megan gordon's spiced sultana drop scones

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself earlier this afternoon because it appears that the wonderful, cherished, beloved nap is moving on from our household.  I know it's a bit silly to complain about it, because my little guy has spent almost four and a half years now regularly napping, which is far more than most children his age. I have had more than my fair share of peaceful afternoons spent reading (and let's face it, sleeping!).  Rather than concede defeat today, I stubbornly insisted that some amount of rest occur, and miracle of miracles, a few minutes after a rather stern and partially unreasonable lecture, he was peacefully snoring.  Silently gloating in my victory, I crept out of his room, plopped down on the couch next to our sparsely decorated but charming Christmas tree, and wondered what I could do with the soon-to-be-ending free time.  

After all my grumbling, I now have the perfect opportunity to share what might be the greatest scone recipe of all times.  I have been regularly visiting Megan Gordon's blog, A Sweet Spoonful, practically making every single thing she has posted in the last few months, and it has been one winner after another. I've added her whole wheat banana bread to my rotation, and the rye chocolate brownies she shared are easily the best brownies I've ever had.  I decided to try the scones from the latest post on a whim, partially because A loves scones so much but also because the combination of whole wheat and spices just felt so perfect for the cold mornings we have been having.  I should note that I welcome and enjoy the cold-we had what felt like an eternal, hot summer, and then skipped right through fall into a genuine California winter, the likes of which we haven't seen in several years.  I'm thrilled! 

Because the scones didn't require cutting or shaping, they were incredibly easy to throw together.  In my experience, the dough for scones isn't too finicky anyway, and you should expect and embrace the fact that it's craggy and rough-being able to see larger flecks of butter spread through your flour is a good thing! Megan suggests putting the dough into the fridge for ten minutes before dropping spoonfuls on the baking tray, but I was so pressed for time I was only able to chill it for three or four, which in no way affected them negatively.  I had only a handful of raisins, and no sultanas, so I substituted dried cranberries, as per Megan's suggestion.  I almost used the raisins instead because I was slightly worried that the combination of spices with cranberries might not be that appealing, but I needn't have worried because you guys, these scones are PURE BLISS.  The buttery crumb practically melts in your mouth-it's a lighter texture than any other scone I have made.  This is, of course, because of the combination of a stick of butter + 1/2 cup of cream, but it's utterly worth it.  Many scones use buttermilk or half and half as the binding liquid and they're still lovely, but the overall taste and feel is much heartier and heavier.  The orange zest spiked through the flours and spices is the perfect foil for the cranberries, and is likely the reason the flavor combination worked so well.  We devoured half the batch between the three of us, and I had heated up the leftovers this morning-scones don't typically hold up well at all, but after a nice amount of toasting time in the oven, they were still just as heavenly.  

As is my routine when I post recipes directly from blogs, I'll simply link here to the spiced scones.  Hoping I'll be back soon...