Cranberry Scones

Cranberry Scones and Lemon Curd

Cranberry Scones have been a tradition at our church’s Christmas Tea.  I had plenty of help in making 600 scones for the occasion, which are now all safely stowed in various freezers waiting to be thawed and reheated just before serving. We split it into two baking days.  We completed 450 on the first day and the remaining 192 on the second baking day. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera to take pictures of the process and had to make them again (what a shame right?)  I could have used the recipe for 8 large scones, but no, I made 32 and gave some away.  My children enjoyed the cranberry scones and lemon curd for an after school snack.  The only change I made on this blog was that I did not chop the cranberries (and I used more- but only because it was for personal use) Serve with Lemon Curd

Here is the recipe:

Cranberry Scones- Robbin

Yields: 12 servings (small scones) or 8 large

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 2 Tbsp sugar in the raw for topping (brush scone with egg white wash first)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  Cut butter into dry ingredients with  pastry cutter, until they resemble fine crumbles.  Whisk eggs and whipping cream together.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients and cranberries. Stir gently with fork until dough holds together.  With hands, bring dough together into a ball.  Pour out onto a floured surface and knead gently for about 10-15 times.  You want to handle the dough as little as possible or the scones will become tough.

Form the dough into a 8 inch circle (or roll out to about 3/4′ thick  Cut with biscuit cutter, or into squares or triangles as you prefer).  Repeat with remaining dough until it is all used up. (If you are using the recipe which serves 32 large scones you will split the large ball of dough into 4 even pieces, each piece will make 8 large scones)

Place scones on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet (of if you are using silicone baking mats, you can skip spraying the pan) leaving about 3/4:-1″ between each scone.  Bake at 400 F for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool on racks. Serve warm with Lemon Curd.

FREEZE: Or store airtight and freeze for up to one month.  If frozen, place from freezer into heavy duty foil pans and bake at 300 for about 15 minutes.  Or defrost in open air to keep from getting moist and bake for 5 minutes at 325.

Cranberry Scones (3x batch)

Yield 48 scones 32 large scones

• 10 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks plus 6 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 3/4 cup chopped cranberries
• 1 cup sugar in raw
• 2 egg whites for egg wash
• extra flour for rolling out

Printable Recipe

Cranberry Scones and Lemon Curd

Scone Ingredients

Helpful Notes/Tips:

If you have parchment paper or even better silicone baking sheets (silpat is a great brand that I highly recommend, but they are pricey.) to place on your cookie sheets, it will prevent the bottom of the scone from browning too quickly during baking, plus they will be easier to remove from the pan.  Sugar in the Raw is easy to find and a great finishing sugar – I found them in a convenient packet size and two packets will be enough sugar to top 8 large scones.  Before brushing the scones with egg white wash, separate them into individual wedges so the sides also get the egg wash and sugar.  If you have one of the plastic sheets that has circles of different size printed on it, you will find it an easy task to form a circle, and your scones will be more uniform.