I introduce to you freshly baked homemade cranberry scones.
Scones just like the classic sponge cake is a traditional menu item at an afternoon high tea. Served with a strawberry jam and a good dollop of whipped cream. Scones are so versatile and you can have it sweet or savory but the texture should never be dry. That is a complete no-no for me. A description of the perfect scone is soft, flaky, buttery and should melt in your mouth.
The soft, flaky and buttery texture derives from the cold butter that is added and kneading the dough lightly. Whatever you do; do not over-knead your scone dough as this will prevent it from rising. Over-kneading also creates tough gluten and you will end up with a very dry scone.
My homemade cranberry scones are one variant that I like to make but there are so many add-in ingredients you can play with to go from a classic plain scone to giving it a slightly different taste by either making it sweet or savory.
Sweet scone variant ingredient ideas:
- Nuts
- Berries
- Citrus zest
- Chocolate chips
- Dried fruit (apricot, peach)
- Fruit (apple, pear)
- Sultanas or raisins
- Dates
- Coconut
Savory scone variant ingredient ideas:
- Cheese
- Dried herbs
- Chopped onion
- Bacon or ham
- Spinach
- Zucchini
- Chives
- Chilli flakes
- Jalapeño
Homemade Cranberry Scones
Ingredients
Scones
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 Tbsp castor sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 130 g unsalted butter (cold)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 XL eggs
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1 tsp milk
Icing Glaze
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
Instructions
For Scones
- Preheat over at 180ºC and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Grate in butter and work with fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- In a separate bowl whisk 1 egg, buttermilk and water together.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
- Add cranberries and use a rubber spatula to fold in until all ingredients are combined.
- Knead lightly in the bowl until it forms a soft dough.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and turn out dough onto surface.
- Shape dough into a 20cm circle and cut into triangle shapes.
- Prepare egg wash by whisking the remaining egg with a teaspoon of milk.
- Place triangle cut outs onto baking tray and brush with egg wash.
- Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
- Allow to cool.
For Icing Glaze
- Combine icing sugar, milk and vanilla essence and stir until smooth.
- Drizzle over scones.
