Despite experimenting with adventurous flavors and shapes, we recently found ourselves a little bored with baking cookies week after week. The time had come: we had to find something else to bake. But without any cake pans or muffin tins we were at a bit of a loss, until it came to us…scones!
Scones are the perfect solution for a college student who only has a cookie sheet, and Lemon Cranberry is a classic scone combination. If you can’t find fresh cranberries, you can get a bag of frozen ones and let them defrost a little before using. If you have more of a sweet tooth, try substituting dried cranberries or another, sweeter berry because fresh cranberries are actually pretty tart. These scones are great served warm with homemade whipped cream and make a perfect on-the-go snack the next day. An added bonus? You don’t have to hunt for new kitchen tools to make them.
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: about 16 scones
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (plus 3 additional tablespoons if using fresh cranberries)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries (coarsely chopped or whole) or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
Photo by Alia Wilhelm
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease with butter or cooking spray.
2. Zest two lemons using a fine cheese grater, or use vegetable peeler and chop fine.
Photo by Alia Wilhelm
3. Use a food processor to pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and lemon zest until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir into flour mixture. If using dried cranberries, skip the sugar and add to the flour mixture.
Photo by Alia Wilhelm
5. In another small bowl, lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix; stop when all of the flour mixture is wet with egg mixture.
6. On a well-floured surface, pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with the rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. You can be creative here in terms of size and shape, just make sure to alter the cooking time accordingly.
Photo by Alia Wilhelm
7. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.
Photo by Alia Wilhelm
8. Serve scones warm. If you feel like doing a little more, whip some of the leftover cream with a little sugar and serve together.
Photo by Alia Wilhelm