These Cranberry Christmas Scones Are Tasty Any Time Of Year
Sometimes I forget about recipes. I hadn't made these yummy little scones in months, but when a reader sent me a note recently telling me she'd made them six times in the past two weeks and was about to mix up two more batches, I couldn't stop thinking about them. The idea of maybe getting a nice updated photo of this tried and true recipe was all the excuse I needed to head into the kitchen.
Since there are many scone recipes that call for lots more butter than mine do, I decided I would experiment and see what happened if I tossed in several extra tablespoons of butter. I rationalized this research by telling myself that the scones wouldn't actually be any richer than usual; the butter I usually slathered on top was simply going into the dough. And they would even be easier to eat.
Unfortunately sometimes I also forget to add all the ingredients when I'm following a recipe. Many years ago, not long after I'd first started baking yeast breads, I was shaping some French bread dough into rounds for a dinner party and realized that when I was mixing up the dough I'd forgotten to add the salt. Since there was no way to get the salt into the dough at that point, I sprinkled it over the tops of the loaves. Then I went out and foolishly admitted this to the dinner guests. They laughed in my face, but I didn't feel too bad because they ended up devouring every bit of that warm and crusty, saltless bread.
It wasn't until I'd pulled this batch of scones out of the oven that I realized I'd somehow forgotten to add the sugar. Thinking back to that French bread, I spritzed the tops with water and proceeded to sprinkle so much sugar on them it looked like we'd had a light snow in the kitchen.
The scones were perfectly edible, but that 1/4 cup of sugar in the dough really does make a difference. (In fact, another 1/4 cup probably wouldn't hurt.) And adding the extra butter turned out to be totally unnecessary. The scones weren't any flakier, and the bottoms actually ended up a little greasy.
If you're looking for an easy and delicious way to impress your guests and brighten up your holiday breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea, I invite you to give these cranberry Christmas scones a try. You'll find the original recipe here. As long as you remember to keep the sugar inside and the extra butter on top, I think you'll really enjoy them.
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