Author: kimberly

It’s beginning to look a lot like… winter in Alaska. Which does look like Christmas, at least for the first few months. Maybe that’s why my oven keeps producing festive baked goods like these cranberry scones with a hint of orange.

All the snow may be pretty, but it doesn’t always feel like a glorious winter wonderland.

How do you motivate yourself on a cold, dark winter morning when the door is frozen shut, the rest of the family is sick, and all you really want to do is curl up with a mug of tea and a good book?

In my case, you snuggle up with a mug of tea and a hungry baby, and after he’s fed, don an apron and start heating the oven! There’s nothing like baking to raise my spirits and get my day off to a good start.

Bright Berries

The bright red cranberries in these scones make them a particularly cheering, festive treat. Set a plate of these pretty scones on the table, and even an ordinary meal looks special! Or put the kettle on and invite a friend over for a cozy autumn tea.

The dominant flavor in these scones is cranberry, with subtle spices and bright orange zest for contrast. The texture is about midway between feathery English scones and dense, sweet versions. They are best fresh from the oven with a bit of whipped butter or clotted cream.

Cranberries are tart, so this recipe includes just enough sugar to balance out the tartness without making the scones taste especially sweet. (I don’t prefer sweet scones, because the sugar makes them dense and heavy.) Feel free to vary the amount of sugar or even drizzle a vanilla-flavored glaze on top if you’re looking for a sweeter scone.

Looking for something a bit lighter and sweeter? Try Cranberry Almond Scones for a different flavor!

Other cranberry scone recipes I’ve tried taste mostly of scone and a little of cranberry. These ones taste mostly of cranberry, due to the amount of fruit in the dough. You can always decrease the amount of berries if you want the orange flavor to come out more.

You don’t have to wait until winter to make cranberry scones if you freeze cranberries when they are in season. I always try to buy extra after Christmas, so I will have some on hand for the next few months, at least.

To use frozen cranberries in this recipe, you will want to let them thaw partially so you don’t break your food processor. The easiest way to chop them is with a food processor, but you can also chop them by hand. It just takes longer, and doesn’t work as well for frozen berries.

Method

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and butter a baking sheet. One large baking sheet will do whether you are making small or large scones.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar in a large bowl. Add more cinnamon if you want a stronger flavor.

Cut the butter into smaller chunks. I usually slice a stick of butter five or six times crosswise, and then once lengthwise. Add the butter to the flour mixture.

Use a pastry blender or a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The butter should be in pea-sized pieces when you’re done. The chunks probably won’t all be the same size; don’t worry! As long as they are roughly pea-sized, it will be fine.

Combine the milk and egg and beat lightly with a fork. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine. You don’t want to mix the dough too much once you add the liquid, or the scones will be heavy.

Sometimes I leave a few streaks of flour in the dough at this point, knowing that I’ll be mixing it more when I add the cranberries in a few minutes.

Chop the cranberries roughly. You can do this by hand or with a food processor. They do not need to be in tiny pieces. Once when I was chopping them by hand, I just cut them each in half and called it good.

Zest an orange and reserve one tablespoon of the peel. I always use fresh orange zest (or clementine, which is a bit milder), but you can use dried orange peel if you prefer. I would cut the quantity down to 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons if you use dried peel.

Fold in the chopped cranberries and orange peel. Mix gently to incorporate. Again, you don’t want to overmix the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board or countertop. Knead it gently 6 times. How do you knead gently? Just pat it out about 1 1/2-2 inches thick, then fold in half. Turn the dough a quarter turn in front of you. Repeat this five more times.

If you’re having trouble treating the dough gently, try patting out the dough with the flat palm of your hand, instead of the heel of your hand, which has more force. Flour your hands if necessary, but you’re not trying to work more flour into the dough.

When the dough is kneaded, pat it out into one large circle or two smaller circles, depending on whether you want big or little scones. Big is coffee shop size! Small is probably a more normal size. In either case, the dough should be about 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick.

Slice the circles into wedges: 8 for the large circle, or 6 for each of the smaller circles. Transfer to a buttered baking sheet. Keep the scones in circle formation, but separate them a little so that the edges aren’t touching. If they are too close together, they will rise and stick to each other- and take longer to bake.

Sprinkle sugar on the tops of the scones before baking, if desired. A little bit of sugar on top is nice with the cranberries. Pop them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. If you made your scones thicker, it might take longer.

The cranberry scones are done when the edges start to turn brown and the bottoms are golden. Cool on a rack and enjoy!

Print Recipe

Cranberry Scones

Here's a festive scone recipe bursting with ripe cranberry flavor and hints of orange and spice. Not too sweet or tart, but just right with a cup of tea.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Side Dish

Keyword: Bread, Cranberry, Quick bread, Scones

Servings: 8 large scones or 12 smaller scones

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cold butter cut into chunks
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 1 cup cranberries coarsely chopped
• extra sugar for dusting

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar.
• Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
• Add egg and milk and mix just until blended.
• Fold in cranberries and orange zest. Mix gently.
• Turn dough out onto a floured board. Knead gently 6 times.
• Pat out 3/4-inch thick, into one large circle or two smaller circles. Slice into wedges: 8 for the large circle or 6 for each of the smaller circles.
• Transfer to a buttered baking sheet and sprinkle extra sugar over the tops, if desired.
• Bake at 425 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden. Cool on a rack.

