Gingerbread Scones

Recipe Adapted from Land O’Lakes

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of nutmeg
• ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted Butter, frozen
• 1 fresh cranberries, roughly chopped into bits
• ½ cup whole milk (more if needed)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup molasses
• Coarse sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder, spices, salt, baking soda and brown sugar. Add the cranberries. Stir together with a fork and set aside.

In a medium size bowl, combine the egg, vanilla and molasses and combine with a fork, just enough to break up the egg yolk. Set aside.

Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the butter directly into the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center, and pour. inthe. wet ingredients, including the milk. Use a large fork and a large rubber spatula to stir the mixture together. If it seems a little dry you may add additional milk until it forms a shaggy dough.

Sprinkle a pastry mat, wooden cutting board or wax paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat a few times with your hands until it loosely holds together. (Don’t knead it too much or the warmth in your palms will melt the butter and cause the scones to be tough.)

Pat and roll the dough into a rectangle. Use a sharp knife or a bench scraper to cut the rectangle in half, legnth-wise. Stack one half on top of the other, and use a rolling pin to gently roll it into one rectangle. Repeat this process 2-3 more times, sprinkling the surface with flour if it gets too sticky, before patting it into one final rectangle.

Wrap the rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit

Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and unwrap the scone dough out onto it. Use a bench scraper or very sharp knife to trim the edges of the rectangle. Cut the remaining dough into squares, about 2″ inches each.

Remove the cut scones to a baking sheet you’ve lined with parchment paper, rather close to each other (it will help them rise higher). Spray the tops with PAM cooking spray, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Bake until scones are golden brown, 20-25 minutes.