Cranberry Cream Cheese Scones
This recipe was created by the scone lover in me. It's just a personal preference, but I like thick scones like these or very thin ones and am not so crazy about the ones in the between. For the "thin" scones make these: Cranberry Cream Cheese Scone Thins that are like #breakfast cookies, but are perfect for teatime, coffee breaks, or any time you want just a few bites of something crunchy.
I know this recipe makes a lot of dough, but I wanted to calibrate it so that it would take a full package of cream cheese (Philadelphia brand). Along with two sticks of butter, a half pint of heavy cream, and two large eggs, this makes four out of the ten ingredients that you don't have to weigh or measure, so it is easy to put the dough together. The dough freezes well (up to two month) so you can choose to bake as needed. See notes at the bottom of recipe about equipment and supplies that I find helpful when making this recipe.
I know this recipe makes a lot of dough, but I wanted to calibrate it so that it would take a full package of cream cheese (Philadelphia brand). Along with two sticks of butter, a half pint of heavy cream, and two large eggs, this makes four out of the ten ingredients that you don't have to weigh or measure, so it is easy to put the dough together. The dough freezes well (up to two month) so you can choose to bake as needed. See notes at the bottom of recipe about equipment and supplies that I find helpful when making this recipe.
Ingredients
- YIELD: NET WEIGHT OF DOUGH = 2000g 4 lb 6 oz
- -15 LARGE SCONE WEDGES 130g EACH 4.5 oz
- - SHAPED IN 6" 15.2 cm ROUND CAKE PANS
- 490 grams all-purpose unbleached flour King Arthur (3 1/2 cups)
- 280 grams bleached all-purpose floiur Gold Medal (2 cups)
- 200 grams sugar 1 cup
- 40 grams baking powder 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
- 10 grams fine sea salt 2 teaspoons
- 225 grams cold unsalted butter cut in 3/8" chunks (2 sticks / 8 oz)
- 225 grams cold Philadelphia cream cheese cut in 3/8" chunks (one - 8 oz package)
- 240 grams heavy cream 1/2 pint / 1 cup
- 100 grams whole eggs 2 large
- 240 grams dried cranberries 1 1/2 cups
- 2050 grams = Total 72 oz 4 lb 8 oz
- TOPPING:
- Brush tops of unbaked scones with heavy cream extra quantity and sprinkle with sparkling sugar or granulated sugar.
Instructions
- COMBINE dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to blend.
- ADD cold butter and cream cheese chunks to the flour and rub between your hands, creating large flakes. Continue rubbing until mixture is mealy with some remaining butter/cream cheese chunks the size of small peas.
- WHISK together the heavy cream and eggs and stir in until the flour is half absorbed, using a large rubber spatula.
- SCATTER dried cranberries over the top and mix in.
- PRESS dough together in the bowl, scraping up loose flour from the bottom.
- SCALE into two portions @ 800g for full pans and one portion @ 400g for half pan.
- FOR EACH DOUGH PORTION: PRESS into a plastic-lined 6" (15.2 cm) cake pan with plastic over-hang. If you have enough pans, the dough can be left in the pans to freeze.
- FREEZE the dough rounds, which can be frozen for up to two months.
- WHEN READY TO BAKE: PRE-HEAT oven to 425° F (220° C).
- REMOVE dough from freezer and allow to thaw slightly. Cut each round into 6 wedges. The half pan into 3 wedges.
- ARRANGE on double sheet pans. (Note: Because it take over 30 minutes to bake these thick scones, I find that double-panning prevents the botttoms from getting to dark or burning). BRUSH tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with sparkling sugar or granulated sugar. I used sparkling sugar in all of my photos.
- TURN OVEN DOWN TO 400° F (204° C) and BAKE @ for 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 375° F, rotate pan and bake another 15-17 minutes until golden brown and INTERNAL TEMPERATURE reaches 210° F. Total baking time 35-37 minutes.
- COOL on the pans or transfer
- EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES:Here's a quick list that I find helpful when making this recipe: Cake Pans: 6" round cake pans for shaping the dough (3 if possible). If you only have one pan, the dough can be shaped in the pan, then carefully lifted out holding onto the plastic wrap, and placing on a sheet pan to freeze. Sheet Pans: Half-size sheet pans for baking. Double sheet pans prevents over-browning or burning.Parchment Paper: Half-size parchment sheets. Digital Thermometer: For testing doneness. Cooling Rack: For cooling scones after removing from pans.
Notes
This recipe loosely adapted from a recipe for Orange Currant Scones by Judy Rogers in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (2002). The use of cream cheese as an ingredient in scone dough was inspired by Rose Levy Beranbaum in The Baking Bible (2014).
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
