Monday, January 14, 2013

Crawleys and Scones

Oh, Downton Abbey!  You do not disappoint.  You bring it each and every week.  Last night we attended another wedding... with a bit different ending.  Poor Lady Edith!


My favorite lines this evening came from Granny, Violet Crawley... of course!

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   To her son...
             I want the pleasure of saying 'I told you so...'

   When she entered the church, she mentions to Travis...
            He looks as if he's waiting for a beating from the headmaster...

   And my absolute favorite...


            Sybil, vulgarity is no substitute for wit.



Now, we did not merely watch the show, to continue with our new Downton Abbey Season 3 viewing party tradition, I decided to make scones to enjoy with tea.  The hubs and I thoroughly enjoyed the shortbread last week so we needed a new British treat.  After a little research, and tweaking, White Chocolate Cranberry Scones were prepped and in our oven in no time!



WARNING...  these scones are DIVINE!!!
The hubs and I each ate 3.


White Chocolate Cranberry Scones


Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, diced and very cold
3/4 cup coarsely chopped sweetened dried cranberries
3/4 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate
2/3 cup cold buttermilk (or substitute with whole milk/ half and half/ or heavy cream with about 2/3 of a tablespoon of white vinegar added and left to sit for 5 minutes)
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional milk and sugar for top (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles.  Coarsely chop cranberries and white chocolate then add to the dry ingredients. 






In another bowl, combine buttermilk, egg yolk and vanilla.  Blend together.  Add the liquid into the dry, mixing with a fork until moist clumps are formed.


Bring dough together into a ball and press together on a lightly floured surface until it is about 3/4 inch thick.  Either use a cutter and cut out scones into any desired shape or a knife to cut into 12 wedges for a more traditional scone.  Space scones out on a parchment lined baking sheet or baking stone.  If the dough has been handled quite a bit with hands, chill the scones in the freezer for 5 minutes to get the butter nice and cold.  Brush scones lightly with milk and sprinkle with a little extra sugar. 



Bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.



Serve immediately or cool completely and store in an air tight container.

**Dough may be prepared in advance.  Mix, cut out, place on baking sheet, cover, and place into refrigerator.  Increase baking time by 5+ minutes.**



ENJOY!

2 comments:

  1. I'm excited to make these this weekend for a Downton Abbey Girls Night! Thanks for sharing it!

    Heather Gaither ;-)
    www.incredibleinfant.com

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  2. How wonderful! Hope you love them as much as we did. Mmmm... I may even need to make them again. Too divine.

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