Making it my own
Traditional scones have very little sugar in them. Other than currents or raisins, they don’t contain additional fruits, nuts, chocolates and aren’t covered with drizzle. Traditional scones are then simply adorned with jam and cream. Americans, on the other hand, tend to love variety and make all sorts of scone flavors. So when I saw one that caught my eye, like this orange cranberry scone recipe from In Cookie Haven, I was tempted, but also not tempted to try it. While I love fresh oranges, I’m not overly keen on orange flavored cakes, cookies and sweets. But with dried cranberries in the cupboard and an orange tree in the backyard, I decided to take the plunge and just make them.
Whisking the dry ingredients together.
After chopping up the dried cranberries and zesting an orange, I cut off a small part of the orange to add additional fresh juice to the dough mixture. It’s not included in the recipe but I do this with my lemon loaf recipe to enhance the fruit flavor so I decided to add a little to this recipe, too.
I prefer round scones and I love the way the dough looks with the chopped cranberries and orange zest studded throughout it.
The final product!
I was actually pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed these scones! They were sweeter, probably due to the dried cranberries, and a bit richer than a traditional scone. However, with cream on them, they were excellent. I also liked the fact that after being reheated, they maintained that fresh taste the following two days.
But I couldn’t leave it alone. What I like to do with some recipes is to see whether I can modify them to have less sugar, less butter, switch out the fruit yet still taste just as good as the original recipe. I’ve made this recipe about seven times now, cutting back on some ingredients and adding others. In the end, the only change I made was to cut back on the amount of butter by only one tablespoon and I used about 3/4 cup of heavy cream instead of one cup. You can always add liquid, but you can’t remove any if the dough is too wet and sticky. Adding additional flour can change the taste and texture of the recipe.
I then made these same scones on a recent holiday. I didn’t have all of my usual kitchen equipment with me like a scone cutter or pastry board so I made do with what was available at the house.
Parchment paper on the counter worked just fine for turning out the dough. There was a cheese grater that I used to zest the orange. It worked perfectly when I made short strokes. Working the butter into the flour mixture and orange zest really distributes the essential oils and flavor from the zest into the dough. I didn’t have dried cranberries this time, but no one was bothered by it.
I patted the dough into a circle with my hands since there wasn’t a rolling pin. I didn’t have my scone cutter so I used a sharp knife and made triangles. As usual, I didn’t do the traditional egg wash and used my fingers to dab the leftover heavy cream from the remains in the measuring cup to pat on the tops of the scones, being careful none dripped down the sides.
I thought these turned out very nicely! Even without the egg wash, the edges had a lovely golden color. You could still make out the little flecks of orange zest.
I made fresh stiff cream for the scones and a pot of tea to round out our afternoon treat.
These orange scones paired perfectly with the cold, snowy weather. In fact, my husband and daughter preferred them without the cranberries. Whether you make these exactly as the recipe is written or with modifications, I hope you give them a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed.