just a smidgen

No Turkey Soup for You ~ Cranberry Lemon Cream Scones

Scones

Lucky finally took Katie and I for our traditional Christmas walk yesterday. It’s usually reserved for the Big Day and typically he has dragged the entire family out with him… but Boxing Day would have to do this year. Phil and Dave were closeted up in the study with a Junior Hockey game on the screen, so the pupster would have to settle with having just Katie and I in tow.

Can’t I be the baby??

“It didn’t feel like Christmas this year,” my intuitive and articulate daughter observed. As always, she voiced my own unannounced thoughts.  Was it the lack of fresh snowfall? Was it that Christmas dinner was at someone else’s home this year? It must have been both.. . and I did so miss the leftovers that would have normally crammed into our fridge like an overstuffed bird!

Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful not to add to my “Things to Do” list, all the grocery shopping and food preparation that would have been required… I was pleased to “pass the spoon” to other family members and content knowing that they were able to prepare a Christmas feast to their own liking.  And did we ever enjoy a memorable feast that Chris, Harry, Nicole and Matt prepared for us.. our first brined turkey and the many savoury accompaniments! Nanna’s mince tarts were especially tempting this year.

Still…  I’m not gonna lie, it was oddly disconcerting to stroll the empty grocery store, looking for inspiration, in an attempt to whip up a memorable meal on Boxing Day that wouldn’t include any turkey. This little guy never knew he was risking his life walking past our window… (just kidding) Who knew a pheasant would drop in for a visit..

Run, little pheasant, run!

I won’t bore you with the details of that meal… nothing special to blog about, except that we were delighted to be all together at the family table for dinner one last time before Phil flew back out to pursue his hockey dreams.

The only “left-overs” languishing in my fridge was a sad little package of fresh cranberries that were purchased optimistically earlier in December… they never did get tossed into that new cranberry sauce recipe I wanted to try. I had, however, enjoyed a lovely scone that my friend Shirley made for our Delta group meeting (an Entrepreneur Organization Forum group that meets monthly).

So, wooden spoon and bowl in hand, I took this lovely recipe and tossed in a cupful of cranberries and some lemon zest and beat back the post-Christmas blues.

They are now my favorite scone recipe and will be the “base” for many new additions in the months to come. They rose beautifully and had a nice crisp crust with a fluffy, snowy white textured center. The cranberries added cute little bits of tart surprise, the lemon zest refreshing… It was the closest thing to Christmas leftovers in our house this year… it only needed a little homemade strawberry and apricot jam and a steaming cup of sugar laced espresso…

Cranberry Lemon Cream Scones

Cranberry Lemon Cream Scones
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in cubes
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup whipping cream
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tbsp grated lemon zest (I used 1 lemon)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
  2. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
  3. Grate butter (large side of grater) or cut butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, until it you have pieces the size of small peas. Stir in chopped cranberries and grated lemon zest.
  4. In another bowl, whisk eggs and cream to blend. Using a fork or spatula, lightly whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture, being careful not to over mix.
  5. At this point, I take both hands and lifted out 1/4 of the mixture and patted it together on a lightly dusted counter top until I had a 4-5” round large scone shape. Transfer to silpat or parchment lined cooking sheet. Repeat to make three more scone wheels. Using a sharp knife score in half, then quarters and then again to have 8 pieces marked. Brush tops lightly with additional cream or milk and sprinkle with sugar.
  6. Bake for about 15 minutes until the scones have baked and nicely browned.
  7. Cool and glaze if you wish (Orange juice or lemon juice mixed with icing sugar drizzled over top).
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