Have you ever looked at those packages of “light” or whipped butter in the grocery store and wondered how they could charge the same amount for a product that has less butter and more air than the regular sticks? It’s a mystery to me. I do, however, make my own whipped butter at home. You can too, because the process is quite simple.

What is whipped butter?

Regular butter is just heavy cream that has been churned enough that the solid particles of fat stick together, while the protein-rich whey runs off. Salt may or may not be added, and then the butter is formed into sticks, rolls, or whatever shape you decide to make. (Have you ever seen old-fashioned butter molds? Some of them are very pretty!)

Whipped butter goes a step further by taking the soft butter and whipping it with some kind of liquid. In effect, you are beating air into the butter, and the liquid helps to thin it out a little. Why would anyone want to do this, you ask? There are actually some good reasons.

Why make whipped butter?

First of all, whipping butter increases the volume. Yes, the extra volume is provided by air (and some extra liquid), but that doesn’t matter too much when you’re spreading the butter on bread or pancakes.

However, you DO NOT want to substitute whipped butter for regular butter in recipes, as equal volumes of regular and whipped butter don’t contain equal amounts of fat. Just stick to sticks for cooking! (Sorry.)

That’s why whipped butter is sometimes labeled “light butter” on the package. It has fewer calories per tablespoon than regular butter, because the volume is partly made up by air.

This can be a good thing if, like me, you’re constantly wondering how the butter disappears so fast! At the rate we eat it, extra volume is a prime benefit.

Another reason to whip butter is because it’s easier to spread. More air = less density, meaning whipped butter reaches room temperature faster than regular butter when you take them out of the refrigerator. It’s also softer at room temperature. This is an especially useful quality when you’re serving bread for supper and forget to take butter out of the refrigerator until it’s almost time to eat.

If the above reasons haven’t convinced you, here’s one final try: whipping butter allows you to incorporate other flavors, in order to give your butter a distinguished taste. Try whipping honey or maple syrup, or even orange juice into your butter for a sweet accompaniment to corn bread or muffins. Or add herbs such as rosemary or thyme for a savory spread. The options are only limited by your imagination!

Method

The process is really quite simple. Place 4 sticks of butter (1 pound) in the bowl of a stand mixer. If you will be using a hand mixer, a large mixing bowl will do. Let the butter soften until it is room temperature.

With a whip attachment on the mixer, whip the butter on low speed for a minute or so. Then slowly pour in 1/3 cup of heavy cream while the mixer is running. Continue to mix on low speed for another minute or two until the cream is incorporated.

Turn the mixer to high speed and beat the butter for another two minutes. The butter should be pale and fluffy. The timing doesn’t have to be a precise measurement. You can stop mixing at any point, but the longer you mix it, the more air will get beaten into the butter, resulting in more volume.

I have gotten a yield of anywhere from 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 cups of whipped butter, depending on how long I mixed it. That’s about a 30% increase in volume from the 2 cups of butter we started with!

Notes

I have seen other recipes for whipped butter that use milk or even water as the liquid that is beaten into the butter. I have not tried these variations, but if I don’t have any cream someday, I might. My mother always used heavy cream, so that’s what I do.

Variations are pretty much unlimited, as I said before. Instead of cream, use a sweetener such as honey or maple syrup. If you decide to go this route, I would suggest starting out with only one or two sticks of butter–unless you anticipate needing a LOT of honey butter! Add the sweetener one tablespoon at a time, while the mixer is on low speed. That way, you can taste for sweetness so you don’t end up with a mixture that’s too sweet. Try adding sweet spices such as ground cinnamon or cloves to complement the sweetened butter!

Savory herbal combinations that work well in butter are rosemary and sea salt, garlic and Italian herbs, or thyme and lemon. I am excited to try some soon with my lemon thyme!

If you come up with any new flavor combinations, let me know in the comments! I would love to hear of your adventures with whipped butter!

Print Recipe

Whipped Butter

Light and fluffy, this whipped butter is the perfect base for sweet or savory spreads. Or just use it plain for everyday enjoyment!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Condiments

Keyword: Butter, Condiments, Spreads

Servings: 3 cups

Equipment

• Stand mixer or handheld mixer

Ingredients

• 2 cups salted butter softened
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

• Place butter in mixing bowl. Allow it to come to room temperature.
• With a whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1-2 minutes until creamy.
• With the mixer running, slowly add the cream. Continue to beat on low speed for 2 minutes until thoroughly combined.
• Turn the mixer setting to High. Mix for 1-2 minutes more, until the butter is pale and fluffy.