown sugar has any lumps, you can sift all of this together, but I didn’t and it came out fine. Once mixed, use a pastry cutter or your fingers and cut in
4 oz cold butter cut in small pieces
Don’t go quite as far here in terms of uniformity as you would with a pie crust or even biscuits – you want to still see some small pieces of butter. Throw in the cranberries and give it a little stir.
In a two cup glass measuring cup, beat together
1 egg
2/3 cup cold milk
2 tablespoons orange zest
Fold into dry ingredients just until uniform – no over mixing!Turn onto a well floured surface and gather into a ball, patting the outside to get any bits of dough into the ball. It will be quite sticky, so don’t be afraid to use plenty of flour to keep it from sticking. Now pat into out into a flattened square. You can use a round biscuit cutter if you like, but I like these triangle shapes.Lay the scones on a greased or parchment or silpat [a Christmas gift from Ellyn and Jason – yay!] lined baking sheet. Bake at 370º for 20 to 25 minutes. The tops should be nicely browned. I almost always break open a biscuit or scone to really test for doneness, before taking them out of the oven. It is the only way to tell for sure.Cool on a rack. You can leave them plain if you like ORMix together
1 cup confectionery sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
2-4 tablespoon orange juice
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Start with 2 tablespoons of OJ [I used fresh squeezed from the same orange] and add more a bit at a time until it is of spreadable consistency.
Make sure you let the glaze dry completely before storing them in an airtight container or they will stick together.

MMMMMMM – look at that! Want a cup of tea?

The Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
4 oz cold butter cut in small pieces
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 egg
2/3 cup cold milk
2 tablespoons orange zest
Stir together the dry ingredients and cut the butter in until it roughly incorporated. There should still be some small pieces of butter visible. Stir in cranberries. Beat together the egg, milk and zest and fold into dry ingredients, being careful not to overwork the dough. Turn out onto a well floured surface. Dough will be quite sticky. Pat into a flattened square and cut into rounds or triangles. Bake on greased or parchment paper lined sheet at 370º for 20 to 25 minutes until tops are nicely browned. Cool and glaze if desired.

Glaze
1 cup confectionery sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
2-4 tablespoon orange juice
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Mix all ingredients, beginning with 2 tablespoons of orange juice and adding a little more at a time until of spreadable consistency.