Friday, March 4, 2011

Mandarin Orange Cranberry Scones


When I first saw these scones at Peng's Kitchen, I bookmarked it immediately. I love the ingenious idea of incorporating mandarin oranges and cranberries into scones.

My baked scones did not have a strong mandarin orange taste and I guess that was due to the missing zest. The mandarin oranges were too soft to grate the zest and I seriously didn't want to squash the fruits into juice with my bare hands. Haha... Thankfully, the cranberries added a delightful dimension to the scones. :)


Somehow, the above picture doesn't look like scones at all to me. Instead it reminds me of croquettes or nuggets. Hahaha... What do you think?

Thanks to Peng's Kitchen for sharing the recipe. :)

Mandarin Orange Cranberry Scones
Adapted from: Peng's Kitchen

Ingredients (Makes 15)
125 g unsalted butter, cold
250 g plain flour
60 g sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp mandarin orange zest
5 - 6 tbsp mandarin orange juice (from 2 mandarin oranges)
1 egg, for glazing

Method
1. In a large bowl, place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix well.
2. Rub in butter with finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the beaten egg, dried cranberries, mandarin orange zest and mandarin orange juice. Reserve 1 tbsp juice, if the dough is too dry, gradually add the remaining liquid. 
4. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly about 10 times. Do not over-handle the dough. Dough should be non-sticky and slightly elastic. Roll dough to ½-inch thick and cut into shapes.
5. Place onto a lined baking tray and brush with beaten egg glaze. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for 12 – 15 minutes until golden brown.
6. Remove from the oven and cool.

Notes
- I omitted mandarin orange zest and egg for glazing.
- I chilled the dough for 1 hour before rolling out and cutting into shapes.