Blood Orange & Cranberry Scones

December 18, 2022 by No Comments

Oh my goodness, it is so cold. Where did my nice weather go? We are potentially getting up to five inches of snow tomorrow? DO NOT WANT!

It turns out that people have a term for this – the nice weather that shows up around the beginning of February, then promptly disappears: “February fakeout.” Of course it’s catchy. Harrumph! *zips parka to cover face* It was a cold walk home from the train today.

I can’t be too mad about winter, though, because of the awesome citrus we have available.

There is no such thing as too many blood oranges. They are intensely flavored, fun, a little out of the ordinary and also, the juice makes an adorable pink color.

I dare you to make these and not have a smile on your face.

Here’s what you need:
2 cups AP flour
10 tsp. sugar, divided
1 Tbsp. blood orange zest
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. blood orange juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Stir together the flour, 7 tsp. of the sugar, the orange zest, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add the butter cubes to the bowl and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or a fork, until the mixture looks mealy. Toss in the cranberries and stir.

In a different bowl, whisk together the orange juice, cream and egg. Pour into the flour mixture and mix to just combine. When it gets hard to stir, it is probably easier to just get in their with your hands.

Flatten the dough into a 8-10 inch disk and cut into wedges. Place on a baking sheet covered by a silpat or parchment paper. Brush the scones with milk and sprinkle with the remaining 3 tsp. granulated sugar.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

While the scones are cooling, mix up the confectioner’s sugar and the remaining 1 Tbsp. blood orange juice to form a glaze. You can add milk or more sugar to make it thicker or thinner if you prefer- personally I like to make it pretty thick :) Drizzle onto the scones when they are near room temperature.