Cranberry-Orange Scones

There seems to be an anti-fruitcake conspiracy this year.  The only place I've been able to find the glacé fruits is online, and I don't want to risk the containers leaking in transit.  Meanwhile, I made glacéed peel, expecting to use it before now, and that stuff doesn't keep forever.  So I made a batch of fruitcake using maraschino cherries and part of the peel, and put the rest in these scones.

This is a different concept than my basic scone recipe.  I had some extra cream in the fridge and decided to do cream scones.  They are richer than milk ones, of course, and also have a slightly more cakey texture from the added fat.  They are also drop scones, not rolled.  I found a recipe on Café Sucre Farine that was mostly what I wanted.  I just cut it in half and made a few tweaks, not the least of which was making the scones smaller.  I found a use for my new 1oz scoop!  Cranberry can be an intense flavor, so I wanted to make these more like large cookies, or the small scones you get at tea when they offer more than one flavor.

Because of cranberry's sharp tang, you really do need the glaze.  These definitely end up on the dessert-end of the scone spectrum.  Or breakfast pastry.  You don't need to put jam on them, and butter or cream is optional.

*1/2 C whipping cream
1/4 C butter
1 C flour
2 Tb sugar
1/2 Tb baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
*3 Tb glacé peel, finely chopped
2/3 C chopped fresh cranberries

1.  Melt the butter and set aside to cool.  Place the whipping cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

2.  In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Reserve 1 Tb of glacé peel for garnish, and stir the rest into the flour along with the cranberries.  And yes, it's hard to chop cranberries without sending them flying.  You can do it by two or three pulses in the food processor, or use an onion chopper because it contains everything.

3.  Get the cream out of the freezer.  Stir the butter into it and allow it to re-chill into globules.  This saves you the step of cutting the butter into the flour, which frankly I find therapeutic.  But ultimately, this is faster and leaves less of a mess.  You won't get a super-flakey scone, but cream scones aren't known for that anyway.  Stir cream mixture into the flour.  It will be thick, and you'll be tempted to think there isn't enough liquid.  Give it a minute.

4.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a baking mat.  Spray a 1 oz cookie scoop with pan spray (or estimate 2 tablespoons), then scoop out scones, leaving about 2" between in case of spread.  Place prepared scones in the fridge for about 15 minutes, or however long it takes to preheat your oven to 400º.

5.  Bake 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned and set.  Cool on a rack while you prepare the glaze.

Glaze

2/3 C powdered sugar
1 tsp milk or cream
Orange juice as needed to thin

1.  Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, adding juice as needed to achieve desired consistency.  Be careful, it goes from too thick to runny in the blink of an eye.  Give it a minute after each addition to settle.  You want something that drizzles in an unbroken stream, but holds its shape for a few seconds.

2.  Drizzle icing over scones, then top with reserved glacé peel (chop them into tinier bits if necessary).

Makes one dozen

Difficulty rating  :)