Temptingly drizzled with orange icing, freshly baked scones are a great way to begin the day. 

This recipe produces a light, flaky, sweet-but-not-too scone that goes well with a fried egg or by itself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee or tea. I deviated from this recipe a bit because I wanted to have this ready in the morning before our friend’s early flight out. I mixed all the dry ingredients and placed them in a covered bowl in the refrigerator at night. The next morning, I preheated the oven, mixed and shaped the dough, and baked it. While the scone was baking, I mixed the orange drizzle. I let the baked scone cool slightly and then drizzled the frosting. In a manner of about thirty minutes, we had warm delicious scones with enough left over to send with our friend for a snack on the plane.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp mace
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen
• 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 egg

Drizzle:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, mace and cinnamon.
3. Grate frozen butter with a cheese grater. Stir grated butter into flour mixture.
4. Stir cranberries, orange zest, and walnuts into flour mixture.
5. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream and egg together.
6. Slowly pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir with rubber spatula until dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured board and knead a few times. Shape dough into circle, about 1 inch thick.
7. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Transfer dough circle to baking sheet.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until scone is lightly browned.
9. Mix together drizzle ingredients until the texture is like honey. Place drizzle in a small plastic bag.
10. Cool baked scone. When cooled, snip corner of drizzle bag and drizzle topping across the scone in a zig zag formation.
11. Let scone cool further. Cut scone into 6 wedges.

Enjoy with a cup of fruit and some fresh roasted coffee on a chilly morning with friends.