Cranberry Scones

So, there's nothing particularly remarkable about cranberry scones, you say? Well, that may be true, but these were especially tasty and easy to make. I served them this morning when two close girlfriends came over for tea, coffee, and kvetching. Take my advice: This is a great way to spend a morning!

We ate these with a variety of toppings, including marmalade, pear butter, regular butter, and sour cherry preserves. Yum! I think these would also be good with the addition of pecans.

Cranberry Scones

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (*I don't sift for these. A good tip is if you stir really well with a wire whisk, you'll have a "good enough" effect.)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg, at room temp (*I used mine straight out of the fridge and it didn't seem to impact the scones. Did it, tasters??)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and grated orange peel. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Using a pastry blender or two knives (I used clean hands), cut the butter into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form
5. Break the egg into a small dish and beat well with a fork. Add egg to flour mixture and beat together until blended. (I just did this by hand, no appliances necessary. Add the sour cream and orange peel mixture and beat until just blended. Do not overmix.
6. Sprinkle flour on work surface. Turn the dough out of the bowl. With floured hands, knead the dough until smooth, about 30 seconds. Taking 1/2 the dough at a time, roll it out with a floured rolling pin to about a 1/2-inch thickness. (*I just pressed the dough into a roughly 1/2-inch-thick circle by hand). Cut into 3-inch rounds with cutter or glass.
7. Place scones on non-stick cookie sheet (no need to grease). Bake for 12 to 18 minutes or until tops are just barely browned.

Note: I baked mine for 12 minutes. The tops were still fairly pale, but the bottoms were beautifully golden and the scones were cooked throughout. I have a gas oven and it tends to get very hot, so your results may vary if you have an electric oven. Just keep an eye on them!

Serve with coffee, tea, and a couple of good friends :)

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