Quick & Easy Cranberry-Orange Scones

HOWDY friends!

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with family, friends, lots of good food, and an abundance of gratitude to the Lord who grants it all.  Ours was filled with many blessings – most precious of all…some quality time with the ones we love.

Speaking of loved ones, as I was making breakfast this morning, it dawned on me that I’ve never shared one of my favorite tried & true recipes with you.  My sister-in-law, Brandy (who by-the-way is a FANTASTIC cook!), made these delicious scones for me during a visit to her house years ago, and I just had to have her recipe.  Thankfully, she is always willing to share.  Since then, I’ve made it more times than I can count, and it’s always a hit with everyone I serve it to – kids & adults alike!

I really don’t know where she got the original recipe, so I can’t properly credit it, but I can tell you that it’s very easy, and very good.  Be sure to give it a try as soon as you get a chance!

 

Cranberry-Orange Scones

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (the original recipe used only all-purpose flour)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder (I always use low-sodium baking powder)

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar (or your favorite sugar substitute)

1 Tbsp. freshly grated orange zest (you can also use dried if you don’t have fresh)

½ cup cold butter (cut into small cubes)

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup dried cranberries

1 Tbsp. milk

1 Tbsp. sugar (I like to use a coarse sugar-- like Turbinado sugar -- for this part – my favorite is Sugar in the Raw)

2 Tbsp. orange juice

1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar & orange zest.  (I just mix mine in my food processor – very quick and easy!)  Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork.  (If you’re using the food processor, just pulse a few times until it is thoroughly incorporated and mixture resembles coarse sand.)  Add cranberries and mix well.

Add buttermilk and stir just until dough is moist.  (In the food processor, when the dough starts to form a ball, you know it’s ready.)  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 5 or 6 times.  (DON’T OVERWORK THE DOUGH OR IT WILL BECOME TOUGH!)

Divide dough in half, and roll or pat each portion into a 6-inch circle.  Cut each circle into 8 wedges.

Place scones about 1-inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet, brush with milk, and sprinkle with sugar.  (I really like the extra crunch the turbinado sugar gives.)

Bake at 425° F for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

While scones are baking, whisk together orange juice and powdered sugar to make the glaze. ( If it doesn’t come out to a consistency you like, just add more powdered sugar to thicken it, or a little more orange juice to thin it out.  NOTE:  A little juice goes a long way, so don’t add too much, or your glaze will be VERY runny!)

Remove scones to a cooling rack, and drizzle with prepared glaze.  ENJOY!!

If you make the scones exactly according to the recipe, you’ll come out with 16 scones.  I usually cut my scones with a cookie or biscuit cutter to make rounds or heart-shapes.  Just make sure to keep the dough at a proper thickness (about 1/2” or so).  If you do this, the number of scones you end up with, will depend on the size of your cutter.  :-)

NOTE:  For variety, I’ve also made a really good Blueberry-Lemon version by substituting dried blueberries for the cranberries, and lemon zest/lemon juice for the orange zest/orange juice.

Feel free to play with this recipe like I did, and make it your own…and don’t forget to stop back by and let me know what you think!  It’s sure to become a family favorite in your house too!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Saturday mornin’ scones…

Happy Saturday my friends!  I’m just loving this cooler weather, how ‘bout you?  I was in a baking mood this morning, so once again, I thought of scones.

Scones are SO quick and easy (especially with the help of a food processor), that they’re a perfect breakfast treat.  I have several tried and true recipes that I’ve been using for years, but I decided to “live on the edge” and try something new this morning.

I dug through some of my inherited cookbooks looking for something yummy, and I came across a little paperback cookbook (about 5” x 5” big) entitled:  ”Simply Scones” by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright.  It’s published by St. Martin’s Press.  The title sounded promising, so I decided to give it a try.  As I paged through the book, I found a recipe for “Pistachio Fig Scones” on p. 59.  Hmmmm…

I didn’t have any pistachio’s in the house, but I L-O-V-E figs, and I’m always trying to find new uses for them (besides my usual fig preserves).  In fact, this past summer I froze some, just so I would have them around to experiment with.  How convenient!!

I decided to make a few minor changes to the recipe (surprise, surprise…) and I came up with this (see below).  They were good, but not quite sweet enough for my taste, so next time I may add a little more brown sugar.  I may also add a few more figs…just because I can!  J

At the last minute, I decided to add a powdered sugar glaze.  It turned out delicious, and was just the right touch to change these scones from “okay” to “AWESOME”!

