Lemon Cranberry Scones

Snowy days. We haven't really had any this year. Last year, the snow started in October and didn't end until April. That's way too much winter for me.

But today was a cold snowy day. So what did I do? I baked.

Not only did I bake, I baked lemon cranberry scones. 

And they were fantastic. 

Here's Sidney in here chair looking out at the snow. She's not apart of the recipe, but she's cute. :)

Meyer's Lemons. Ever heard of them? Neither had I. They are a little smaller, smoother, and sweeter than 'regular' lemons. They grow in California. I got a bag of them at Walmart. You can use regular lemons and I'm sure they will work just fine.

Preheat oven to 400. Zest 3 lemons. 

Add zest to food processor.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

Before...

After. For doughs it always says to get it to look like cornmeal. I'm never really sure what that's supposed to look like. But this seems pretty close. Kind of grainy, butter is well incorporated. Good enough for me. BTW, this mixture smelled amazing. I think it was the sugar and lemon zest. Pour flour mixture into a large bowl. 

You might have some frozen cranberries left over from Christmas. These little guys seem to last awhile.  You can chop cranberries or use them whole as I did. If you are using fresh cranberries, add a tablespoon of sugar and allow them to macerate for a minute or so. If using dried cranberries, skip this step. Don't have cranberries? Blueberries or cherries would be divine! 

Add your cranberries to your lemon flour mixture. 

Mix in. 

Last minute I thought to add some dried cranberries too. I don't know why but I did. 

Fold those in, too. Set flour mixture aside.

In a bowl, crack together one whole egg and one egg yolk. 

Scramble like your making breakfast.

Okay, it's going to take some explaining here. The recipe calls for 1 cup of heavy cream. Well, I didn't have it. So I found somewhere online that said I could used 5 tablespoons of melted butter mixed with 3/4 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of flour. I whisked it all together, and it ended it a gloopy mess. But I figured, what the heck. Let's see what happens. So that's what that is. If you are smart and follow the recipe exactly, yours won't look like this. Unless your cream is bad, and then you have a whole other problem.

Add your egg and cream mixture to your flour mixture. Slowly fold wet and dry mixtures together JUST UNTIL COMBINED. It's even okay if some of the flour isn't totally wet. Over mixing will ruin your scones. 

See? Doesn't need to look perfect.

So then I realized I was completely out of flour. And in the recipe, it says to make nice 8 inch disks of dough and then cut them into perfect circles to achieve a nice little scone. Well, I said, forget that. I'm out of flour, which means I can't handle dough without it sticking. So I just spooned globs of the dough onto parchment paper, as pictured. 

I sprinkled some sugar on top of each of them and then I said, "here goes nothing!" Sometimes that happens in baking. Typically, it doesn't end well....

...but this case was an exception. I baked scones for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. 

Beautiful. Maybe they aren't perfect circles or triangles like some snobbish scones....

...but these scones have character and flavor!! My kitchen smelled incredible, too. 

Not that they really need it, but I decided to make a glaze, for looks. For these two scones I used 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of milk. I whisk them together and added a squirt of lemon juice. Perfection. 

You want one, don't you? 

Light and airy inside, but packed full of flavor. Like whoa. 

I just can't stop adding pictures....can't. stop. 

These will be great tomorrow with a cup of coffee or tea. Scones are awesome because you are permitted the excuse to eat them for breakfast, but you can also enjoy them as a dessert. Make these for a work brunch, take them to some friends, or make up the batter and freeze it, so you'll be able to make a scone for breakfast each morning.

The morning after making these, I did treat myself to a scone slathered in butter and some green tea. The green tea makes it healthy. :) Doesn't it look as if my chirp birds are trying to take a bite? I think so.

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scones

• 
  
  Ingredients: 
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons; preferably Meyer)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional 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, chopped coarse, or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries or dried cherries
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup heavy cream (or, if you want to try what I did, melt 5 tablespoons of butter, 3/4 cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon of flour. It won't look pretty, but it worked for me!)

• Accompaniment: crème fraîche or whipped cream (or glaze, recipe follows) 

preparatio

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, just add straight to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Serve scones warm with crème fraîche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.

Yields: 14-16 scones

I included my recipe for a lemon glaze for just two scones, but if you want to make it for the whole thing, here's one Giada uses on cookies:

Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zested

I used to think scones must be difficult to make. I'm not sure why, maybe because of the name, maybe because Starbucks sells them, I don't know really. But they aren't. What they are is delicious!