Cranberry Scones
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I have been making scones quite often as they are extremely easy to make. Without having to bring out the electrical beater, I can easily whip up a batch of warm scones in no time for breakfast, brunch and teatime.
The key to the making of a good scone lies in the technique itself. Do not overwork the dough as it can make the scones hard.
This cranberry scone recipe is adapted from Farmgirl’s Cranberry Christmas Scones. They yield a better texture than the raisin scones I featured earlier. When they are fresh from the oven, the inside is tender and moist with a light crunch on the outside. The dried cranberries go really well with the buttery scones. It is not too sweet and would suit just anyone even, the elderly and those who have no particular liking for sweet things. The scones can stay fresh for 1-2 days at room temperature or you can even freeze them for future consumption.
Christmas is just around the corner. If you still haven’t decided what to bake for your friends and loved ones on this coming Christmas holidays, these mini scones with ruby-like cranberries will surely brighten up your holiday table.
Recipe
Adapted and modified from
Farmgirl’s Cranberry Christmas Scones (Recipe)
and House of Annie (originated from Fine Cooking Magazine) (Technique).
Yield: 26 small scones (if you use 3cm cookie cutters)
Ingredients
Steps
- Preheat oven to 190ºC. Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper.
- Combine plain flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Then sieve 2-3 times (see Note 1)
- Add in sugar and salt, and mix well.
- Using a pastry blender, fork or finger tips, cut butter into the flour mixture until it forms coarse crumbs. (see Note 2)
- Add in dried cranberries and toss gently until well combined.
- Using a fork or hand whisk, beat yogurt, milk and egg until well combined. Then gently fold yoghurt mixture into the dry ingredients and mix lightly until well blended. Do not pour all the mixture into the dry ingredients in one go. Add in little by little and stop once a loose dough is formed. You need not use up all the yogurt mixture. At this stage, the dough will be wet and sticky but manageable. Add additional flour if dough is too sticky to handle.
- Sprinkle flour lightly on both the dough and the work top. Turn the dough out and roughly work it into a ball. Press the ball down into a rectangular shape. Sprinkle some flour if the dough is still wet.
- Fold the dough like the way you fold a business envelope (divide dough into 3 sections, 1st fold upper third to center, then fold lower third to center). It is alright if the dough is still quite shaggy and loose at this stage. Do not knead or over-work the dough. The less you work on the dough the more tender and flakier the scone will be.
- Then press the dough down to form either a circle or rectangular dough.
- For circle dough, cut it into 8 large or 16 small wedges.
- For rectangular dough, cut it into 13 large or 26 small squares. Push the edges roughly to shape it into a round scone.
- Alternatively, use cookie cutter or an upside-down juice glass to cut out the scones.
- Brush tops and sides of the scones with the egg glaze. Place them on the baking tray, spacing them about 4cm apart.
- Bake in the preheat oven (at 190ºC) for 15–18 minutes (depending on the shape and size of your scones), or until golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack and serve warm. Alternatively, let it cool completely and store in an airtight container or freeze (refer note 5).
Notes
- Sieve flour mixture 2-3 times to avoid any bitter taste due to the large amount of baking powder and baking soda used in this recipe.
- Using a pastry blender to cut the butter can help to prevent melting the butter before the mixing process.
- The quality of butter used is important so as to give your scones a more buttery flavour. It is worthwhile to invest in a premium brand of butter when making your scones. It would definitely make a difference in the taste.
- For frozen scones, defrost them at room temperature and heat at 180 ºC for 5-7 minutes.
- How to eat scones? Cut the scones into half and spread butter/cream/jam onto it. And, it is best enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea.