Newbie Gourmet

My biological father came down for a visit today and I treated him to these wonderful little Cranberry-Ginger Scones that I made yesterday for my husband to grab on his way to work. They are adapted from a work recipe and are dry and crumbly--the perfect texture to go with a morning coffee.

Now, the story behind this recipe is that I was asked to make two different scone recipes during my second or third day at work: a cranberry-almond recipe and a ginger-orange recipe. "Unfortunately," I merged the two recipes because I didn't interpret my boss's directions clearly. Thankfully, they came out quite delicious and everyone ate them and loved them anyway. Isn't that how the best recipes are made anyway? Messing something up?

It's how chocolate chip cookies were made, actually. You can read the whole story here, but the short version is that Ruth Wakefield thought that by crumbling a chocolate bar into a basic cookie recipe, she could make chocolate cookies. "Unfortunately," chocolate bars don't work that way, and now we have a very awesome cookie recipe that every child knows and loves.

This scone recipe makes just enough for my husband and I to nibble on for a day, about eight or so. If you have a large cookie cutter, double the recipe. The dough freezes well enough. At home, I use a simple round cutter to make little patty-sized scones, but at work my boss has this lovely little heart-cutter that makes larger and more adorable scones.

The thickness of the scones will determine how moist they are. The thicker they are, the less dry they will be, and that could well be your preference. The original recipe called for a thickness of 1/4 inch, but I found that I liked them better at 1/2 inch thickness. It's really up to you to experiment with the recipe and see what works for you.

Cranberry-Ginger Scones

Ingredients:

2 c. flour*
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 c. cranberries
1/2 c. crystallized (or candied) ginger, chopped
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 c. almond slivers
2/3 c. buttermilk
Egg Wash**

*Pastry flour works best, but all-purpose flour will also work.
**I make egg wash by mixing one egg and one TBS water until well blended.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover one baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Use a pastry blender or food processor to mix the butter into the dry mix, creating a coarse crumb-looking mixture. Stir in the cranberries, almonds, ginger, and orange zest. Add the buttermilk and stir just until the mix comes together. You don't want to mix it to death.

Take the (very wet) dough ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead it a few times to make sure everything is mixed together well. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Use your favorite cookie cutter (the bigger the better--aim for palm-sized cut-outs) to cut the scones out and transfer them to baking sheets.

Brush the top of the scones with the egg wash and bake them for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and hope your husband thanks you in the morning.