Dreamy Cranberry Cream Scones

The weekend is just around the corner. I am really looking forward to it as I have some nice programs lined up. But other then that, my usual weekend morning is to wake up a little earlier, to whip up a delicious breakfast for my family. I bet most of us are tired of eating breads or cereal every morning, so a change of menu would be a nice treat. Today I have a fabulous recipe that you can make for your love ones. It is a really nice and simple scone recipe that I am sure anyone can whip up; Cranberry Cream Scones.

These scones might look ordinary, but they are actually very good and quite addictive to eat. ;) I got the recipe from one of my favourite cookbook "The America's Test Kitchen : Family Baking Book". It was really easy to whip up and you can even prep the dough the night before, store in fridge and just pop it in the oven to bake the following morning, easy! I too saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen too and was really sure this recipe rocks! (^o^)

If you don't have cranberries at home, you can simply replace it with raisins or even chocolate chips. :) Here is the recipe, with slight modifications:

Ingredients for Cranberry Cream Scones:

240g all purpose flour
3 tbsp caster sugar (I used 30g confectioner's sugar)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
72g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1/2 cup cranberries/ raisins/ chocolate chips
240ml dairy heavy cream (I used 180ml cream + 60g sour cream)

• In the electric mixer bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, confectioner's sugar and salt. Then add in the cold cubed butter and beat the mixture with the flat beater till it resembles bread crumbs.
• Then pour in the cream and sour cream to the butter mixture. Then gently fold in till the dough comes together. Bear in mind that you do not over mix it.

• Turn the dough and any floury bits onto a floured counter and knead till it forms a rough and slightly sticky dough call. Then flatten the dough into 1 inch thick. lightly dust the surface
• Use a 2" round cutter (Mine is a 1 7/8", odd size I know) or any size you fancy, dip the cutter in some flour and cut out the rounds. Placed the cut out doughs on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat till all the dough has been cut out.

• Preheat the oven to 210C.
• You can either bake the scones or chill it overnight and bake it in the next morning. If you are baking now, brush the scone tops with cream and sprinkle some coarse sugar on top.

• Then place them in the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes till they are light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on rack before serving.

I actually doubled the recipe and brought it to my daughter's school for a special breakfast event. The teachers and girls loved it and so did I! Those that tasted it, all claim it's really good. Even my MIL whom is not familiar what a scones is, said it's very tasty. ;)

This scone recipe is going into my favourite bake list. It's light and flavorful and the slight tang from the cranberries is a great contrast. Even though I replaced some of the cream with sour cream, the taste is still fantastic. But feel free to use all the cream in the recipe, I'm sure it's even more heavenly...well if you don't mind the calories, heehee. :P

Okay, signing off now, have a great weekend folks!

Classic Blueberry Scones on Father's Day

It's already 4 days past Father's Day, but I think I best post this up to share with everyone. As we know Father's Day is a day that is not as celebrated as us mummy's day, I feel we should still show our love to our dads how much we appreciate them. :) Since I had the excuse of being too busy with my work lately, I decided to just make something real simple for my husband. Something that he loves of course....scones. :) I thought it would be so nice to surprise him in the morning with the smell of lovely blueberry scones...one of the simple joys of life! I got this great recipe from one of my latest cookbook "A Passion for Baking" by Marcy Goldman. However I did made some changes to the original recipe from fresh cranberries to blueberries. :)

I was a little skeptical initially, but turned out the scones were out of this world...a must try! The crusty outside and the soft creamy inside was a heavenly combination! And when you bit one mouth, the juicy blueberries counters the texture of the scones and making it moist, and just right, so each bite simply just melts away...yum! :O

I intended to serve these scones with some butter and jam...but it was so good, we ate it all up just as it is! :) I have to say, besides my favorite cream scones, this is probably the best scones recipes I have. :) Can't wait to try them out? Here is the recipe:

Ingredients for Classic Blueberry Scones:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup of fresh cranberries / blueberries

Finishing touches:
Whipping cream
sugar for sprinkling on top

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.
• Add butter chunks and mix in with your finger tips till it resembles bread crumbs.
  
