Saturday, November 14, 2009

The Cranberry Challenge: Part 3...Cranberry Scones



I think this is my favorite cranberry recipe in this use-three-pounds-of-cranberries-while-they-are-fresh challenge. Scones are so great. They are comforting like my favorite southern breakfast food, buttermilk biscuits. But they are just a little more civilized and fancy. Scones bring back memories of my 29th birthday, when my husband and I were in London. He suprised me with high tea at the Ritz in the famous Palm Room. It was unreal--a once in a lifetime thing for a girl from the most rebellious state in the colonies (SC!). There were silver tea services and tiny tea sandwhiches which kept multiplying. The best birthday present: I found out that very morning I was pregnant with our first child, but had to give up caffeine all at once, meaning the withdrawal from my 6-cuppa day fix was just starting to kick in by the time I ordered my chamomille...But those scones...unreal and oh so london.

I think the key in making successful scones is using very cold butter. I've tried other versions of scones in the past without paying attention to the temperature of the butter, which turned out to be a terrible mistake, resulting in scones which were really more like slightly-less-sweet cookies. In any case, I found this scone recipe here. I changed it up a little, of course. Pecans are always my go-to nut in these recipes so I used those instead of walnuts. They turned out great. Of course I was glad I could enjoy them with coffee again, though the little cuddly toddler snuggling next to me made those caffeineless months well worth it!!

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