Two at a Time Baking

I decided to start off the new year by making scones. I had never made any before and was a little intimidated for some reason. In retrospect, I'm not sure why since these were super easy and fast to make (even easier than muffins, which I didn't think possible). I went back to Baking Bites and found several nice looking scone recipes. Her recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones sounded the best to me this morning but I decided to use Clementines (which Erik and I bought at Whole Foods) since they, like cranberries, are in season this time of year. I had never baked with them before and was inspired by our meal last night. We went to a 12 course tasting meal at Jujube last night to ring in the new year and they served chocolate truffles flavored with Clementines which were fabulous. I also had never purchased or baked with fresh cranberries before. I wasn't sure what consistency they should be when they are ripe (my internet research revealed that they should not be soft and should be dark red in color). I also made the mistake of tasting one right out of the box. As you might imagine, it was quite tart! I was worried about how it would work out in the scones but I'm happy to report that they were delicious! I learned from Baking Bites that you can pretty much use any liquid when making scones, such as milk, buttermilk, cream or fruit juice. I'm excited to try different variations - like substituting chocolate chips for the cranberries (Erik's idea) and blueberry buttermilk with lemon zest. So many scones to make in 2008 . . . Happy new year and happy baking!

Cranberry Clementine Scones
Makes 4 large scones
Adapted from Baking Bites

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
0.25 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
0.25 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
0.25 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
5-6 tablespoons fresh clementine juice
1 teaspoon clementine zest
sugar for sprinkling (I like to use Sugar in the Raw)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. Add butter and toss to coat. Using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse sand (it takes me about 3-5 minutes to get to this consistency). Make sure there aren't any pieces larger than an average pea.
4. Stir in cranberries using your hands.
5. Add 5 tablespoons of clementine juice and zest and stir with your hands. If the mixture does not form a ball, add remaining tablespoon of juice.
6. Divide dough into four pieces and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until scones are a light golden color and a toothpick should come out clean.
8. Enjoy!