Thursday, August 6, 2009

Rustic Scone with Almonds, Raisins, Dried Cranberries and Chocolate Chips



My husband has been pushing for scones for a while. I finally gave in! Instead of scones he got one massive, rustic scone! We had such fun cutting away at it... got a bit carried away I'm afraid!

A good scone is moist and flaky, firm not mushy like soft bread as we find all too often here in the States. This was to be a dried fruit and nut scone, but when a 4 year old helps out in the kitchen chocolate chips are inevitably added to the equation... the end result was not exactly fit for a healthy breakfast, but a treat to be savored later on. It was delicious! Thank you, Alexander, for the wonderful addition!


Ingredients:

4 cups plus all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 sticks of cold butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold milk
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup almonds, slivered
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg white for egg wash



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix flour and cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the dough resembles large crumbs. Add the eggs and milk, vanilla and baking powder and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried fruit, nuts and chocolate and mix on low speed until blended.

Put the dough onto a greased cookie sheet, parchment paper or liner. Spread the dough into roughly a 10 inch circle. (It will be very sticky.) Brush the egg wash over the scone and lastly sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake the scone about 25 - 30 minutes until it is nicely golden and firm to the touch. Let the scone cool 10 -15 minutes and then bring to the table and either let everyone break off a piece or cut a piece. This is a fun thing to have when you have friends over for coffee in the late morning or early afternoon!

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