Wade Murphy's Cranberry, Orange and Almond Hot Cross Scones
Ingredients
Wade Murphy's Cranberry, Orange and Almond Hot Cross Scones
Makes approx 8
Prep time approx 30 mins plus cooling
For the scones
- 250g of plain flour, or spelt flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 25g of caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 45g of butter, cold, cut into cubes
- 100g of dried cranberries, halved. (If you can't get dried cranberries, you can use other dried fruits)
- 1/2 orange, zested, reserve the juice for the glaze later
- 1 large egg
- 95ml of full fat milk
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 tbsp of flaked almonds
For the cross
- 4 tbsp of icing sugar
- orange juice, 1–2 tsp
Method
- Preheat the oven to 210°C. Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the salt, caster sugar and mixed spice
- Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the cranberries and orange zest
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and almond extract
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in almost all of the wet mixture, reserving a little for glazing the scones later.
- Mix with your hands until the mix just about comes together – don’t over knead
- Place the dough on a floured work surface and flatten until it is around 2.5cm (1 inch) in thickness
- Use a round cutter to cut the scones out of the dough. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a little apart so they don’t stick together. Repeat using any leftovers until all the dough is used up.
- Using a knife make a cross mark into the top of each scone. Brush the reserved egg and milk mixture over the tops of the scones. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds
- Bake for 13–15 minutes until they are a light golden brown. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.
- To make the glaze, mix the icing sugar with enough orange juice to form a fairly stiff icing. If you want to be a little different use a little Cointreau instead of the juice.
- Use a spoon to drizzle this into the cross mark of each scone.
- Serve the scones with good quality butter, jam and cream.
