healthy Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones

Yields: 8 scones

These scones look and taste impressive enough for special holiday breakfasts or brunches… But
they’re secretly easy enough to make (only one bowl and 30 minutes needed!) for quick weekday
treats! Leftovers will keep for at least one week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
o 1 ½ cups (180g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
o 1 ½ tsp baking powder
o ¼ tsp salt
o 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
o ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
o 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup
o 3 tbsp + 2 tsp (55mL) nonfat milk, divided
o 1 tsp vanilla extract
o ¾ cup (75g) whole fresh cranberries, diced
o 2 tbsp (28g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment
paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with
a pastry cutter or the back of a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the Greek
yogurt, maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla extract. Gently fold in the cranberries
and 1 ½ tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips.
3. Using a spatula, shape the dough into a ¾” tall circle on the prepared baking sheet, and brush
with the remaining milk. Slice the circle into 8 triangular segments with a sharp knife. (No need
to separate them!) Gently press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 425°F for
20-22 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before
transferring to a wire rack.
Notes: Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted
for the white whole wheat flour.

For a gluten-free version, use the following blend: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca
flour, ¼ cup (30g) brown rice flour, and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour
blends will work as well, if they’re measured like this.

It’s very important that your butter is cold, straight from the fridge. (Freezing it isn’t n ecessary for
this recipe!) With very cold butter, it won’t heat up until you put the scones in the extremely hot
oven, and it will create little air pockets and a very tender crumb when it melts.

Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup.

Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.

The cranberries should be measured when whole, then diced! To quickly dice the cranberries, I add
them to my food processor and pulse until they’re no larger than ¼ of their original size.

Frozen and thawed cranberries that have been patted dry to remove any excess moisture may be
substituted for the fresh. In a pinch, ⅓ cup of diced dried cranberries that have been hydrated may be
substituted. To hydrated the dried cranberries, add them to a microwave -safe bowl, add water until it
rises ½” above the cranberries, and cover the top with a lid or plastic wrap. Micr owave on HIGH for
1 minute. Let the cranberries sit while preparing the scone dough. Just before mixing them in, drain
and pat dry.
In a pinch, coconut oil may be substituted for the butter, but the texture of the scones will be
affected. Very cold butter is required to achieve their tender texture, and since coconut oil melts at a
much lower temperature, the results will not be the same.

To see how these are made, watch my video here located directly above the recipe. (It’s for a very
similar recipe!)

{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}

Oat Scones with Cranberries and Walnuts

by Suzi | Nov 14, 2011 | Recipes | 1 comment

“I said a bite, not half.” Sometimes my husband can be a pig.

“I, um, uh,” Brian kept chewing. “I actually like this.”
“So did I.” I turned, walked back into Amy’s Bread at Chelsea Markets at 15 th Street. Before
the Meat District became upscale, I worked just across the street in my family’s printing
business. My family sold the building, and I went into food. Now I was happily back enjoying
one of the great food districts in New York City.
 In line at Amy’s, I decide that this time I would buy my own private damn scone, and I would
not share it. I still can’t believe it: outside the man was eating cranberries and walnuts and
rolled outs.
Scone in hand, my anger had subsided. I went back to him and checked for fever. He would
not eat a healthy thing unless there was something wrong. Mild fever. I didn’t even bother
with an aspirin.
There is nothing, nothing wrong with these absolutely wonderful sweet scones from Amy.
I’m presenting the recipe as written in The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread. At home, I’ve
baked my own and allowed my imagination to flow: instead of cranberries and walnuts I
have used raisins and slivered almonds.
Amy emphasizes toasting the nuts before adding to the mix. That’s very important here.
You need a strong nut flavor to compete with inherent taste of the oats.
Oat Scones with Cranberries and Walnuts
Yield: 12 large scones
Ingredients:
 1 ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
 ⅔ cup whole wheat pastry flour
 ½ cup sugar
 1 tablespoon baking powder
 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher slat
 1 teaspoon cinnamon
 ¾ teaspoon baking soda
 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, cold, in ½-inch dice
 2 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
 ⅞ cup dried cranberries
 ¾ cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
 1 ½ cups buttermilk
 1 large egg
 Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top

Preparation:
Position one rack in the top third of the oven, one rack in the bottom third of the oven, and
preheat the oven to 400⁰F. Line the two 12 x 17 inch sheet pan with baking parchment.
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the 2 flours, sugar, baking powder,
salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and process them for 5 seconds, until they are just
combined. Add the butter and process again for 10 top 15 seconds, until the mixture looks
like coarse meal. The largest pieces of butter should be about the size of tiny peas (if you
don’t have a food processor, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl with wire whisk and cut
in the cold butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives). The butter should be suspended in tiny
granules throughout the flour, not rubbed into it to make a doubly mass. Transfer this
mixture to a large bowl and stir in the oats, cranberries, and walnuts until they are evenly
distributed.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Remove ½ cup of this mixture and
set it aside. Pour the remaining liquid over the dry ingredients and lightly and briefly stir
them together, just until everything is barely moistened. It’s fine if there is a still a little bit of
unmoistened flour in the bottom of the bowl. Don’t’ over mix or your scones will be heavy
and doughy. This dough won’t be a single cohesive mass. It should look more like
moistened clumps of flour and fruit.
Using your hands, drop free-form portions of dough about 3 ½ inches in diameter on the
prepared baking sheets. Evenly space 6 scones on each sheet. Don’t try to press them
down or squeeze them together — they should look like irregular mounds or clumps. Using
a pastry brush, dab the reserved buttermilk/egg mixture generously all over the tops the
scones and sprinkle them lightly with Turbinado sugar.
Place on pan on each oven rack and bake for 1 5minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to
375⁰F and rotate the pans from top to bottom. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the
scones area deep golden brown on both the top and bottom. A toothpick inserted in the
center of a scone should come out clean. Remove the scones from the pans to cool on a
wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight
container. They’re best if eaten within 2 days. [That will not be a problem.]