Dried Cranberry Scones with Crystallized Sugar Crust
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; plus more to flour your hands to roll out the scones
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 large egg whisked with 1 tablespoon cream or milk (egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon or more granulated or raw sugar for sprinkling
- Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl of the food processor fitted with a metal blade, and pulse to mix.
- Add the butter to the bowl all at once, and run the food processor for 15 seconds.
- Switch to pulse, and continue pulsing until there are no chunks of butter left and the butter and flour are integrated into moist crumbs.
- Be careful not to mix the butter and flour until they form a dough or paste.
- Remove the blade from the food processor, and dump the crumbs into a big bowl.
- In a separate, small bowl, whisk the eggs to break up the yolks.
- Whisk in the buttermilk, and use the whisk to stir in the cranberries.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with flour-butter crumbs.
- Stir the dough with a wooden spoon until it just comes together and there is no trace of flour visible.
- You dont want to work the dough a moment longer than necessary.
- With a little bit of flour on your hands, scoop out a small handful (about 1/2 cup) of dough with your hand or a big spoon, and roll the dough until it forms a ball.
- Drop the dough onto your baking sheet, and press it into a 1-to-1 1/2-inch-thick disk with the heel of one hand.
- Leave 2-inch spaces between the pressed disks.
- Use a pastry brush or a scrunched-up paper towel to coat each scone with the egg wash. Sprinkle each scone with a thin layer of sugar.
- Place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake for 2025 minutes, until the tops of scones are golden brown and a small knife or toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and place it on a wire rack to allow the scones to cool for a few minutes.
- Lift the baking sheet off the rack, and use a metal spatula to transfer the scones from the baking sheet to the rack, or directly to the dish from which youll be serving the scones.
- Serve fresh out of the oven or at room temperature.
flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cold unsalted butter, eggs, cold buttermilk, cranberries, egg, sugar
Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/dried-cranberry-scones-with-crystallized-sugar-crust (may not work)