Lemon & Cranberry Scones

Good heavens, I have not baked in months, and I am back already!

My Mom’s had a rough go for the last while, but is on the mend!  The woman never asks for anything, ever! When she requested some Lemon & Cranberry Scones I got in the kitchen real fast!  Her kitchen, I might add, so the lighting is horrible!

This is another repeat, you can see the original version here, but it’s been years and it could use an update.

My ‘go to’ scone recipe is from Ina Garten. Check out her original recipe. She makes some amazing desserts.  I’ve yet to be disappointed with anything I’ve tried of her’s.  I’m guessing it’s the insane amount of butter she uses.  Mmmmm!

I halved the recipe, and made the other half plain…coming soon

4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest*
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice*

*I am a lemon freak, so I added a lot more lemon then recipe called for

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest.

 

 

2. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas.

 

3. 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!

4. Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

5. Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface

6. Knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and press 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. Cut the dough into desired shapes or use a cookie cutter

7. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash

8. Sprinkle with sugar

9. 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.

10. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Glaze

Combine icing sugar and lemon juice and whisk until smooth

These scones are always a huge hit!  Mom was thrilled.  The house had an amazing aroma of lemon and a few smiling faces.  Everyone said they were delicious!

If you are looking for a scone recipe, this is a must try!  It is very versatile and works with many different flavour profiles.

Scones

 

Sometimes I need someone to remind me that more is not always better.   Usually when I make something I go for rich, decadent, ooey and gooey and over the top.  When my Mom asked me to make her scones I immediately asked “What kind?” With every attempt to persuade her into a flavoured scone, she still wanted plain!  Ok, Ok!  We all love the scones I have made in the past so I stuck with the recipe, I just omitted all the extras.

Adapted from

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Barefoot Contessa, Episode: Big Breakfast, from Food Network

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 extra-large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons milk or water, for egg wash

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Combine 4 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder and salt  in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.

3.Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.

4. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add to the flour/butter mixture.

5. Combine until just blended. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and be sure it is well combined.

6. Flour your hands and separate into 3 discs (usually I do 2 discs, but I get complaints that they are too big!) and cut into triangles

 

7. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment

8.  Brush with egg wash and bake 20-30 minutes or until the edges are golden and the centres are done.

These were delicious!  I will admit, as much as I love having extras in my scones these were fantastic.  They were, dare I say, so flavourful! I could taste the buttery goodness.  The texture was amazing, a little lighter than the flavoured ones.

I usually don’t put anything on my scones, I like to enjoy the flavour that they are, but because these were plain I thought I would give it a try.

Butter – was a little too much as there is already 3/4 of a pound in the recipe!

Jam – too sweet

Honey – not a fan

I still prefer to eat them plain and enjoy their natural flavour.  Thank you Mom for bringing me back to the basics.  I will be making these again!

Raisin Cinnamon Scones

This is a recipe that I have done before, check it out here, but I must say the post was very boring!  It was early on in my posting days and I only had an after picture.  I have made these a few times, but figured I would post ‘properly’ about them.  I am sure not everyone likes to see a photo of each and every step, but I do!  I am a very visual person, I like to see what I am supposed to do or what it should look like.  Often if I am looking for a recipe and there is no photo, I just leave because I just can’t visualize how it will turn out.  I did make a few changes from the original recipe.

Raisin Scones

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Barefoot Contessa, Episode: Big Breakfast, from Food Network

Ingredients

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream (I had half & half so I used that)
3/4 cup raisins
1 extra-large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons milk or water, for egg wash
*I added a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Combine 4 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, salt  and cinnamon in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.

3.Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.

There is a lot of butter in these scones, but don’t skimp, it’s worth it!
Kinda funny that i am weighing 3/4 pound of butter on a Weight Watchers scale (FYI, they are not points friendly!)

4. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add to the flour/butter mixture. Combine until just blended.

5. Combine the raisins and 1 tablespoon flour and then add to the dough and mix quickly. The dough may be a bit sticky. (Forgot to take a picture of this one)

6. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough out to 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick.  Cut into desired shape, I make my scones into triangles

7. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

8. Brush the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the outsides are crisp and the insides are done.

Once again, these were amazing! I have yet to make anything of Ina Garten’s that was not fantastic!  The addition of the cinnamon was quite nice.  They have a wonderful texture.  They are not rich and heavy as you would assume with all the butter.  They are nice and light, you can see the many layers from the butter. Delicious!  I took a bunch into Poppa and Gramma’s, they loved them, covering them in more butter.  Gramma said I could make them anytime 🙂

Cranberry Orange Scones Barefoot Style

The other day Mom asked me if I would make her some scones, she wanted orange cranberry.  Having already made orange cranberry scones before (check them out here), I decided to look for a different recipe.  Mom and I are huge fans of Ina Garden, The Barefoot Contessa so I decided to go with her recipe.  I have never made anything of her’s that I didn’t love! I was going to make this recipe a couple years ago but didn’t have any oranges so I made them into Cranberry Lemon Scones, which were delicious, so this time I went with the original.

