Cranberry Lemon Scones

I spend quite a bit of time browsing the cooking section of the library these days. I find it therapeutic. I am weird. I know. It's so wonderful that these books are available to me for free. I take advantage of that. I've been all over the internet trying to find new recipes and new foods to try... but there's something about a book that makes things seem 10 times more appealing. I borrowed the book Baking with Julia. It is an old book, and has very little pictures. The colored pictures are bunched together at the beginning of the sections... so that's something I'm not used to. I flipped through this book a few times and tried to find recipes that seemed doable. Even though there aren't too many pictures, the descriptions make all of the recipes seem so tantalizing!

I wanted to make scones. I saw this scones mix at Williams Sonoma the day before and was reminded as to how wonderful scones were.. if they were made correctly. When I was in undergrad, I had a Coffee Bean to my disposal... literally. It was a meal swipe for coffee... and a pastry (I guess they figured that was an appropriate "meal" for the LA people...). I had scones there once.. and only once. It was hard as a rock, dry, and gross. I thought that was how scones were supposed to taste like... so yes, I didn't think much of it... until I went to The Empress in Victoria, BC last year. I had tea time there and boyyy were the scones amazing. They were warm, soft, flaky... and they went SO well with the tea. They had the scones mix for sale.. but I think they were expensive... : /

(Scones @ The Empress in Victoria, BC)

I searched around the internet for a pretty long time last night, especially on foodgawker.com .. to see if anyone had the perfect scones recipe. Scones just all look so dry and stale in pictures... so I didn't know who to trust. So many variations exist for scones. People had savory ones... very sweet ones.. oatmeal.. with egg... without egg... with sour cream.. yadidididaada.. I was lost. But I trusted this cook book, and the recipe called for everything I had in my kitchen (except for buttermilk.... which I make by mixing reg. milk with vinegar.. ) These scones were so easy to make! .. and when they baked.. they were absolutely amazingggg.. It was flaky, buttery, and tender just like a biscuit should be. It was slightly sweet, but slighty tart... and the added dried cranberries gave it a nice touch. After a few hours, these scones were still good. I prefer them warm, but we'll see tomorrow if they actually retain their moist and soft texture. : ) This was one of the recipes where I goofed. Typically this would be bad, but... I made such a small amount, the mistake actually made it tastier. My mistake? I added too much sugar!!! ( for once!) So the original recipe was double of what I made... I cut it down to half because I didn't want to use up all the butter. It called for 1/3 cup ( original recipe..) so naturally I reduced that amount to 1/4... because I don't like sweet things. Whoops. I was supposed to add 1/6 .. and reduce that amount..Guess that didn't happen. The scones actually are not that sweet at all... I mean 1/4 cup of sugar for 10 scones? That's very little. I guess if you eat it with jam, it might be too sweet... but all of the other morning pastries are probably 5 times sweeter than this.Scones- Pre-baked...I found that pastry scraper in the clearance section of Sur La Table for $3! It's really nicely made and even has a ruler on the edges.... I can see many great uses coming from that thing!

Cranberry Lemon Scones
Makes 10

1.5 cups of flour
1/4 cup sugar ( or 1/8 cup if you want it to be less sweet.)
.5 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 whole milk + 1/2 tbsp vinegar, mix together and let stand for at least 5 minutes
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1-2 handfuls of dried cranberries

1.5 tbsp melted butter
1-2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven at 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda/powder, and salt.
2. Put the butter into the bowl, and using your fingers, mix the butter into the flour so that it resembles a coarse meal. There will be butter chunks left, leave those because it adds to the flaky texture of the scones. Add in cranberries, mix with fingers until well distributed.
3. Add lemon extract to the milk mixture. Put the milk mixture into the butter/ flour mixture. Use a fork and mix until almost combined.
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a maximum of 12 times until it comes together. Be sure not to over knead or over handle your dough, that is the key to a perfectly flaky scone.
5. Shape out into a log of your choice and use a sharp knife or pastry scraper to cut out the shapes. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. or until the bottom is golden brown. If the top is not brown, use the broiler on "LO" to brown it for a few minutes, be sure to watch it carefully because the sugar has a tendency to burn really quickly!

*Scones are best the day it is made, but if you want to eat them the day after, place them into a tupperware with a tight fitting lid, and place a piece of wax paper on top to prevent it from drying out. Reheat in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, and the scone will be almost as good as it was out of the oven! Yay! These scones did not dry out the next day! : )!

It was a marathon baking day. Cranberry Scones, French Apple Tart, and Green Tea Macarons.... Who am I going to feed?