Cranberry Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Scones

I think I'm getting in the mood for Thanksgiving already, perhaps because the Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving earlier this month, and it's one of my favorite holidays. The lack of commercialism, the focus on family and great food, the chance to hang out together, the excuse to overeat (although now that I'm pregnant, I find excuses to overeat all the time!), and just a general attitude of thankfulness that you find everywhere this time of year, makes this holiday my favorite by far. Christmas is great, when the focus is on the actual holiday and not gift-buying or gift-giving, but Thanksgiving...hmm. There's just something special about it.

So when fresh cranberries showed up in the produce department at my local Fred Meyers, I was excited. No more dried cranberries in my scones! I can stock up, buying multiple packages and freezing them until I want to use them! (A fact I didn't take advantage of much last year, to my chagrin.) So far, I've restrained myself, only buying one package. But let me at them next week... I'm already regretting that mere one-package purchase.

Due to the sudden supply of fresh cranberries, I began dreaming of ways to include them in my scones. Something sweet, but with that tang of tart cranberries, was exactly what I wanted. I set out just to make an oatmeal cranberry scone recipe, but then I thought "Thanksgiving," and "cinnamon." What two flavors could be more Thanksgivingy? (Well, besides the obvious pumpkin and cinnamon?) I decided throwing cinnamon chips into the cranberry oatmeal scones was exactly what this recipe needed. And as soon as I ate one, knowing I would send the entire recipe off to hubby's workplace for them to indulge upon, I knew it would be a recipe I would soon be repeating. Perhaps a new holiday tradition. Only problem is, I now need to figure out how to make them dairy-free. That will be my next challenge! Dairy-free scones for a dear friend who always joins us each Thanksgiving.

Ingredients (*makes 20 normal-sized scones):
3 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (dark)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup cinnamon chips

1 cup fresh cranberries

10 tbsp butter

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1.5 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

1. Mix buttermilk, yogurt, eggs together and set aside.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk to combine well.

3. Add cold, chopped butter to the dry ingredients and, using a pastry blender, blend until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

4.  Add the oatmeal and cinnamon chips and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the cranberries (you can cut them up if you like) and mix well.

5. Add the liquid to the dry mixture 1/3 at a time, until the dough just comes together. You may not need all the liquid (or you may need a touch more milk). It's best if the dough barely comes together and is not too sticky.

6. Lightly dust a countertop and turn the dough out. If needed, give it a knead or two to bring together any floury bits. Flatten into a long, wide log, two scones in width and about five scones in length. Cut the dough into 20 scones with a sharp knife.

*My test batch of scones spread out a lot more than I expected, but reacted better after I chilled the raw dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Alternatively, reducing the amount of butter would help prevent the dough from spreading in the oven.

7. Transfer the scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet, with a couple of inches between each scone. Brush the tops with extra buttermilk (optional), and place in oven at 450F for 15-18 minutes, or until dark gold on top.

8. Remove and let cool. Enjoy warm or cool.

Measure out the ingredients.

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the chopped butter and mix well.

Combine the yogurt, buttermilk, and eggs, whisk lightly and set aside.

A few pea-sized chunks of butter are okay.

Add the oatmeal and cinnamon chips. Mix with a wooden spoon.

Add the cranberries (you can cut them into smaller pieces if you like).
Mix well with a wooden spoon.

Toss all the ingredients so it's mixed evenly.

Add the liquid in stages so that you don't add too much liquid.
(Mine came out a touch wet, and that was my error.)

Flatten the dough out on a lightly floured countertop.
This is a double recipe, so my dough is two scones wide by five squares.

Using a bench scraper or a sharp knife, cut into squares, then cut each square in half to form scones.
I got 20 scones out of this dough.

These looked fine before I put them in the oven, brushed with extra buttermilk.

They spread out a bit in the oven, so make sure they have plenty of room.

But yum! These were great!

Results:

Let's just say, I wished I'd held some scones back instead of sending them all into work with my hubby... I taste-tested one the night before, and the next morning, I wanted another. The cinnamon complements the cranberry tang just right, and the oatmeal makes them a bit more breakfasty and less sweet than expected. I really enjoyed these. They would be a recipe I'd make again, although I'd probably reduce either the liquid or the amount of butter I used.

Scottish Oat & Treacle Scones

Scottish Oat & Treacle Scones

Scones originated in Scotland, and are traditionally oat based. The first scones were unleavened, round and flat, usually scored into four or six pieces and baked on a griddle, only to be cut afterwards. 


With this history of the scone in mind, I decided that I should try a "traditional" scone recipe for this blog.







Scottish Oat & Treacle Scones 
Source: Scones by Genevieve Knights

Golden Syrup, aka Treacle

The Ingredients:


150g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
150g rolled oats
75mls double cream
75mls milk
75g treacle (golden syrup)


The Instructions:


Preheat oven to 450ºF. 


In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the rolled oats and set aside. 


Separately, whisk the cream, milk and treacle together until smooth, heating if necessary to allow the treacle to integrate. 


Add the liquid mixture to the flour. Mix until almost combined.


On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 2 or 3 times to bring together, careful not to overknead. Split the dough into two pieces and flatten each into a circle about 1 cm thick.


Divide each circle into six triangular pieces. Place on a parchment-paper lined baking tray. 


Bake at 450ºF for about 10 minutes until they have browned and risen slightly.


The Process:

75 g of treacle worked out to be about three tablespoons. It's much stickier than I imagined, and in order to more easily whisk the milk and treacle, I microwaved the cream, milk and treacle for about 15 seconds. After that, I was able to quickly dissolve the treacle in the milk.

Adding the milk, cream and treacle mixture to the dry ingredients.

Doesn't look very appetizing right here, but this is the loosely combined scone dough. It should not be quite together when turned out onto the counter. You want to avoid over-mixing scone dough, or the scone will turn hard.

Dough after 2-3 very gentle kneads. It had the tendency to stick to the counter, so make sure your counter is well floured. It's not particularly sticky for your hands though.

Dough divided with my handy dough cutter. I like to use this tool for making scones and scraping dough off counters. 

This recipe makes 12 rather small scones. Here, the dough is raw.

Baked at 450ºF for 10 minutes. They do not rise a lot, so look for them to be browning on the surface.

My Notes & Tips:

In order to better whisk in the treacle to the milk, I microwaved the milk, cream and treacle together for about 15 seconds. This was just long enough to take the cream mixture from cold to cool, and allowed me to whisk the treacle in without any problems at all.

I used whole wheat pastry flour, and the recipe turned out great. It wasn't too heavy like a lot of recipes can get with whole wheat flour.

The dough is just a little bit sticky, and it tends to come off in clumps of oats, so make sure the countertop and your hands are lightly floured.

A dough cutter is useful, but not necessary for this recipe. I like to use one instead of a knife to cut the dough in half and to cut into triangles. The recipe indicates 6-8 minutes at 220C, but I found 10 minutes at 450ºF was the perfect amount of time to bake.

Results:

I really liked these. They are crunchy from the oats with just a hint of sweetness from the treacle. A delicious combination, eat alongside coffee or tea, plain, with clotted cream or with a little drizzle of treacle over the top. This would be perfect for a light breakfast or afternoon tea! Enjoy!