Cranberry Orange Scones

I began a blog on Yahoo’s 360, but this seemed to be a better format for sharing recipes with more people. So I’ll just jump right in, and re-post my most recent recipe.

I found a recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones on FoodNetwork.com, courtesy of Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Of course, I had to adapt the recipt to be gluten-free. Other than changing the flour, I stayed true to the recipe. They turned out really well. They have an truly insane amount of butter and heavy cream in them – not the healthy of things, but that probably is what makes them to good! It is definitely necessary to use cold butter and to leave visible pieces of butter in the dough instead of blending everything together well.

The flour blend that I have been using recently has been 1 part white rice, 1 part sorghum, and 1 part tapioca. I tweaked that just a little when I was mixing up flour to get to 4 1/4 cups. The ratio of flours could be altered a bit, but this worked so well, that it’s hard to tell that it’s gluten free. Even my boss, who is normally very picky, was really impressed!

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients

4 Cups plus 1/4 cup gluten free flour blend*
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

*Flour blend:
1 2/3 cup white rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, xanthan gum, sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn’t stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Enjoy!