A cup of tea, a warm scone and a good book is all I need to feel comfortable. I love bread in just about any form. When everyone was doing the Atkins diet, I just couldn't. I have to have my bread. I don't eat it every day, but the thought of not having bread... Well, that's a world I don't want to live in!
I used to love to make bread. For several years, we didn't buy our bread. Once people tried my bread, I would get requests to sell it. I was a bread making junkie. I loved the way the dough felt while I was kneading it. It was like meditation to me. But I stopped making bread when we moved to Italy. There were two reasons why I stopped, the first was that I did not have enough counter space to knead dough and it didn't help that the oven that we had only had 2 temperatures - 450F and 350 if I kept the door propped open with a sheet pan. So, I stopped making bread. By the time we got to Norfolk, I didn't really have the time because I was always working. I guess it didn't help that I was out of practice, either. A little over a year or so ago, we bought a bread machine so that we could have homemade bread again. It's good, better than store bought. But it's not quite the same thing.
No, I haven't gotten my hands floury with kneading - not yet anyway. I am thinking that I will be doing that again very soon. But my hands were a bit messy this afternoon, while I was making Cranberry Lemon Scones for Patrick to take to a potluck at work. I realized that I probably should put at least one of my favorite recipes for scones here, considering the name of the blog!
This recipe is great because you can use just about anything you have in your pantry. If you don't like cranberries, then use dried cherries. If you don't have lemons on hand, than use oranges, or leave the zest out completely. Every year during the holidays I try to buy several bags of cranberries to have in the freezer. They will last for a long time in the freezer in just the bag that you buy them in. I made a double batch of these scones today, and am down to only one bag in my freezer! Perhaps I should have bought a few more bags...
(Originally posted on January 21, 2009)
Cranberry Lemon Scones
Adapted from a Cranberry Orange Scone recipe from Bon Appetit, November 1998
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel (a microplane is the best tool for this)
1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/4 cup fresh cranberries or 3/4 cup dried, chopped
1 cup chilled buttermilk
sugar for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. Mix in lemon peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add buttermilk and stir with a fork until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into a 1 inch thick square. Cut square into four equal squares and then again to make 16 triangles. Transfer triangles to baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown, approximately 25 minutes. Let stand on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room
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