Cranberry Scones

This season has been very busy! Traveling and visiting family over the holidays is delightful and busy in itself, however, living in a theatre for the last couple of weeks for rehearsals for the musical Mamma Mia has left my kitchen a little abandoned.

But what a better way to bring in some holiday cheer and energy than baking a yummy batch of cranberry scones and sharing with my wonderful cast? It was just the right touch after a long day.  Next week, we're back at it again so I'll have to bring some more goodies to keep us going!

Cranberry Scones

Adapted from http://annies-eats.com/

Makes approximately 8 scones

Ingredients:

1½ TBSP grated lemon zest

2½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup plus 3 TBSP sugar, divided

1 TBSP baking powder

½ tsp salt

6 TBSP cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1¼ cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (these can also be frozen)

1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

Additional sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl combine the lemon zest, flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add in the cold butter pieces and mix briefly until it represents a coarse meal and the butter pieces are in small pieces.

3. In a small bowl, toss together the chopped cranberries and remaining 3 TBSP of sugar.  Stir this into the flour-butter mixture.

4. In a liquid measuring cup whisk the egg, egg yolk and heavy cream.   Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon just until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Knead gently to be sure the dough is evenly mixed, being careful not to overwork the dough.

5. You can either cut the scones using the same triangular method as seen in my Blueberry Scone recipe post, or you can simply roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter to create circular scones. Because the dough is rather wet it is easier to use the circular cutters. Once dough is shaped and placed cookie sheet, sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.

Need to freeze?

Place the baking sheet with the shaped scones into the freezer and chill until frozen.  Transfer to a freezer-safe plastic bag and store until ready to bake.

6. Bake  until light golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.  (If baking from the freezer, add approximately 5 minutes to the original baking time.)