This recipe was adapted from Foodnetwork.com Cranberry Orange Scones by Ina Garten

Cranberry Orange Scones

4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoon grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold half & half
1 cup dried cranberries
egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/2 cup icing sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. Zest orange and combine with 4 cups flour, 1\4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl of an electric mixer, mix at lowest speed to combine

3. Add cubed butter and mix at lowest speed until butter is approximately the size of peas, some will be a little larger

Must be good, that’s a lot of butter!!

4.  Combine eggs with half & half and add while mixer is on low, dough will be lumpy and wet

5. Combine cranberries with the remaining 1\4 cup of flour, add and mix on low until blended

6. Dump onto a floured surface and divide into 2 discs, approx an inch thick

7. Slice in wedges and pace on a lined cookie sheet.  Prepare egg wash, lightly coat scones and sprinkle with sugar

8. Bake at 400 F for 23 minutes or until lightly golden

9. As scones cool prepare glaze, combine icing sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice

10. Drizzle on scones

Enjoy!

Yet again an Ina Garten recipe was amazing, these scones were delicious! The texture was perfect, light and flaky from all that amazing butter.  There was a hint of orange, nothing overpowering, but you know it is there.  The tartness of the cranberries went perfectly with the orange.  The slight sweetness from the glaze brought everything together. These are definitely a keeper.  Mom, as did everyone else, loved them!

Lemon Cranberry Scones

After having weeks of really hot humid (41 C) weather the temperature plummeted to a wonderfully cool (and rainy) 15 C, perfect weather to get back into the kitchen and do some baking!

I know I wanted to make something but didn’t know what? Mom put in a request for scones.  It did not matter what flavour, just wanted scones.  I searched to see that I had and I had all the ingredients for these wonderful Ina Garten Cranberry Orange Scones, I did not have oranges so I substituted lemon.

Cranberry Lemon Scones

(adapted from Ina Graten Cranberry Orange Scones)

• 4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest.

Add the cold butter (at this point I knew they were going to be really good.  I mean how could anything with 3/4 pound of butter not be good?)

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 cup 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.

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 confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

You really can’t go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe.  These scones were moist, flavourful and the perfect texture. Adding the lemon glaze gave it just the right amount of lemony tartness.  The lemon was an excellent substitution.  Definitely will be making another batch of these in the near future

Blueberry Scones

Ever since I made the raisin scones Mike has been after me to make some with blueberries.  I was compterless for the last couple days and bored to tears, what better time to bake!

I made the same recipe as the raisin scones (see below) and just replaces blueberries for the raisins.  Everyone loved them, I however thought they were a bit bland.  Next time I was add some lemon zest to bring out the blueberry a bit.   Definitely something I will be making in the future.

Raisin Scones

After my first attempt at scones was so successful Mom requested some more.  I did remake the Orange Cranberry ones that she liked so much, but I also decided to try something new.   I found this recipe for a Raisin Scone.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Barefoot Contessa, Episode: Big Breakfast, from Food Network

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 4 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 extra-large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons milk or water, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine 4 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, and salt in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add to the flour/butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Combine the raisins and 1 tablespoon flour and then add to the dough and mix quickly. The dough may be a bit sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough out to 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick. You will see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into squares with a 4-inch cutter and then cut in half diagonally to make triangles. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the outsides are crisp and the insides are done.

They were amazing!! but how could they not be, 3/4 of a pound of butter?!?  I have always been a fan of Ina and this is the first time I have tried one of her recipes.  Still have not delivered the goods, hope mom likes them as much as we did.

Cranberry Orange Scones

As the rainy, cold and miserable day continued I thought I would whip up something else.  Mom picked out a recipe she thought she would enjoy, Cranberry Orange Scones from Taste of Home’s Complete guide to Baking.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

10 tsp sugar, divided

1 Tbsp grated orange peel

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup cold butter

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup orange juice (I juiced the orange I had for zesting)

1/4 cup half and half

1 egg

1 Tbsp milk

Directions

1.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, 7 tsp sugar, orange peel, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  In a small bowl, combine cranberries, orange juice, cream and egg. Stir into crumb mixture until soft dough forms.

2. Turn into a floured surface; kneed gently 6-8 times.  Pat into an 8 inch circle.  Cut into 10 wedges.  Separate wedges and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Brush with milk; sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Removed to a wire rack.