ORANGE CRANBERRY SCONES!

I had never made scones until a week ago because I had heard they were hard to make.

That and saying "oh, I took a lazy Sunday to bake sounds" sounds hella pretentious. But that's exactly what I did, folks. I baked some pretentious scones, and they were delicious. Soft, light, fruity- not at all dry or bland. 

Hats off to my girl Martha for the recipe, although I added more zest and cranberries to it for some extra flavor. For the original recipe, go here.  Wouldn't want to take credit for that little lady's work, now would we? The only reason I'm walking through the steps is because my girl MS does make the process sound more difficult than it needs to be, and I don't want you all getting scared by her fancy descriptions and use of pastry blenders.

What you'll need to make it happen:

1 1/2 cups of flour

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons orange zest 

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into teeny pieces

3/4 cup dried cranberries

2/3 cup buttermilk

Parchment paper

Extra flour for cutting surface

How to make it happen:

1. Get your oven to 400 degrees, and set up your parment lined pan, as well as a flour dusted cutting board to the side.

2. Mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and zest. 

3. Add in your butter. Now, Martha uses a pastry blender, whatever the heck that is. I used a wooden spatula and a knife to cut through and get it well mixed, until it was a thick meal texture. Add in your cranberries and mix well.

4. Create a well/hole in the middle of your batter, pour the buttermilk in, and give it just enough of a stir so there aren't any dry pockets. 

5. Here comes the fun and sticky part. Dust your hands with flour (dear lord wash them first) and transfer your mixture onto the flour dusted cutting board, patting your dough into about an 8 inch wide domed circle. Using a flour dusted knife, cut your dough into 8 triangles, before transferring to your pan, and inch or so apart.

6. Bake for about 14-18 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs. Wait until golden brown and take out!

Voila! There you have it. SCONES people, scones. Not pretentious at all. Especially when you scatter cranberries around them.  Please note below there are only 7 pictured. I got so excited to try them I ate one before remembering to take pictures. #bloggerfail

 So there you have it folks-  easy and delicious cranberry scones!

I'm thinking of trying a cinnamon oat scone next. 

Anyone have any good flavor combos they'd like to see?

Email them to me beautyandbeard@gmail.com!

xo, lp

*pssssssst. mom- are you out there reading this? bet you'd like this recipe!