• Make a well in the center and stir in eggs, vanilla and cream to make a soft but firm enough dough.
• Gently fold in the blueberries. Then knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured surface and pat down into a large round disc. Dough should be 1 inch thick.
• Cut into 2.5" or 3 " circles and place then on the prepared baking pan. Brush top with cream and sprinkle some sugar on top.
  
• Bake in the preheated oven till scones are lightly browned around the edges, about 15 to 2o minutes.
  

I know I will make these scones again, especially since daddy and my girls loved them so much. :) Furthermore it was real easy to make! So don't wait any longer, go get some blueberries and make them for breakfast tomorrow...you'll love it....I guarantee it. :D Got to go now, will catch up with you all again soon. Take care & Happy baking all!

Soft Cookie Scones

I have been scouting around for a good scone recipe and happen to stumble upon this great website, call The Knead for Bread. It has a variety of recipes, mainly for bread and it even shows step by step instructions with pictures.

For this cookie scone recipe, it gave me the initial impression that the scone will turn out a little on the hard side...cookie right? But in fact it was slight crunch on the outside and soft and melt in the mouth on the inside. ;) Perhaps it's because it uses bread and cake flour rather then the usual plain flour. :)

Sometimes I really envy those bakers that made such nice looking bake goods. Mine somehow always looks a little out of shape or "deformed", haha! I really have to work on that! I guess practice makes perfect. :) Like the Koreans always say "Fighting, fighting, fighting!"Since the original recipe is from US, I kind of suspect the measurement is slightly different from the European measurement. In the recipe, the cup measurement for flour probably weighs to approximately 128g to 155g. ( I know, there's so many arguments online about the actualy weight, I'm not too sure about it myself). So when I use the usual weight of flour (110g for 1 cup) the dough did not come together, it was too wet. Hence I added another 30g per cup to make it a more managable dough. Try it out and let me know how yours turn out!

A close look at the soft crumbly inside of the yummy scones. I added dried cranberries instead of currants for my recipe. :) Some cold butter and preferred jam, there you have a delicious breakfast worth waking up in the morning for. ;) Enjoy!

Chocolate Cranberry Scones

My poor hubby has been very busy at work lately. How to cheer him up a little? Perhaps with something he likes to eat! So I thought of giving him a treat tomorrow morning by making his favorite breakfast, scones! I saw this great recipe from Joy of Baking, and decided to give it a try. :)

In the recipe, it calls for 50 grams of white chocolate. To that, I replaced it with 100 grams of dried cranberries, a slightly healthier version perhaps?

It really smells heavenly when these goodies are ready from the oven! And a freshly baked scones is a little "crunch" on the outside and soft and light on the inside.

These can be eaten on it's own, but it's best served with some fresh whipped vanilla cream, or jam of your preference. Yummy!!

Cranberry Cream Scones

Actually I could not remember where I got this recipe from, probably from the internet. But it's really good and I have been making it for the longest time. :) Scones has always been my husband's favorite breakfast, so I'll make them when I have the chance. It's so good with some cold butter and a cup of tea. :)

Note that this recipe is sufficiently sweet on it's own, so you don't need to eat it with jam. But if you like, reduce the sugar and smear on the jam! ;) This recipe uses part cake flour, that's what make it's light on the inside but slight crunch on the outside.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup (200g) of all purpose flour
1/2 cup (60g) cake flour
1/2 cup (115g) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (56g) cold butter, cut into some cubes
1 cup (237ml) of whipping cream, chilled
3/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins if you don't have cranberries)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F / 180°C. Lightly butter a baking sheet

• Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the cold, cubed butter to the dry ingredients, as shown below.
• Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course bread crumbs.
• Set aside 2 tbsp of cream. Add the rest of the cream and dried cranberries into the flour mixture and stir only until just combines.
• Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and pat it down to a large disc, about 3/4 inch thick. Using a big cookie cutter (I used heart shape this time) and cut out the dough.
  
• Place the cut out dough on the buttered baking pan, brush surface with the cream saved earlier. Bake for 20 minutes until light golden brown color and the base is darker brown.