Cranberry Orange Scones

The first thing I ever baked without mum's supervision, at the age of 18, were scones. Up until that point in my life I never took an interest to baking, but for some reason I was drawn to a picture of scones in one of my mum's cooking magazines and I just wanted to try it. For about a year when I was in college, I made a variety of scones (cheddar and apple scones, buttermilk scones, currant scones, low fat raisin scones, etc.) for various reasons (dad's Monday morning sales meetings, mum's coffee mornings, study group, etc.) but never thought to make anything else.

I don't know why I started baking obsessively, or when exactly I started identifying myself as a baker, but at the end of the day all that matters is that baking makes me happy. Friends often ask if I plan on opening a bakery some day and to be perfectly honest with you, dear readers, I don't. I have no desire to own a bakery and work in the kitchen from 5 in the morning (or earlier) on the same recipes over and over again for the rest of my life. I enjoy baking, I love trying new recipes, and I love taking on the challenges of the occasional order for custom cakes.

Here's one of the things I love about my hobby: fresh, home made afternoon snacks with my flavours of choice. Today I'm going to share this recipe for American scones with you, sweet and fresh with a great hit of citrusy goodness to satisfy the mid-afternoon snack craving. Check out this article on Slate.com for an explanation of British vs American scones. I like both types depending on the occasion; proper plain British scones for tea, and American scones when I'm feeling generous with myself (sugar!).

Cranberry Orange Scones
For the scones:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp caster sugar (plus about 1 tbsp for sprinkling on top later)
• 5 tbsp butter, cold and cubed
• 1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. I did it the lazy way and used my food processor, so put the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the food processor and whizz to combine. Drop in the cubed butter and pulse until it comes together (about 1 round of singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in your head). Transfer the mixture into a bowl and hand stir in the heavy cream, orange zest, and vanilla. Then fold in the cranberries. Once the dough has come together, transfer it to a well floured surface and knead a couple of times. Flatten the dough into a round disc (roughly 9" in diameter, around 3/4" thick) and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then move it to your prepared baking sheet and using a butter knife, just cut across the disc to form 8 wedges. Bake for 18-25 minutes or until it turns golden. Remove from the oven to cool 

Orange glaze

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

1. While the scones are cooling on a wire rack, stir the sugar and orange juice together in a bowl. Once the scones have cooled almost completely, drizzle the glaze over the tops and let it harden before serving

If you don't have a food processor, simple combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Then crumble the butter in with the flour mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Continue as above instructions with the rest of the ingredients.

Low-Fat Raisin Scones

Good morning, everyone! If you're suffering from post-binge-eating-weekend guilt like I am, but still enjoy having a tasty breakfast or snack despite the tell-tale tummy in your pencil skirt... then this is the recipe for you.

I woke up on Saturday morning thinking I had overslept after our hectic Friday night activities, but when I saw it was only 8.30am, I felt like I deserved a treat. A treat for me is basically the opportunity to tinker in the kitchen, followed by freshly baked goodies with cream and jam.

Low-fat raisin scones, one of my mother's favourite recipes, and also one of the easiest you can pull off for a nice Saturday family breakfast or tea.

Low-fat Raisin Scones

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 egg yolk, 3 tbsp water (for the eggwash)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and line your baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then cut the butter in, and using the tips of your fingers, mix until you achieve a breadcrumb texture
3. Add the egg and vanilla, and stir with a spatula, then pour in the sour cream, lemon and orange zest and stir until just combined
4. Stir in the raisins, then using a medium sized ice-cream scoop, plop down scoops of the batter on your prepared baking sheets. Brush over the tops with the eggwash, and bake for 12-15 minutes
5. Once done, allow to cool on the pans for 5 minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely

Featherlight Scones

There is nothing quite like a warm scone fresh from the oven, slathered in Devonshire clotted cream with a healthy dollop of raspberry jam on a cold, rainy afternoon to make you feel like lifting your pinkie finger while you sip your tea.

In other words, classic acting posh and faking a British accent snack food!

I got home after a week's holiday, absolutely desperate to bake, (no joke, I was actually suffering from oven withdrawal) but was so knackered that I was FORCED to wait until the next day. LOL.

Sunday morning, I got up, grabbed my old recipe notebook and ran downstairs in my pajamas and elephant slippers (got to love them elephants) and just mixed the batter for my favourite scones. It seemed like the perfect thing to have that day.

The recipe is SO simple, and honestly takes absolutely no time at all to whip up, you'll get fresh, yummy scones in under 30 minutes!

Give it a shot, and feel free to embellish with raisins, chocolate chips, cheese or apple slices. Just some suggestions ;)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup vanilla yoghurt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp milk
• Sugar

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
2. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (this is tedious work when one doesn't possess a high powered food processor, so I crumbled with my fingertips tip I started getting minor finger cramps)
3. Stir in the egg, vanilla, yoghurt until just combined (no need for a mixer here, just stir with a spatula)
4. Turn onto a well-floured surface and knead 6-8 times
5. Drop small portions (saaay about 2 tablespoons worth) onto your prepared baking tray, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle the sugar
6. Bake at 180°C for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges

You may choose to roll the dough into a circle and cut into wedges, but I've always preferred drop scones for ease of storing and gobbling.