Fresh Cranberry and Citrus Scones

High on my list of kitchen priorities this month has been to use up some leftover cranberries from Turkey day. Whatever strange reason it may be, once Christmas is talked about in the past tense, even if it's only early January, cranberry sauce becomes void and something I cannot make or eat again until the following holiday season. I know! Bizarre. My husband and I have frequently pondered and explored what my case is for only eating certain foods at specific times in the year. Yes, even though I have begun seeing stone fruit like peaches and what have you available in grocery stores this very month, do not count on me being a purchaser! I don't eat tomatoes or peaches in the winter and I do eat a lot of pears or grapefruit in the summer. Seasonal eating may just be an odd fixation, but it's also economical as well!

Very unfortunately, I don't have many other fresh cranberry recipes up my sleeve. It is unfortunate- isn't the cranberry a beautiful fruit? Whenever I open a package and see them fly everywhere on my counter top, they have me stunned. It's just too bad they are more sour and tart than my tongue can endure for simple eating.

Off I went searching through cyberspace and found this recipe at a favorite stop of mine. You may use lemons or oranges for the citrus zest and I would even admonish you to add more zest than what the recipe calls for. Other than that, these were a SMASH amongst the four of us. And, as usual, with most scones, they are BEST WHEN EATEN within the first 12 hours. Of course you may have them around for a day or two but rubbery texture comes to mind, so why not polish them off while they're super fresh?

Spiced-warm milk, whipped cream, or creme fraiche are my favorite scone-accompaniments.

Ta ta!

Fresh Cranberry-Lemon/Orange Scones

{Smitten Kitchen}

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (meyer lemons preferable: I used orange zest instead because I had a million oranges that needed immediate usage!)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse ( I am sorry, but no dried cranberries here please)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons or oranges, and chop fine, reserving the remaining fruit for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Serve scones warm with creme fraiche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.