Better than Starbucks? Oh, yeah.

I had my first Starbucks vanilla scones today. Oh, my, they were good. But these are even better, if I do say so myself.

Back story: I tried an Andes Candy mint chocolate scone recipe from a card I found in the grocery store. It was awful. Just horrible. Downright disgusting. But then I got to thinking ... if I replaced the Andes with cranberries, and added some orange flavoring, and used white chocolate instead of regular ...

Orange-Cranberry Two-Bite Scones

 

2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped slightly in food processor
1 tsp plus 1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup white baking chips or chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix dry ingredients. Cut butter in with a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse meal. (This can also be done in a food processor, using only half the flour mixture. Add the remaining flour mixture in the bowl before adding cream.)

Sprinkle 1 tsp orange extract over cranberries. Stir berries into dry mixture.

Add cream and 1/2 tsp orange extract to dry ingredients. Mix lightly with fingers just until the dough holds together. Wrap in plastic and chill about 1/2 hour.

Roll out into a 6" x 8" rectangle. Cut into 2-inch squares, then cut each square diagonally in half to create 24 triangles. (A mezzaluna or pizza cutter works really well for this.)

Place scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden brown and puffed. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Melt chips; drizzle over cooled scones.



Based on Andes mint scones recipe: http://www.tootsie.com/rec_scones.php