Lemon Cranberry Oat Scones

Katzen's Note:

Yum. Made this recipe up this morning, based on my usual scone recipe, but I goofed with the amount of oats and it was a happy mistake! I hope you like them! I should note that this is a more healthy, grainy, scone, not a buttery & flaky one - DH & I have really come to enjoy this for a more stick-to-your-ribs scone. Edited Nov '10 to only fresh or frozen cranberries, as the moisture is essential to the scone's texture.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 4.0 Scones

• 2/3 cup flour
• 2/3 cup oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest, freshly grated (more, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (use more if you like your scones sweet)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 cup fresh cranberries or 1 cup frozen cranberries
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 1/2-2/3 cup milk
• coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix dry ingredients together (flour, oats, baking powder, lemon zest, sugar).
3. Stir oil into dry ingredients.
4. Mix in cranberries and almonds.
5. Add vanilla extract and milk.
6. Stir until the dry ingredients are damp and will clump together.
7. Drop into four mounds (six if you like your scones smaller) on parchment paper lined or greased baking sheet.
8. Sprinkle with course sugar, if using.
9. Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Reviews

[Sydney Mike]

Now these are a nice change from the usual scones we have, & we definitely like 'em! I still had a bag of cranberries that hadn't yet made it to the freezer (I freeze a lot of bags over the end-of-the-year holidays!) so these were made with 'fresh' berries! I did use 2 Tbsp of the sugar as well as what I sprinkled on the top! Was also generous with the measure of lemon zest! Really a great recipe! [Made & reviewed in 1-2-3 Hits tag]

[Deantini]

I cut the cranberries back to 1/2 cup. I would definitely go for more sugar next time or add some on top as it was suggested as optional. The texture is quite chewy overall - I am sure these will be nice tomorrow morning with my first cup of coffee.

[momaphet]

I liked the lemon flavor with the cranberries (I used dried), but I had a hard time with the texture. The oats were pretty grainy in the mouth and the bread part didn't have the richness you expect from a scone (probably from using oil in place of butter). I only used a half cup of milk and this was a very wet mixture. I wished I had cut back on the amount of cranberries - this suprised me 'cause I usually end up increasing them, but there was actually too many for the amount of dough. I wonder if using quick oats instead of regular would improve the texture? Thanks Katzen for sharing, I may play with this one a bit.