Cranberry Cream Scones with Candied Ginger

 
I have been waiting to make these scones for like, a year.

Waiting for cranberries to come back in season.

Do you love cranberries?  I love cranberries.  Maybe it's my English heritage, but something in me loves tart, inedible, tiny fruits.  The kind that are only tasty after a hard frost.

Currants, medlars, persimmons, crab apples.  And cranberries!

Got to keep off the scurvy, you know?

And!  There is ginger in these.

Sweet, spicy, snappy ginger.  All gussied up with sugar for the holidays.

The crumb is sweet and crumbly.  The top crunchified with sugar and cream.

Brew some English Breakfast tea (over there it's just called Breakfast tea), lance your boils, and let's all settle down for a lovely scone breakfast, shall we?

Insert joke about braces here.

Cranberry Cream Scones with Candied Ginger (recipe adapted from Joy the Baker)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown or turbinado sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 heaping cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
cream and sugar for topping

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together  flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add the cold butter and quickly work the butter into the flour mixture.  Break up the butter until well incorporated into the flour.  Some butter bits will be the size of peas, others will be as small as oat flakes.  Toss in the cranberries and ginger and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, vanilla extract, and heavy cream.  Add the cream mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir quickly to ensure that all of the flour mixture is moistened by the cream mixture.  Dump the shaggy dough mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and work together, kneading lightly, into a 1 1/2-inch thick disk.

Cut the disk into 6 wedges.

Place 2-inches apart on baking sheet and brush with cream and sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes until just cooked through.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Scones are best served the day they are made, but these scones will last well wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days.