Cranberry Cream Scones

By marck

From the December 2001 issue of Vegetarian Times. This recipe has become my traditional Christmas baking thang. I churn out several dozen of these puppies. If you follow the recipe exactly and do 8 scones for batch, they are ENORMOUS. If you don't want that, you can split the dough in half and make two rounds of eight scones each. I find these scones to be a much more manageable size.

Ingredients

• 1 C fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 C plus 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1-1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp each ground nutmeg and cinnamon
• Peel of 1 lemon, finely grated
• 1 Tbsp chopped candied ginger (optional I don't do it)
• 2 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 C heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Milk and sugar, for glaze

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from vegetariantimes.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. In small bowl, mix cranberries and 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8-inch circle in center of large baking sheet, or cover sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, mix remaining 1/3 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix in lemon peel and ginger if using. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cranberries, and toss well.

3. In small bowl, mix cream and vanilla. Make well in center of dry ingredients. Add cream mixture. Stir just until dough pulls together. Keeping dough in bowl, knead 3 or 4 times with floured hands.

4. On floured cutting board, pat dough into 7-inch circle. Slice dough into 6 or 8 wedges, as you would pie. Reassemble slices in center of baking sheet, leaving 1/4 inch between pieces.

5. Brush scones sparingly with milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on sheet 1 minute, then loosen scones with spatula. Slide entire batch onto cooling rack.