Annie’s Eats

I have hardly been in the kitchen at all this week, as I am traveling all over the place for residency interviews.  Thankfully though I still have several recipes from last week to share, so there is no shortage of material for me to post.  Last week on the way home from Thanksgiving, my “little” brothers (20 and 21) spent the night so that they could spend some more time with their nephew.  We had a great time talking, laughing and playing Guitar Hero.  I was quite exhausted the next morning but luckily I had these scones in the freezer.  I just threw them on the baking sheet and into the oven.  Combined with OJ and some yogurt or other fruit, these are an excellent breakfast.

Actually, I have made many scone recipes but these have by far the best texture of any I have tried.  They are incredibly light and fluffy – and that is from the freezer!  I can imagine they are even better if freshly made.  I adapted the recipe to include my own method of shaping the scones, as I find it to be the easiest way to create formed scones without handling the dough too much or having to re-roll it, reducing the chance of overworking it and ending up with a tough scone.  The original recipe suggests baking a bit longer if baking from the freezer, but mine were over-browned this way.  I think it is best to just be watchful and bake only until light golden (15 minutes for me).  I am of course still on my cranberry kick, but the scone recipe is a great base and I think it would work wonderfully with many mix-ins.

Recipe Rewind: tried and true favorites I’ve made recently
pineapple chicken salad
thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies

Cranberry Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

1 ½ tbsp. freshly grated lemon zest

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar, divided

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1 ¼ cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400° F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, pulse lemon zest, flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl, toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar, and stir into flour mixture.

In another small bowl, lightly beat egg and yolk.  Stir in cream.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined and all dry ingredients are moistened.

Place a 3 or 4-inch round biscuit cutter on the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Scoop some of the dough inside the biscuit cutter and pat down gently to form a 1-inch thick dough round.  Repeat with remaining dough (makes about 8-10 scones), placing dough rounds about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. 

(To freeze before baking, flash freeze at this point.  Place the baking sheet in the freezer until individual dough rounds are frozen.  Transfer to a freezer bag and store until ready to bake.  Simply place on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake as directed.)

Bake on the middle rack of the oven about 15-20 minutes or until pale golden.

Source: adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Filed under: Breakfast, Muffins & Scones