Ultra rich and delicious Cream Cheese Scones

Wow! These scones are incredibly delicious. They're also pretty rich. They are the Flaky Cream Cheese Scones from The Baking Bible cookbook. 

I have to be honest, I saw a local bakery promoting lemon and blueberry scones a few weeks ago and I thought to myself  'that's not a scone!'. And maybe it isn't my usual kind of scone but I was forced to eat my words (and quite a few scones) after I made these. They have a hefty dash of lemon zest and dried cranberries which, it turns out, is a genius combination. And the texture is pretty sconny (sconey?) although a bit denser and more moist from the three (3!) different types of dairy products included.

These are pretty easy to make although, of course, Rose has added in a few extra steps. This recipe starts with most of the dry ingredients in the bowl with some lemon zest. First cream cheese is rubbed in, then butter. This is clever because the lemon zest becomes very fragrant with all that friction.

The following picture has to be seen to be believed. ALL that cream and THEN honey as well! Into a mixture that was already heavy with cream cheese and butter. Wow. If you make these you can NEVER tell anyone the ingredients.

When I saw the instructions included using a cake tin, I didn't read it properly, thinking I wasn't about to dirty a cake tin while making scones (hmph!). After I read some of the other Alpha Baker's posts I realised it was just a way to get an even-sized round before cutting the scones into triangles. Ah yes, that is quite a good idea. Although it does dirty an extra piece of equipment which needs hand-washing. As you can see I pressed mine into a very inexact round. I had to use a reasonable amount of flour on the bench because the dough was quite wet and soft.

And I cut mine in rounds because...well just because that's what I usually do. Actually I like the look of the triangle shape scones and really they are less effort (which should appeal to my substantial lazy bone) because you don't have to re-roll the dough. Next time.

They look a bit undercooked in this picture but they looked browner in person. I wasn't feeling great when I made them so I lay on the couch eating scones and eventually feeling a different type of sick after about ten too many. I was really surprised by the flavour of these. I think it must be the combination of the lemon, dried cranberries and substantial amounts of fat that really tickled my taste buds. 

I have to make something for a fundraiser in a few weeks time. I think I'm going to make these (cut in triangles, with a milk wash and sprinkle of fat sugar crystals to give them a shine) and label them as 'American scones'. Should be a sell-out.

Hooray! Next week is Luscious Apple Pie*. Still my favourite fruit pie. 

*Must get in some ice cream.