Friday, November 20, 2009

Cranberry Scones

If you're a scone lover, you have to give these babies a try. They're made with heavy cream and lemon extract and dried cranberries. And they are good. Oh so good.
The recipe comes from a fun book I'm about a third of the way through: Confections of a Closet Master Baker, a memoir (with recipes) by Gesine Bullock-Prado. You can see her blog here. The author happens to be the sister of actress Sandra Bullock. But more importantly, she's a wonderful baker. She left Hollywood and a job at her sister's production company to start up her own bakery in Vermont. And I, for one, am glad she did. Because if she hadn't, I wouldn't have this scone recipe.

And I'm reeeeeally glad I have this scone recipe.

CREAM SCONES (with dried cranberries)

1/2 c. heavy cream, plus an extra T. or two for brushing the scones
1 egg
1 t. lemon extract
3 T. sugar, plus another couple t. for sprinkling over the scones
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1T. baking powder
6 T. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits (I used salted)
1/2 c. dried cranberries

In small bowl, combine cream, egg, lemon extract, and 3 T. sugar. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Drop the butter into the flour mixture and use your fingers (I used a pastry blender) to work in the butter, until your mixtures is the texture of coarse meal. Stir in the cream mixture and the cranberries with a fork, stirring only until a sticky dough will hold together. Knead gently for about 30 seconds on a floured surface. Pat into a 1/2-inch thick circle.

At this point, the author uses a 1 1/2-inch fluted cutter to make scones. I decided to cut mine into wedges instead.


Place scones on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with cream, then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake on the center rack at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until golden. (I baked mine for 15.)
Now the question of the day: Do you have a favorite kind of scone? And what do you think: glaze or no glaze?

Labels:

17 Comments:

Blogger Joyce said...

Hi...thanks for visiting today. As it happens I'm a huge fan of scones so I'll definitely give these a dry. One of my Scottish friends makes the most wonderful cranberry scones so I'm hoping these will be something like hers.

Have a great weekend!

November 20, 2009 at 2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love scones. I have had cranberry scones. It was a Southern Living at Home boxed scones. They don't sell them any more. I guess I will do my own. Thanks for sharing.
QMM

November 20, 2009 at 3:32 PM  
Blogger Carpool Queen said...

SCORE! Breakfast TOMORROW. I have all the stuff.

I think I love you.

November 20, 2009 at 7:40 PM  
Blogger Carpool Queen said...

Did I say breakfast? I meant midnight snack....they're in the oven right now.

And I'm going with no glaze.

November 20, 2009 at 7:58 PM  
Blogger Rita said...

Love your blog, love your recipes
Rita

November 21, 2009 at 3:30 AM  
Blogger Carpool Queen said...

In my quest to leave an obnoxious number of comments about the scones, I just had a (may I say) brilliant idea.

I'm going to add dried blueberries to this recipe and make Red White and Blueberry scones for July 4th.

Or Tuesday.

November 21, 2009 at 8:09 AM  
Blogger Lynn said...

I love it, Carpool Queen. Red, white, and blueberry scones. Most definitely brilliant.

November 21, 2009 at 9:55 AM  
Blogger teresa said...

oh i love scones, what a beautiful recipe, great for breakfast!

November 21, 2009 at 1:07 PM  
Anonymous Faith said...

These look like the perfect partner for a cup of tea! That sounds like a great book, I'll look for it.

November 23, 2009 at 11:23 AM  
Anonymous Juliana said...

The scones with cranberries look delicious...would love them with a cup of tea :-)

November 23, 2009 at 4:27 PM  
Anonymous Velva said...

Your cranberry scones look lovely. A good cup of hot coffee and one of these scones and life would be perfect. Thanks for sharing.

November 23, 2009 at 6:28 PM  
Blogger Ingrid_3Bs said...

Being the dummy that I am I've made scones but have never baked scones. I put the dough in the freezer and then forgot about it. I need to try making these. I'm going to try fresh cranberries though.
~ingrid

November 23, 2009 at 7:20 PM  
Blogger Susannah said...

My husband is a cranberry lover... he would love these! :~D

e-Mom @ Susannah's Aprons

November 24, 2009 at 12:29 AM  
Blogger Chats the Comfy Cook said...

This is the first time I have visited your blog and I must share that it is delightful. I want to come back for some more smiles and good food.

November 29, 2009 at 8:56 PM  
Anonymous tasteofbeirut said...

I tried this recipe and I agree : it is delicious!
Also, I think this lady moved to Austin, Texas and opened a bakery there. They had an article about it in the Dallas Morning News recently. I think Sandra Bullocks lives in Austin too part of the year, she built a (big) house there.

December 4, 2009 at 5:53 AM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Tasteofbeirut, thanks for the good information :) And I'm glad you liked the scones, too. Love those scones.

December 4, 2009 at 8:15 AM  
Blogger Nancy said...

First, thanks so much for visiting my blog and sharing with me. Second, these scones look delish. The ones I made were also a dried cranberry recipe, very similar to this one. They tasted so good.

January 6, 2010 at 4:21 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home