Cranberry Lime Scones
I have a problem with Starbucks. Almost every morning, before I leave for my day job, I stop and buy a cup of coffee. Nothing fancy. Grande, bold, black. $2.09.
Doesn't seem like much of a problem but I started to think about how much money that amounts to. $10 a week, $40 a month, $480 a year. (That could be a plane ticket to London! Or a massage every month! Or a plethora of new kitchen supplies!) Not to mention, the waste from all the cups, sleeves, and plastic lids. I have all of the coffee making supplies at home, a fancy new French press, plenty of coffee, and a nice new coffee mug (Thanks Anastasia!)---I just can't seem to break myself of the coffee stop.
It is rubbing off on my kids. Last week, they woke up and jumped on me---begging to go to Starbucks to get scones and muffins.
"But, mommy, you need some coffee and we want scones. Let's go to Starbucks!"
Uh oh. My addiction is rubbing off. Time to put a stop to this.
"I have an idea, let's MAKE coffee and scones!", I said as we all filed into the kitchen. I groggily made my coffee and searched for a scone recipe and some ingredients to throw in to attmept to make them more interesting. Of course, Smitten Kitchen delivered as usual, and soon our kitchen was filled with screaming scone scarfers (is this even a word?)
Here is what you need to do:
1) You will need: 2 cups of flour, 3 T sugar, 1 cop heavy cream, 1 T baking powder, 5 T butter cut into little chunks, and ½ teaspoon salt. I used ½ cup dried cranberries and a about 1 T of lime zest. I also made a batch using ½ cup of dark chocolate chips (those were good!)
2) You may also need a pastry cutter and a biscuit cutter. Seeing as my kitchen supplies are limited, I used what I had. These are both circa 1950 and are from Aaron's grandma. Aren't they cool? I love the 50's. I am not so sure that the contraption on the left is a pastry cutter. But, I used it and it worked. If you don't have a pastry cutter, you can use your fingers to mix the flour and butter into that crumbly texture.
3) Chop up your dried cranberries and add about 1T of lime zest. (Yes, those little flakes of green are supposed to be there.)
4) Mix up the dry ingredients.
5) Using your pastry cutter, cut in the butter. It should be crumbly. Add the cranberry concoction.
6) Add the cream to the crumbly mixture. Mix it up until you have a mass that you can handle.
7) Now, you will want to throw it on the counter and do some folding. This is my favorite part!
8) Fold the dough over on itself a couple of times and then flatten until a little over 1 inch thick.
9) Using your biscuit cutter, make nice little circles. (If you want more authentic Starbucks like scones, you know, triangles--you will have to do some extra work.)
10) Place each little circle on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown up on the top.
11) Serve warm with butter or serve cold without. Either way they are delicious!
