Orange Scones

Recipe: Orange Scones

Source: The Orange Strainer

Time: 1 hour 45 minutes (give or take a little)

Ease: 6

Taste: 10

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

I ordered an orange scone at Panera Bread a long while ago.  It was a day when I was looking for a baked good that was not so overly loaded with sugar like a brownie, but not so bready like a bagel.  

By the way, this rarely happens.  My baked good of choice there is usually one of their delicious cookies, and a caramel latte.

Also by the way, if you have never had one of their caramel lattes, please go there right now and have one.  Oh! My! Gosh!

Expecting to taste something relative to dried out cake, I was floored when what I bit into was moist and filled with the subtle hint of orange flavor.

After being able to recreate Starbucks vanilla bean scones I just knew that I had to find a way to make Panera's orange scone.

Here's what you'll need for the scones*:
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-2/3 cup sugar
-5 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 sticks chilled butter
-1 large egg
-3/4 cup heavy cream
-zest of 2 oranges

*See below for icing ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Begin by zesting two oranges.

Note: Having your own zester, I'm sure, must work better than a cheese grater.

But, I work with what I got.  What I got I work with.  Whichever way you prefer.

Add the orange zest to the heavy cream and set it to the side as you carry on with the next steps.

But, please, make sure you save those oranges to eat or make orange juice with later.  (I devoured one before I was through making this recipe).

Mmmm, zesty cream, my favorite!

At this point, go ahead and sift all your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) together.  I had a picture of this, but was so bored by it that I deleted it.

Sorry.

Then, cut the chilled butter up into 1/2 inch chunks and toss them on top of the dry mixture.

Using a pastry blender, chop the butter up and get it all mixed into the dry mixture.  This is not my favorite thing in the world to do, I must admit.

You should end up with a somewhat crumbly mixture.

Beat the egg in a separate bowl and add it to the dry buttered mixture.

Mix the egg in a little, then grab the zesty cream, pour it in, and mix lightly with a fork....

...until it looks like this.

Note: It is going to scream to high heavens of orange smell at this point.

And that's just fine.

Toss the dough onto a clean, floured surface.  For me, the only clean surface that I could find at this point involved a cookie sheet and my stove top.

I think I need a bigger kitchen.

Or a maid.

Either one will do just fine.

Roll the dough out...

...and make the best possible rectangle that you can.

Don't worry, I taught third grade math and even I'm not sure this counts as a rectangle.

Then, cut up your rectangle like this.  I used a pizza cutter.  It was perfect...except for the one spot where I thought I was actually cutting a pizza and went to roll back and forth over it a bazillion times.

Then I said to myself, "Wait a minute, I'm not cutting pizza, I only need to roll once over the spot I need cut."

So I stopped being so forceful and life was good.

Cut each little square you've made in half diagonally.

Set on two baking sheets*, spaced out at least an inch apart.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.

*For the love of everything holy, please use two baking sheets.  They will not fit on just one, despite what you see in the picture above.

This is clear proof that I needed two sheets.  Lucky me, I got most of these bad boys off the pan without breaking them.

Allow the scones to cool for about 15 minutes before icing them.

Now, what you'll need for the icing*:
-1/4 cup milk
-zest of half an orange
-dash of salt
-2 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

(*That's right, in this case, it's called icing)

Pour the milk into a mixing bowl.  Then add the orange zest.

Mix it around real good.

The picture of me adding powdered sugar just looked wacky, so add the powdered sugar little by little until you reach the proper consistency.

This part is very important.  To keep from making a totally ridiculous mess when icing your scones, keep them on the cooling rack and place under the rack either 1. the pan that the scones cooked on or 2. some wax paper or plastic wrap.

Because when you ice the scones they are going to drip furiously and I don't want to clean that mess up from on off the table later.

 

Now that I've cleared up the mess issue.  Use about a spoonful of icing per scone and drizzle it on top.  You may have to use the spoon to help spread it around a little.

I'm considering freezing these, then grabbing one and heading to Panera...

...just to buy a caramel latte.