Cranberry Orange Pecan Scones

A festive, soft and crumbly not-too-sweet scone scented with orange zest and filled with tart cranberry and pecans. The pillowy texture of this scone is a cross between our Cream Tea Scones and the texture of a crumbly butter scone. Make them bigger for an afternoon snack or smaller for a tea party size bite. For the ultimate treat enjoy warm with a slathering of butter and dollop of orange marmalade. Serve along side a cup of Holiday Cranberry Orange Tea. Absolutely divine!

Cranberry Orange Pecan Scones

Makes 6 – 8 Scones OR 12 Tea-size scones

INGREDIENTS
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour (spoon and level measure)
• ¼ cup of old-fashioned oats
• 3 Tbsp of granulated or fine sugar
• 1 Tbsp of baking powder
• ½ Tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp grated orange zest
• ½ cup very cold butter (cut in cubes or grated if using frozen butter)
• 2/3 cup of heavy cream (33%-36%)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup of dried cranberries
• ½ cup of chopped pecans (if not using pecans increase cranberries to 1 cup)
Before baking:
• Brush tops of scones with 1 Tbsp heavy cream
• Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp of coarse sugar (optional: mix  ½ Tsp ground cinnamon into sugar before sprinkling over scones)
Optional glaze:
• ¾ cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• 1 + Tbsp fresh orange juice

DIRECTIONS
1. Place oven rack on the middle shelf. Preheat oven to 400˚F
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. Next add the butter pieces and cut into the flour (with a knife or pastry blender) until butter is in small pea-sized pieces. (Alternatively, grate frozen butter into flour)
4. Add the orange zest, dried cranberries and pecans if using. Toss to coat with flour/butter mixture
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the heavy cream with the egg
6. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the cream/egg mixture into the center. With a wooden spoon or spatula gently incorporate the dry mixture into the liquid. Don’t over mix or scones will be tough
7. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and form it into a round disk about 1” thick
8. With a shape knife cut the circle in half and then cut each half into 3 pieces for 6 scones, or 4 pieces for 8 scones
9. Place scones on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush tops of scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar
10. Bake for 16 -18 minutes until a nice golden brown

• Remove scones from oven and move to a cooling rack. If glazing scones, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar with the orange juice until desired consistency. Drizzle over scones while they are slightly warm

OPTIONS:
• Omit oats and increase flour to 2 ¼ cups
• For a sweeter scone increase sugar to 4 Tbsp
• For smaller tea-size scones cut the disk into 12 and bake 15 – 17 minutes