Cranberry orange scones

Thank God for Daylight's Savings Time! And yes, I realize the irony in that statement. I fall emphatically into the camp of DST fans. It brings evening light to my winter-weary world and hope that spring may someday come and cause iceout on Garage Floor Lake.

To celebrate, we started our late morning breakfast with another new scone recipe. Yes, another, after another. You may wonder why I keep trying new ones when I've already made some mighty tasty ones. Why not just keep making the really good ones? This. Is. Why. Nirvana has been achieved.

And if you're one of the unfortunate folk who have the opposite reaction to DST that I do, I'm genuinely sorry that that which so lifts my mood sours yours. Get yourself one of these wondrous scones, ASAP. You'll feel much better.

Cranberry (or lingonberry) orange scones

Adapted from “Secrets of the Pie Place” by Kathy Rice. Grand Marais institution the Pie Place shared their recipes in this book, which I had to try because, well, Grand Marais. The place where thanks to DST and the solstice, you can stretch that last, long lovely evening of your vacation listening to the waves crash along the shore as the fading light melds purple sky into lake blue before going to starry black. 

I had no ready access to lingonberries, but I had some fresh cranberries in need of use, so I went with that variation.

Ingredients

3 cups flour

½ cup sugar plus ¼ cup more for sprinkling

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

Zest of 1 orange

1 1/3 cup chopped fresh cranberries (or whole fresh or frozen lingonberries)

½ cup half and half

1 large egg

Method

Preheat oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add zest and berries. Mix half and half and egg. Add to mixture in bowl and mix to incorporate. You'll have to knead it to bring it together as a dough.

On a very lightly floured board, form dough into a flat circle about 10 inches in diameter. Sprinkle wantonly with sugar; they call for using at least ¼ cup. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. These spread out a lot when baking, so leave plenty of room between the scones and use the largest sheet you've got if you're baking all 8 at once. (Note: The recipe says you can freeze the formed scones and bake them straight from the freezer by adding 5 to 7 minutes additional baking time. I am so trying this. These are really large and thick, so you won't need to allocate as many per serving as you do for those little dainty scones.)

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown and not too soft. Let sit a few minutes and then devour warm.

Note: The Pie Place people serve this with a clotted cream recipe, which I didn't try so I can't vouch for it.

Rating:  Oh my, these are so tasty and have a perfectly balanced texture. I've made several lovely scones in my life, but these are possibly the best things I've ever eaten. They enforce mindful eating. I put aside the Sunday comics and just slowly savored each delectable crumb. This is what you need to eat when you've "lost" that hour of sleep.