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!

Heavenly Egg-less Tiramisu

Ah yes, Tiramisu, a wonderful cake that I always enjoy and yet has this "fear" of attempting it myself. Somehow, it seems complicated with all that cheese layering and sponge fingers plus alcohol. Furthermore, with 2 young kids at home, raw eggs, coffee and alcohol just doesn't seem appropriate. Not to mention I ain't a fan of sponge fingers. :P However, when I saw Sonia's post a while back which redirected me to the recipe posted in RasaMalaysia, my perceptive of the cake changed.

My Tiramisu cake recipe is adapted from Terri of Hunger Hunger who guest posted her recipe in RasaMalaysia. As I read through the recipe, I grew a little more confident that I can make this! And I'm so glad I did! (^o^) The fact that it doesn't use raw eggs was already good enough for me, heehee. Thanks Terri!

Here is the recipe, slightly modified:

Ingredients for Egg-less Tiramisu (makes an 6"x7" rectangle):

2 cups (500 gm) mascarpone cheese
1 1/4 cup heavy cream (1/2 cup + 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup (about 100 gm) semi-sweet dark chocolate
1/3 cup strong espresso (I used Nescafe instead)
3 Tbsp coffee liqueur such as Tia Maria or Kahlua
4 slices of 6" by 7" of sponge cake (you can use similar or close to sizes)
8 tbsp confectioner's sugar (sifted) (5 tbsp + 3 tbsp)
Garnish: chocolate shavings

• Mix the coffee/espresso with the coffee liqueur; chill.
• Melt the chocolate with 1/2 cup cream over a double boiler; cool.
• Whip the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 3 tbsp of confectioner's sugar till stiff peaks.
• Whip the mascarpone and the 5 tbsp confectioner's sugar together till creamy, about 1 minute.
• Fold the whipped cream gently into the mascarpone cheese. Chill mixture in fridge for at least an hour before use.
• Lay a slice of the sponge cake on a serving plate, spoon about 1/4 of the espresso mixture over the fingers to soak. Spread 1/4 of the chocolate ganache over the cake and then spread 1/4 of the mascarpone mixture over. Repeat and end with a layer of mascarpone.
• Garnish with choc shavings. Chill overnight or at least 8 hours.

*For sponge cake recipe, please refer to here but omit the extra flavoring to get plain vanilla.

Oh this cake is indeed heavenly~! \(^o^)/ The sponge cake was all soaked with the coffee mixture and the mascarpone cheese was really nice and light, making every bite melt in your mouth ever so easily. The chocolate ganache went really well with the coffee scent, a combination that anyone would easily fall in love with. And I was glad I went with the chocolate shavings instead of the cocoa powder as the garnish since I don't really fancy the chalky and bitter taste of the cocoa powder itself. Ehhh...but I'm so bad with my chocolate shavings, instead of nice curls, it looks more like broken wood chips. (-_-")

It's funny, but just as I was thinking about posting my tiramisu cake, I saw Wendy's post this afternoon. I was thinking like "Wow, what a coincidence! We baked the same cake at the same time!" But after reading her post, I realized that hers was done a year back and only got to post it now, heehee. Well, I guess the more the merrier right? So many varieties and all so good...yum! Hope you all will join in the tiramisu "craze" too! Happy baking all!

I am going to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #18 Layers of Love (April 2012) hosted by Sweet Samsations

Have a great week ahead all