Scones are one of the first things that I taught myself how to bake and remain to this day one of my favorite things to bake. They are hearty and super easy, but the main reason that I love them so much is for their versatility. The recipe for scones that has become my most used and most loved  has been adapted from Molly’s blog Orangette for Scottish Scones. As long as you keep the basics the same you can almost add to them anything your imagination can conjure up. They can be sweet with frozen fruit,  dried fruit or chocolate chips or you can go the savory route by adding such items as cheddar cheese, herbs, or bacon. One combination that I always come back to is orange zest and dried cranberries for its zesty flavor and accessibility to these ingredients.

Scottish Scones
Adapted from Orangette

½ c buttermilk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (I like using whole wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 Tbs sugar (I use  finely milled raw cane sugar and use extra to sprinkle on top before baking)
Flavorful additions of your choice, to taste (For this particular recipe I used 1 tbsp. orange zest and about 1/3 cup dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat together the milk and the egg and then set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and whatever additions you choose, and stir or toss to mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dries, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring dough together gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it no more than 12 times. [Apparently, twelve is the magic number here; surpass it at your own risk.] Pat dough into a round approximately ½-inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat, if you have one. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack.

Tags: dried cranberries, orange zest, recipe, scones

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Life, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.