Orange-Cranberry Scones

The New York Times recently featured a recipe for orange-currant scones which sounded exceptionally good, and  I duly printed out the recipe for future reference.

Cue a shopping day with my friend E, who likes scones, and I thought that I would make them for her.  As you know, scones should be eaten on the day they are made, so I made them on the morning that I was going to meet E.  I only had a short time in which to make them, leading inevitably to a time pressure disaster.

First, I couldn't find any plain flour in the cupboard and thought I'd run out.  I was mistaken - I had simply put all of the flour into glass jars to try and eradicate a case of pantry moths, but forgotten about it.  Unfortunately, I did not remember in time to make the scones, so I frantically turned to alternatives in my cupboard.

I had a bag of coconut flour and thought that I would use this to make the scones instead.  Umm, except that I forgot that coconut flour does not contain gluten, which is necessary to make scones. After substituting the plain flour with an equal quantity of coconut flour, I ended up with a crumbly mess.

To try and rescue the situation, I added a cup of self raising flour (yep, I had some of that) and an extra quarter cup of milk to the mixture.  (Note that I used milk, not cream, in my scones.) Miraculously, it formed  dough that stuck together.  Instead of currants, I used dried cranberries in my scones.

The scones were duly baked and cut and topped with lemon curd:

The verdict - my concoction made scones, albeit a little drier than I am used to.  They were also more crumbly and did not travel well, so E only got a few scones.  However, if you are not travelling with the scones, my substitutions are perfectly serviceable, if you want a scone with a coconut flavour and a different texture to the norm.

What I loved about these scones was the orange-cranberry flavour combination.  Whether you make them in the way you are supposed to, or make some experimental substitutions like me, these scones have a delicious flavour from the fruit, and are definitely worth a burl.