Anyway…here’s the version I tried today.  If you have some figs, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Faithy’s Fig & Almond Scones

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp. lightly packed brown sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons low-sodium baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Smart Balance Butter Blend sticks (or butter/margarine), cut into 1/2” cubes & chilled

1/4 cup HEB Real Egg (or 1 regular egg)

2 Tablespoons skim milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped almonds (the original recipe used shelled pistachio nuts)

1/3 cup chopped, trimmed figs

Mix together flours, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in your food processor.  (You can do it by hand, but this way is much quicker and easier!)  Add the chilled butter and process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In a small bowl (or measuring cup), whisk together the egg, milk, & vanilla.  Add the liquid to the food processor and pulse a few times to incorporate everything.  Add the figs and nuts and pulse a few more times just to get them evenly distributed.  (NOTE:  The mixture will be very sticky!)

Use a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup dry-measure to crop the dough onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray.  Be sure to leave several inches between each scone.  Bake at 375° F for 20 to 25 minutes (or until they pass a toothpick test), then remove them to a wire rack to cool.  You can serve them just like this or with a flavored butter or glaze of your choice.

Here’s the glaze I tried (just something I made up):

--2/3 cup powdered sugar

--1 Tablespoon fig preserves

--orange juice (I prefer it with pulp for a little texture)

Just dump the powdered sugar into a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk in the fig preserves.  Then add enough orange juice to get the consistency you want.  I like a medium consistency…not too runny, but not too thick, so I can spread it easily.

Once you have it the way you like it, just brush it generously onto the hot scones and enjoy!

(The recipe said this should make six scones, but with my cookie scoop it made nine.)

Enjoy this beautiful weekend friends, and don’t forget to thank God for it!!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Sunday Scones...

Spent some time reading through another “new” cookbook this weekend, and came across a yummy sounding recipe for scones. I L-O-V-E scones…so I thought I’d try it out.

The cookbook is Southern Living: Homestyle Cooking - © 2002 by Oxmoor House, Inc. As is typical for any Southern Living cookbook, it’s got lots of delicious recipes I want to try. You’ll probably see a few more as we go along.

If you ever come across this cookbook, you can find this particular recipe on page 111, in the Breads, Breakfasts & Brunches chapter under Quick Breads. The one you see here has been adapted to fit my cooking style (as usual) and what was in my cupboard when I made it. J

Dried Cherry & Cream Scones

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour (the original recipe uses only all-purpose flour - your scones will be lighter and fluffier if you go that route, but I love the nutty flavor and extra color the whole wheat flour gives - not to mention the nutritional boost.)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon sodium free baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup dried cherries

1 Tablespoon grated lemon rind

1-1/4 cups whipping cream

NOTE:  I was out of whipping cream so I found a substitute online (3/4 cup skim milk, 1/3 cup butter, 1 Tbsp. flour & 1/8 tsp. vanilla - mixed together and heated until thickened, then cooled before use) and used that.  It would have been better with the real thing, but it was still very good!

1 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Pulse the first 4 ingredients in your food processor until well mixed.  Add the cherries and 1 Tbsp. lemon rind.  Pulse until the cherries are coarsely chopped.  Add whipping cream and pulse just until the mixture starts to hold together.

The original recipe calls for chopping the cherries and mixing everything by hand.  That works fine, but I’ve gotten spoiled to just letting my food processor do the work.  It’s MUCH faster and easier for those of us with arthritis in our hands.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times, just until dough holds together.  (I love this part….kneading dough is just so relaxing and homey!  Don’t get carried away though, this needs VERY little kneading.)

On an ungreased baking sheet, pat dough into an 8” circle.  Cut dough into 8 wedges, and separate wedges slightly.  Brush with melted butter.  Combine 2 Tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. lemon rind, and sprinkle over dough.

Next time I think I’ll just roll out the dough and cut it with cookie/biscuit cutters instead.  This way is quicker, but I just prefer my scones the other way.  I also think I’ll make them a little thicker than the 8” circle allowed.

Bake at 400° for approx. 23 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pan and serve warm or cool on wire racks.

This recipe makes 8 good sized scones.

These scones were really good!  In my opinion, the topping was the “secret ingredient” that put them over the top!  I’m going to remember that simple topping and try it on other things…maybe a pie or cobbler.  Mmmmm…

Can’t wait to try these again - with real whipping cream this time!

Hope you’re having a wonderful Lord’s day my friends.  Don’t forget to take a minute and thank Him for all the wonderful things He provides…

Blessings,

--Faithy