Blood Orange and Cranberry Scones

I make scones about twice a month.  I do this because I like scones, and because I have one heck of a lot of recipes for them.  But today I think I've found the Sistine Chapel of scone recipes.  It is based on a recipe that I found on the Williams-Sonoma website which is itself adapted from a recipe given to Chuck Williams by Judy Rodgers, Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Zuni Cafe in San Francisco.  The original recipe calls for currants.  I didn't have enough, so replaced them with dried cranberries with excellent results.  It also calls for the zest of an orange.  All I had was a bag of blood oranges so figured the blood orange zest would do the trick and add a nice complementary color to the cranberries, so I used it.  What I did not know is that blood orange zest far exceeds the zest of a regular orange by leaps and bounds.  Talk about intense flavor!  I'll never zest a plain orange again.  I also like a glaze, so I made one from about 3/4 cup of confectioners' sugar and 2 T. of regular orange juice from a carton of "Not from Concentrate" that I had in the fridge.  They were amazing!


Blood Orange and Cranberry Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 egg

1/2 cup heavy cream

Zest of 1 blood orange

Glaze (optional)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a scone pan, or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until pea-size crumbs form. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the currants. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, cream and orange zest until blended and add to the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir to form large, moist clumps of dough. 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together with your hands until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough, flouring as needed, into a 10-inch round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 equal-size wedges. Press each wedge into a well of the prepared scone pan, or place the wedges 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake until the scones are golden, about 25 minutes. Invert the scone pan onto a wire rack and lift off the pan, or transfer the scones from the baking sheet to the rack. Let the scones cool for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8 scones.

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