Cranberry-Orange Scones
Adapted From: Annie's Eats and Chukar Cherry Recipes
I wanted to make cranberry-orange scones to serve at the coffee hour at church this morning, but I didn't have the heavy cream called for in Annie's recipe, but I did have plenty of Greek yogurt, so I improvised, recalling the cherry scones recipe that Todd likes to make. I also added a glaze to these scones, because I thought the orange zest was a tad bitter. Perhaps I went too far into the pith with the zester. Anyway, these were very pretty, and everyone loved them.
1½ tbsp. freshly grated orange 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 or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk (or, sub a total of 1 cup heavy cream for the yogurt and milk)
Additional sugar for sprinkling, or make a glaze (see below)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a food processor*, combine the orange zest, flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder and salt. Pulse briefly to blend. Add in the cold butter pieces and pulse again briefly until the mixture resembles coarse meal and the butter pieces are no larger than peas. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
In a small bowl, toss together the chopped cranberries and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir this into the flour-butter mixture.
In another small bowl or a liquid measuring cup, combine the eggs, yogurt and milk (or cream); whisk to blend. 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.
Use whatever method you prefer for shaping your scones (ie, pat out into a large rectangle and then cut into squares or triangles, shape into a circle and then slice into triangles, put a biscuit cutter onto the baking sheet and pat the dough into the cutter to make uniform circles, etc). I made drop scones, so I just dropped the dough onto the baking sheet in the size I wanted (I would guess it was around 1/3 cup?) Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar (you can omit the sugar topping if you're going to make a glaze).
Bake in the preheated oven until light golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
*Note: A food processor is not required for this recipe. You can achieve the same result using a stand mixer, a pastry blender, or even just two knives.
Orange glaze:
I just juiced half of the orange that I zested. Strain out the seeds and pulp. In a small bowl, put a few tablespoons of powdered sugar. Add a few spoonfuls of the orange juice and whisk together. Adjust the amount of sugar or juice to get the glaze consistency that you want. It should be thin enough to drizzle over the scones, but not so thin that it's watery and runs all over the place. Drizzle over scones.
I wanted to make cranberry-orange scones to serve at the coffee hour at church this morning, but I didn't have the heavy cream called for in Annie's recipe, but I did have plenty of Greek yogurt, so I improvised, recalling the cherry scones recipe that Todd likes to make. I also added a glaze to these scones, because I thought the orange zest was a tad bitter. Perhaps I went too far into the pith with the zester. Anyway, these were very pretty, and everyone loved them.
1½ tbsp. freshly grated orange 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 or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk (or, sub a total of 1 cup heavy cream for the yogurt and milk)
Additional sugar for sprinkling, or make a glaze (see below)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a food processor*, combine the orange zest, flour, ½ cup of sugar, baking powder and salt. Pulse briefly to blend. Add in the cold butter pieces and pulse again briefly until the mixture resembles coarse meal and the butter pieces are no larger than peas. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
In a small bowl, toss together the chopped cranberries and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir this into the flour-butter mixture.
In another small bowl or a liquid measuring cup, combine the eggs, yogurt and milk (or cream); whisk to blend. 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.
Use whatever method you prefer for shaping your scones (ie, pat out into a large rectangle and then cut into squares or triangles, shape into a circle and then slice into triangles, put a biscuit cutter onto the baking sheet and pat the dough into the cutter to make uniform circles, etc). I made drop scones, so I just dropped the dough onto the baking sheet in the size I wanted (I would guess it was around 1/3 cup?) Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar (you can omit the sugar topping if you're going to make a glaze).
Bake in the preheated oven until light golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
*Note: A food processor is not required for this recipe. You can achieve the same result using a stand mixer, a pastry blender, or even just two knives.
Orange glaze:
I just juiced half of the orange that I zested. Strain out the seeds and pulp. In a small bowl, put a few tablespoons of powdered sugar. Add a few spoonfuls of the orange juice and whisk together. Adjust the amount of sugar or juice to get the glaze consistency that you want. It should be thin enough to drizzle over the scones, but not so thin that it's watery and runs all over the place. Drizzle over scones.
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