Cranberry Oat Scones – OwlCat Designs

Guess what I found in my freezer? Cranberries! …and I remember putting them in there too. At the very tail end of winter, they were on sale, and I can be such a sucker for sales when it involves things that can and will be eaten. As for those cranberries, well, apparently they did not. So since they endured summer somewhere in the recesses of my freezer, I decided it was time to finally turn them into something, well, more than just frozen cranberry taking up space in the freezer.

For those of us that enjoy an occasional baked treat, scones are the perfect marriage between sweet and substantial. These scones are just a touch sweet, and even though full of oats and other goodness, have a surprisingly light texture. Having made the discovery before that finding a good scone, isn’t as simple of task as it seems. I remember the taste bud disappointment from biting into what I expected to be slightly crunchy on the outside and soft crumb in the center, just to bite into a brick, a extra sweet brick 🙁 Not a fan, no can’t say. So with this recipe I made sure that would not happen. Try them still warm for breakfast or reheat in the toaster oven.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (sucanat, coconut sugar or turbinado/raw)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
7 tbsp butter, cold, cut into cubes
2/3 cup + 2 tbsp rolled oats
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (dairy or almond) or half & half
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp turbinado (raw) sugar for garnish

Directions

Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt)
Cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry cutter or 2 knifes, or pulse in the blender until coarse meal forms
Add 2/3 cup oats and stir to mix
Add cranberries, then add the milk and vanilla
The resulting dough is going to be quite sticky. Using a measuring cup, drop by the 1/4 cup onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, spacing about 2″ apart. (I made them in the 1/2 cup size before, but they get really big)
Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp oats and 3 tbsp sugar
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until skewer inserted from the side comes out clean

Makes about 12 scones, (or 6-7 big ones )