Off the Starbucks Menu and Into My Oven

Did anyone else notice that Starbucks completely changed their food menu?

That's all fine and good, but they no longer sell the one thing that I bought every now and then: Cranberry orange scones.

Bummer.

Then Cooking Light printed a recipe for making lower-fat cranberry orange scones. I decided that this was definitely a sign that I needed to make my own to enjoy.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Source

• 1 3/4 c flour
• 2 t baking powder 
• 1 t sugar
• 1/2 t baking soda 
• 1/2 t kosher salt 
• 5 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 c low-fat buttermilk 
• 1/2 c sweetened dried cranberries 
• 1 T grated orange rind
• Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450F. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl. Use fingertips to incorporate butter pieces into flour mixture until they are thoroughly distributed; pieces of butter about the size of peas should still be visible. Add buttermilk, cranberries, and orange rind, stirring just until moist. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times with floured hands. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut dough into 8 wedges. Place wedges 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush wedges with 1 tablespoon buttermilk and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake at 450F for 11 minutes, or until golden.

Note #1: Next time I'll reduce the buttermilk by 1 T and add 1 T orange juice instead to amp up the orange flavor.
Note #2: Too much mixing will make your scones more biscuit-y than scone-y. You've been warned.