Not so traditional scones:

Who doesn’t like an excuse for a holiday? While researching my series, I travelled to the south of England and of course encountered the cream tea. Nine times out of ten, it was a simple affair consisting of a cup of tea, one or two small scones, clotted cream, and maybe preserves. There was nothing overdone or fussy but everything was absolutely fresh. This wasn’t a huge surprise since, in some cases, the cows were literally in the back yard.

When I got home, I started to experiment with scone recipes to recreate the experience (minus the cow).  I started with traditional Victorian recipes, but soon started doing my own thing. I came up with a recipe I really like for lemon cranberry scones, which balance the sweet and tart and still taste great with cream, butter or even plain greek yogurt (yes, I’m strange).  Here you go:

Blend:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cream of tartar

½ tsp of salt

3 tablespoons of sugar

Cut in ¼ cup of butter

Make a well in the center and pour in the juice of one large lemon and enough milk so that the total volume of liquid is 2/3 cup

Finally, add:

grated rind of one large lemon

½ cup dried cranberries

Knead the dough for 5 minutes on a floured surface. Roll out until it’s about an inch thick and cut into 2 inch rounds with a floured cutter. Brush the tops with a little milk.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

For a traditional taste, omit the cranberries and lemon and use heavy cream for the liquid.  Currants are also a nice addition.