You know the pastries, muffins and scones sold at those chain coffee houses? How they look so tempting? How they beckon? They’re practically obscene. You’re just standing there, waiting to order your skinny-half-caf-latte, minding your own business when their siren call tickles your ear. (Eyes clenched shut, hands over ears, “la-la-la – I can’t hear you!!!”) Yeah. These Tart Lemon and Cranberry Scones are like that too!
But as good as they look behind the glass and under the special lights, those coffeehouse pastries never live up to their billing. Usually dry and crumbly from having sat out and lacking that from-scratch-love. Why?
Those chains don’t actually make their sweets and baked goods (they come pre-baked, even pre-sliced – for consistency and uniformity), and they’re always a disappointment to me.
There’s nothing disappointing about these beauties! The recipe came from The Foster’s Market Cookbook, and Sara Foster goes all out.
The copious volume of butter lends a softness and tenderness to the dough — and the resulting crumb. The culmination is a luxuriously rich and buttery scone with a mild sweetness, dotted with pockets of jammy fruit.
I made a few switches to the recipe, not because there was anything wrong with Sara’s. I was just too lazy to go to the store determined to use what I had on hand.
I added plenty of lemon zest and tart, juicy cranberries for a satisfying pucker.
These scones are easy to prepare and so much better than the mealy crumble sold in the aforementioned “java-joints”. If you live near Foster’s Market, you’re excused. Otherwise, you need to get busy making these. Like, NOW!
As they bake, your house will be enveloped in sweet, homey aromas — like walking into a neighborhood bakery. You know what I’m talking about!
Make them for your next brunch gathering, or a festive breakfast. And don’t forget the coffee!
Tart Lemon and Cranberry Scones
Flaky and tender these scones have a double dose of tart from the lemon and fresh cranberries.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour or 5 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 pound cold butter 3 sticks, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup+ 1-2 tablespoons buttermilk if needed
- 3 lemons zested
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries or 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup cream
Optional
- You can dust the rounds with sugar or glaze them after they've finished baking. I'm including directions for both methods.
For a crunchy sugar topping
- 4 tablespoons turbinado sugar or regular white sugar
For a glaze
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or cream using lemon juice makes a tart glaze, using cream makes a sweet glaze
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut two pieces of parchment paper and lay them on 2 baking sheets
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and butter and pulse 10-12 times until mixture resembles coarse meal. Don't over mix. (This can also be done in the bowl using a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour -- just takes a little muscle!)
- Transfer the flour mixture to a large bowl and add cranberries. Toss to combine. Set aside.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup add 1 cup buttermilk, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir to combine.
- Pour buttermilk mixture over flour mixture and stir to combine. If dough is dry, add additional buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time.
- Lightly flour a work surface and transfer the dough to it. Form the dough into a large ball and cut it down the middle with a sharp knife. Form a disc with each piece of dough about 6 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Place the discs of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Cut each disc in half down the middle. Then cut each half into thirds -- into wedges -- like a piece of pie. Brush the rounds with cream.
- If you want the crunchy sugar topping -- sprinkle each disc liberally with two tablespoons of sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
- For the glaze -- in a small bowl, mix sugar and lemon juice or cream (depending on which type of glaze you want). When the scones are finished baking, let them cool a bit before drizzling the glaze over the tops.
- Separate into wedges and serve.
Recipe Notes
This recipe can be tweaked according to your tastes. When I made it, I wanted to taste the lemon and tartness of the cranberries. It was delicious, but definitely tart. If you prefer a little sweeter scone, swap dried cranberries for the fresh and/or increase the sugar in the dough to 3/4 cup.
Keep in mind that dried cranberries will be nice and chewy in your scone and the fresh ones will pop when they cook and create a jammy little pocket in the dough. Either way is good!
More Morning Pastries:
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- Individual Berry Streusel Coffeecakes
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- Crunchy Banana Chip Mini Muffins
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- Cinnamon Pecan Crumble Coffeecake
Don’t Forget To “Pin It” For Later!
For the most part, these were delicious! I made them once and am making them again as I type this up because I loved them so much. I did do a couple changes. I decreased the butter to 1 c butter (2 sticks) because it seemed like 3/4 lb butter was just TOO much. The butter melted out onto the parchment paper so I thought I’d try less butter and see how that works. Also, I did 4 cups of flour instead, just because I was running low on flour. Oh, I also added 1/2 c chopped pecans. These are deliciously tart with lemon and cranberry flavor, and everyone who tasted them loved them also! Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ll let you know how my little tweaks worked. 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed them Magdalena! Please let me know how your tweaks work out — and send a photo if you think of it, so I can share it in our weekly newsletter!
These are beautiful! I love the combination of fruits and flavors.
Thank you! My grandfather and Dad loved these — (as in, they ate most of them).