Cranberry Oatmeal Scones

So how did I rectify the bad caramel cookies?? SCONES!

CRANBERRY OATMEAL SCONES

adapted from Gourmet Magazine November 2001

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Finely grated zest from 1 large navel orange

2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk plus additional for brushing

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a food processor pulse the dry ingredients plus the oatmeal 15 times.

3. After placing oat mixture in a large bowl, add butter. Mix together using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with small (pea-size) lumps.

4. Stir together zest and buttermilk. Toss cranberries with oat mixture, then add buttermilk, stirring with a fork just until a dough forms.

5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape dough into a rectangle approximately 11" X 8" (use a rolling pin if needed) and 1" thick.

6, Cut dough in 12 triangular pieces and place on a lined baking sheet.

 

7. Brush tops of scones with buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in middle of oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, and transfer to a rack.

Yields: 12 scones

NOTES: If you do not have a food processor (like me), just place the oats on a cutting board and chop them up until they are a coarse meal. Also, MIX THE DOUGH WELL! Do NOT leave large clumps of butter as they will melt out of the scone and into the oven and voila! FIRE!! (trust me, I've done this. You don't want it to happen to you. Finally, to achieve the 12 pieces cut the dough in half lengthwise. Then take one section and cut it into 3 equally sized pieces and then take those pieces and cut them in half diagonally. Repeat with the other half of dough.

Since it came up, what do you do if your oven is on fire??

1. TURN OFF the oven!

2. EXTINGUISH fire (in my case, I saturated a towel in water, opened the oven, and threw it in. It smothered the flames and everything was OKAY!, an alternative would be a fire extinguisher).

 Salve!