Cranberry Lemon Choc Chip Scones

For some reason I always thought scones were really hard to make and I was determined to some day make a batch of them. Last week I saw fresh US cranberries at the supermarket and grabbed a bag right away as I was worried I may not find them again. Turns out several stores do carry them.

Anyways, here I had this bag of cranberries and didn't know what to make. After going through recipes online I suddenly remembered that Ciocolat in Davis always has these delicious scones with white chocolate and cranberries. So I decided: scones it will be! I ended up finding a recipe by Ina Garten. Although I have looked at her cookbooks several times, I have never actually made any of her recipes.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but used lemon instead of orange peel since I couldn't get an organic orange at my grocery store and do not like using the peel of citrus that has probably been sprayed with pesticides. I also used fresh instead of dried cranberries. For this it may be a good idea to add a little more sugar than the recipe says as fresh cranberries are pretty tart. If I remember correctly I only used half the amount of salt as I do not like my sweets to be salty! As I still had the image of cranberry and chocolate scones in my head I added some dark chocolate chips that I had left over.

Let me tell you, these scones were HEAVENLY! They were fluffy and buttery and just perfect!

Ingredients

4 c plus 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c sugar, plus more for sprinkling

2 tablesp. baking powder

2 teasp. kosher salt

1 tablesp. orange zest

3/4 pound (340 g) cold unsalted butter, diced

4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 c cold heavy cream

1 c dried cranberries

1 egg beaten with 2 tablesp. water or milk, for egg wash

1/2 c confectioner's sugar, plus 2 tablesp.

4 teasp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C).

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 c of flour, 1/4 c sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy. Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 c of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles. (I was unable to do these last couple of steps as the butter got too soft and I couldn't roll out the dough. Instead I just formed balls of dough with my hands and it worked out just fine.)

Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioner's sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.