Candied Orange Peel and

Golden Raisins Scones

May 30:National Scone Day

Every spring, Islander attends a teatime-themed gathering with 20 members of the local library’s culinary book club. Everyone gets a chance to wear a hat or fascinator, sample different types of teas and exchange teatime recipes. She and her friends enjoy the variety of sandwiches, sweets, savories and scones. As clotted and Devonshire creams are not readily available in our area, plain scones are often replaced with flavored scones, like these candied orange peel and golden raisins scones. Club members enjoy scones with exotic/unusual ingredients, so their interests are piqued even more when told that this recipe contains orange liqueur!

Add this scone to your recipe repertoire and try making it with candied orange peel and golden raisins for teatime as well as on National Scone Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• ½ cup candied orange peel, diced
• ½ cup golden raisins
• ¼ cup orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier or Triple Sec)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated (about 1 orange)
• 2 cups cake flour (not self rising), sifted
• 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, unsalted, cut into small pieces
• 1 /4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, granulated white
• 1 tablespoon @ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt (we used Hawaiian sea salt)
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 eggs (divided use)
• sanding sugar

Directions

Chop the candied orange peel and place in a bowl with the golden raisins. Pour orange liqueur over it. Zest the orange. Mix it with the fruits. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The liqueur should be absorbed before using in the recipe.

In a large bowl, combine the cake flour and all purpose flour. Divide in half into a large and smaller bowl. In the large bowl, mix the pieces of butter with the flour using a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. In the smaller bowl, stir in the sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour this back into the large bowl and continue mixing until it resembles coarse meal.

In another bowl, beat one egg and one egg yolk, saving the egg white to brush the tops of the scones before baking. Mix the cream into the egg.

Pour this in the middle of the flour mixture. Stir gently until dough sticks together. Do not overwork the dough or the scones will be hard. Fold in the fruit mixture in thirds, incorporating it into the dough until well mixed. Turn out dough onto a floured surface. Gently use a rolling pin to flatten to an inch thick.

Use a 2-inch round cutter to cut out scones, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet two inches apart. Beat the egg white. Brush it over the tops of the scones. Sprinkle sanding sugar on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degree F for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven. Serve warm. Store leftovers in airtight container. Yield: 1 – 1 ½ dozen scones.

Notes

• Plan ahead with this recipe by preparing the fruit-liqueur mixture overnight. Then make the scones for breakfast or brunch the next day.
• Search our blog for other scones recipes.