These scones are flavorful, tender morsels of pure joy. The lemon and cranberries offer refreshing flavour, the butter and ricotta add to the rich texture and the sweet, lemony glaze offers the finishing touch. All that and they're easy to make! They can even be frozen unbaked so you can have fresh baked scones whenever you want.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Total Time35 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cranberries, lemon, ricotta, scones
Servings: 16pieces
Calories: 191kcal
Author: Getty Stewart
Ingredients
2cupsall purpose flour
1Tbspbaking powder
1/4tspbaking soda
1/4tspsalt
1/3cupgranulated sugar
2Tbsplemon zest
1/2cupcold butterdiced
1large egg
3/4cupricotta cheese
3Tbsplemon juice
1tspalmond extract
1/2cupchopped fresh or frozen cranberries*
Glaze
1cupicing sugar
2-3Tbsplemon juice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Lightly grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper or Silpat.
In large bowl, mix dry ingredients - all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.
Using two knives or pastry cutter, cut in butter until well distributed to form small crumbs.
In small bowl, whisk together wet ingredients - egg, ricotta, lemon juice and extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until liquid is mixed in.
Stir in cranberries and continue to stir until dough starts to come together. There will be some loose crumbs remaining at the bottom.
Turn dough and crumbs onto a lightly floured surface and use hands to gently knead and work dough to form a ball. If dough is too dry, add an extra splash of milk. If it is too wet, a little flour to counter and top of dough.
Use your hands to shape the dough into a long rectangle about 16"x3" (40cmx7cm). Cut the rectangle into 4 equal sized squares, then cut each square in half so you have 8 separate pieces. Finally, cut each of those pieces diagonally to form two triangles. You should have 16 triangular pieces.
Alternative: For bigger pieces, shape the dough into a large round about 1.5" high and 9" in diameter. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.
Place on baking sheet leaving space between each scone. Bake for 14-16 minutes until turning golden.
Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.
Glaze
In small bowl, mix together icing sugar and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Stir well and gradually add more lemon juice as needed for icing to be smooth and drizzle off the spoon.
Drizzle or brush over scones. If you want the glaze to melt into the scones, add glaze while scones are hot. If you want an opaque glaze on top of the scones, add the glaze when scones are cool.
Let rest briefly to let glaze set. Enjoy
Video
Notes
Best enjoyed while still warm out of the oven.Let cool and store in airtight container for 2 days. Scones are truly best when fresh.Freeze baked scones in airtight bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight and reheat in oven at 350°F or gently in microwave for 1-2 minutes.Freeze shaped, unbaked scones on a baking sheet then wrap tightly in airtight container for up to 1 months. Bake, unthawed as described above adding up to five minutes. See article for more details.*Replace cranberries with blueberries, cherries, saskatoons, rhubarb, peaches or any seasonal fruit.Replace almond extract with vanilla or lemon extract.Replace lemon juice and zest with orange zest.Replace ricotta with buttermilk, yogurt (high fat) or cream.