Cranberry Orange Mini Scones
What's better on a cold morning than hot, slightly crispy on the outside, moist and delicious on the inside cranberry orange scones? These mini scones are made with fresh cranberries, orange zest and have a secret ingredient to make them slightly crispy and chewy.
Ingredients
- 2 c. all purpose flour or if you have self-rising flour use that and skip the baking powder and salt plus an extra 1/4 c. for hands and cutting board
- 1 c. old fashioned oats or quick oats coarsely grind them in the food processor
- 1 1/2 T. baking powder
- 3/4 t. salt
- 7 T. sugar
- 1 c. chopped cranberries
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter cold
- 1/4 c. orange juice
- 1 c. low fat buttermilk divided
- zest of 2 oranges
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl combine: 2 c. flour (lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup, do not pack), ground oatmeal, baking powder, salt, zest and sugar.
- Cut butter into small cubes. Add to flour mixture. Cut in with a fork or pastry blender.
- Add cranberries. Mix well.
- Place 1/4 c. orange juice in a large liquid measuring cup. Add 3/4 c. buttermilk to the orange juice. Stir. Lightly fold into the flour mixture until most of liquid is absorbed. You don’t want to stir hard, just lightly keep folding over, otherwise the scones will be tough.
- Scoop off about 1 c. dough-the part that is well moistened. I actually place the moistened dough in a dry measuring cup for measurement so all the scones are the same size. Lightly flour your hands and board. Dump the 1 c. of dough into your hands and make a ball. You will probably have to push the dough together to keep it from falling apart. Lightly press ball down on a floured board until you have a round disc about 5 inches in diameter. Round the edges with your hands. Cut the disc into 8 pie shaped pieces.
- Carefully transfer each scone onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Allow a few inches in between scones. Do this for rest of dough adding the remaining 1/4 c. buttermilk to moisten the flour mixture at the bottom of bowl. See note at bottom.
- Bake at preheated 400° for about 8-10 minutes. These do not get very brown. The tops look crunchy but they are still soft inside.
- Allow to cool on baking sheet. Eat some and freeze rest for another time.
Notes
I have found it better to add the buttermilk in parts as you go. I first add 1 c. of buttermilk then scoop out the moistened part and make a few scones. Then I go back, add a little more buttermilk and scoop out the rest. If you add all of the buttermilk at once, the top will be sticky and the bottom part of the mixture will be dry. If you try and mix it all together it will be a big mess and your scones will be tough. Use the 1 c. dry measuring cup to measure your dough, that way your scones will all be an even size. You will probably have to “free form,” the last bits of dough into scones. If you need to add a just a bit more buttermilk, go ahead, just don’t make the scone mixture sticky.
Make sure your butter is cold and your oven is preheated and hot. This will make the scones rise better.
To freeze, let scones completely cool, flash freeze, then seal up in vacuum sealed bags. I usually put 4 in a pint size bag.
To reheat frozen scones, place on a baking sheet, cover with foil and reheat at 350° until hot.
Nutrition
Serving: 32gCalories: 81kcalCarbohydrates: 11.8gProtein: 1.4gFat: 1.9gSaturated Fat: 1.9gCholesterol: 7.9mgSodium: 70.3mgFiber: 0.7gSugar: 3.4gVitamin A: 25.7IUVitamin C: 2.3mg
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