Orange Cranberry Scones

Chef Anita Lo, who you'll meet on next week's episode of "Someone's In The Kitchen With," made a point to say that her mentors were David and Karen Waltuck, the proprietors of the legendary restaurant Chanterelle. This fact stayed with me after Chef Lo left my apartment and when I found myself, a few hours later, in the Strand cookbook section, I saw a copy of the famous Chanterelle cookbook which doesn't focus on the food that they served the customers, but the food that they served the staff. It's called, appropriately enough, "Staff Meals" and I bought it right away.

Ladies and gentleman, this is a wonderful cookbook. It's so full of heart and soul and good information, I just know it'll become a permanent fixture of my cookbook collection. The recipes are all for basic things--macaroni and cheese, chicken with cashews, baba ghanouj--but they're written with the quiet wisdom that comes from years of experience.

One recipe that immediately jumped out at me was a recipe for scones. I love scones. I've made cream scones before (see here). But never the kind of scones that actually look like scones; and I knew that this recipe--which involves the addition of butter and egg--would result in the real thing.

And it did! I added orange zest to the mix (inspired by a scone I used to love at Gorilla Coffee that they no longer sell) and the resulting scone was light, crumbly and fragrant. The best part is that I froze the large majority on a cookie sheet (see: Revelations of The Kitchen Freezer) and now I can have a hot, crumbly scone whenever I want one.

The only thing: the recipe tells you to bake them at 400 degrees, but the bottoms of my scones turned too dark when I did that. The next time I baked them at 350 for 3 or 4 minutes longer and they turned out great. Proceed as you will.

Orange Cranberry Scones

based on Chanterelle Breakfast Scones

from "Staff Meals" by David Waltuck

Makes about 16 small scones.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup heavy (or whipping) cream

1 large egg

1/4 cup vanilla sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the scones [Make vanilla sugar by storing sugar in a jar with a fresh vanilla bean. I use mine for coffee.]

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, chilled

1/2 cup dried cranberries (or dried currants)

Zest from 1 small orange

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (or, if your oven runs hot, 350 degrees F.)

2. Place the cream, egg, and 1/4 cup vanilla sugar in a medium-size bowl and whisk until fluffy and well blended.

3. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor and pulse to combine.

Add the chilled butter, then pulse again until fairly well blended.

Then add the cream mixture and pulse until the dough just holds together.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.

Sprinkle the cranberries and orange zest over the dough...

...and knead for 30 seconds, making sure the cranberries are well distributed throughout the dough. Pat the dough into a round about 1/2 inch thick.

5. Cut out the scones using a floured 2-inch round cookie cutter.

Gather up the extra dough, pat it out again, and continue cutting out the scones. You should have 16 to 20.

6. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper). Brush the tops with the melted butter...

...and sprinkle them with vanilla sugar. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove them from the oven, place in a cloth-lined bread basket, and eat immediately. [As for what to serve them with, Waltuck's headnote says: "[They're] ready to eat as is, in need of no butter or jam." I concur.]

Recipe: Orange Cranberry Scones

Summary: An adaptation of the dried currant scones from David Watluck's "Staff Meals."

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup heavy (or whipping) cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup vanilla sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, chilled
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or dried currants)
• Zest from 1 small orange
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (or, if your oven runs hot, 350 degrees F.)
2. Place the cream, egg, and 1/4 cup vanilla sugar in a medium-size bowl and whisk until fluffy and well blended.
3. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the chilled butter, then pulse again until fairly well blended. Then add the cream mixture and pulse until the dough just holds together.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the cranberries and orange zest over the dough and knead for 30 seconds, making sure the cranberries are well distributed throughout the dough. Pat the dough into a round about 1/2 inch thick.
5. Cut out the scones using a floured 2-inch round cookie cutter. Gather up the extra dough, pat it out again, and continue cutting out the scones. You should have 16 to 20.
6. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper). Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle them with vanilla sugar. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove them from the oven, place in a cloth-lined bread basket, and eat immediately.

Quick notes

These are great with breakfast or for a late afternoon snack. They'd go great with jam or clotted cream, but truthfully they're terrific just by themselves.

Variations

You can play around with the dried fruit and zest: try lemon zest and/or raisins, golden raisins, chopped up dried prunes, dried apricots or dried cherries.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time:

Number of servings (yield): 12

Culinary tradition: English

Calories: 225

Fat: 7.6