All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Monday, November 24, 2008

cranberry scones for thanksgiving day breakfast





As far as I'm concerned, fresh cranberry sauce is right up there with the turkey and whipped potatoes on Thanksgiving Day. Cranberry in any shape or form is right at the top of my list of favorite foods. I buy cranberries now and freeze them in bulk for these delicious scones or my chocolate-chip-cranberry cookies - that's how much I love them. And these scones are so easy to pull together and stick in the preheating oven for the rest of the dinner, well - why not make a batch? If you're traveling, nothing is easier to bake and stick in a plastic bag for the road trip to Grandma's - or the long flight home. Can you still stash some homemade goodies in your bag, or are you stuck with peanuts?
All you need is ten minutes to mix up, and a half an hour for baking. Why not wrap some in cello for your host, or to slip to a hungry 3 year old? These are tried and true, so I do hope you'll give it a whirl and enjoy nibbling on these tangy, rosy pastries, as you wait for the Big Thanksgiving Show to go on.
To make:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil.
4 cups King Arthur flour
1/2 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling tops
7 T. unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 T. baking powder
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( more if you need it, dough should not be dry)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
egg wash for tops (1 beaten egg and a pastry brush)
In mixer bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and butter until mixture resembles cornmeal.
Add dried cranberries and mix again.
Add buttermilk and fresh or frozen cranberries and mix until dough forms a ball.
Roll dough out to a 9" circle.
Cut in half, and cut each half two more times - you will have eight triangles.
Place triangles on baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle heavily with sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until scones are golden and light when you pick them up. If they feel heavy, let them bake a little longer. All ovens are different, so baking times do vary.
Let scones cool very well ( 30 minutes) before packaging for giving.
Enjoy!

18 comments:

Angelica said...

Those scones look lovely!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, angelica! Do you have cranberries in Germany? I always think of them as soley American....

Anonymous said...

Ah - I meant to add, if you have no cranberries, snipped, dried apricots are awesome! I haven't tried dried cherries yet, but have also made crystallized ginger & pear ( fresh) - yummy!

Martha said...

Beautiful scones! Was trying to figure out something for Thanksgiving morning breakfast (a help yourself) and these just may be it!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Martha - these are so easy - and soooo good! Perfect for a buffet or pick up breakfast/brunch. I think you'll like them....
many thanks -

Katrina

Kelci said...

Delicious! Here's a last minute request for you - do you have a good cranberry sauce recipe? My mom and I are looking to try out something new this year!

Anonymous said...

nada here - I love plain cranberry sauce! Sorry! I make my own with a little sugar and fresh berries - but I did taste a great recipe once with orange and lemon peel and fresh, uncooked cranberries. Still - I loves my regular cranberry, cooked sauce!

Ana said...

You have been reading my mind recently! I have been looking for a scone recipe to replace the one I use now. Your's might be just the one for me. Butter milk . . . interesting!

Anonymous said...

Ana - are you still using Martha's cream scones recipe? The one with the currants? You'll like this, I think - fluffy ( that's an Ana word), tangy, and you can change fruits easily. I still LOVE it with snipped apricots. Not myself, btw, without the usual Thanksgiving craziness. sigh.

Anonymous said...

I'm planning on making your spicy pumpkin cake with sugared ginger, tonight, and I'm hoping you can answer a question for me. You didn't specify whether the brown suger was light or dark, in the list of ingredients, which is it? I don't want to guess and make a mistake. :)

It looks fantastic, btw.

Sorry for posting the question in an unrelated thread, but this is my first time posting here, and I wasn't sure whether you might catch my question in an older thread. Thanks in advance! :)

Mares

Anonymous said...

Hi mares - whenever you comment on any post, I get an email - so it doesn't matter if it was February or November.........

Sorry - I should've said dark brown sugar - which I always use because I like the taste. Good luck, and let me know how it turns out!

Anonymous said...

Will do, Katrina, and thank you. :) Glad I picked up a box of the dark brown sugar just in case. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mares

Helene said...

I like that the first one looks like a heart! It's like a bonus :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Tartelette! Now you've given me an idea . Next time I'll try the heart cookie cutter, which would look so pretty with the cranberries..........

Bumble Dee Designs said...

Made these scones for Christmas 2010 and they are hands down the best I've ever tasted or made. I googled cranberry scone recipes and this is the one I choose to try, so glad I did. Also, they stay fresh for several days if packaged properly.

katrina said...

Bumble Bee - I'm so happy to get your feedback! I'm delighted you liked them as much as I do! Thanks again -

Katrina

Fiona said...

Wonderful! I seem to have an over abundance of cranberries at the moment and was looking for something interesting to take to the in-laws this weekend and this popped up on google. Looking forward to hunting through the rest of your blog and trying out more of your recipes.

katrina said...

I'm delighted, Fiona! And a little jealous, as I used up every single bag of my Pre-Thanksgiving cranberries a long time ago. Happy scone baking!