A little taste of summer

(a naked little orange after an encounter with a microplane zester)

I have been meaning to share this recipe for ages and finally remembered to take some pictures

when I made these lovely orange scones this week. I adore Panera Bread's orange scones (despite the fact that they look like they are topped with American cheese - what is UP with the artificial coloring in their glaze??). I tried a couple of times to duplicate the recipe and didn't have a ton of success. This is mostly due to the fact that I can't stand cutting in butter. Despise it. I don't have a great pastry cutter or a food processor so I always do it with 2 knives and end up completely irritated. This recipe, however, uses heavy cream in the dough, and takes just a minute to make. They aren't flaky as I imagine they would be using a dough made with butter, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. (This recipe is a compilation of several I found online, using my favorite parts of each.)

Orange Scones

Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 T plus 1 t orange zest
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 T melted butter


Glaze:

3 T cream cheese
3 T unsalted butter (I use salted because that's what I usually have on hand)
1 T orange zest
1-2 T milk or whipping cream
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 425. Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 T baking powder and 1/4 t salt in large bowl. Stir in orange zest. Add whipping cream and stir just until dough forms (it should still be quite crumbly, do not overstir). Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently just until dough holds together - do not overknead. (You'll be tempted - but DON'T DO IT!!) Form dough into 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges.

Transfer wedges to a baking sheet or a baking stone. Brush scones with melted butter. Bake scones until light golden brown, 14-16 minutes. (Sometimes the middle takes a while to get done, so make sure you check them).


While baking, prepare glaze. In a small saucepan, melt butter and cream cheese, stirring often. Add orange zest and stir well. Add half powdered sugar mixture, stir well. Add milk or whipping cream, stir well, then add the rest of the powdered sugar slowly, just until the glaze is the right consistency. It should be a touch on the thick side.


As soon as the scones are done, pull them from the oven. Let them cool for about 10 minutes, and while still on the sheet, coat tops of scones with the glaze. The glaze should melt down and cover the scones down the sides.

These scones are very rich and dense, as you might expect with something made with so much heavy cream, but man are they good. They also keep well if you can manage not eating them all while they're warm.