Blood Orange, Pomegranate and Ginger Scones
Dairy Free or Dairy Full
Sconedays with Colorful, Flavor-Packed Fruits
Can you really bake too many scones? That’s our current conversation. It feels like we’ve made so many – some you haven’t seen yet because we’re still working on getting the recipes right (multiple trials). Many are posted here on the blog already. And there’s this one I’ve been waiting to share with blood oranges, pomegranate seeds and crystalized ginger. I’ve felt weirdly excited about coming up with this winter-fruit combination for today’s post.
I just love making scones. They’re quick and easy. I get to work the dough with my hands. And I’m finding how simple it is to experiment with spices, fruits and nuts to create different flavors. Our biggest hit to date has been the Cardamom, Orange and Tart Cherry Scones.
What’s also sort of amazing about making scones is how people are always astonished at how tender the texture is, how they taste, and they appreciative we’ve made a heaping plateful. People are so used to the ‘sturdy’ scones at coffee shops and bakeries that are meant to transport well and have a shelf life of several days. Sure, makes sense in a business, but ‘sturdy’ makes me think of pictures of those practical pumps ladies wore in the 1930s and 40s.
Here’s the challenge, though, in making scones for the blog. We have to taste test. And it’s hard to stop.
I’ve learned to bake only enough to sample and so set up the portion control in advance. I freeze the rest and save them to be ready for occasions when people visit. Recently, Rebel, her sister and besties came over for tea, and I had a variety of scones in the freezer ready to pop in the oven. How fun to serve several kinds, and they tasted just as good because they were still baked fresh.
At first I thought freezing scones would make them less delicious. Rebel scoffs when I want to freeze stuff. Turns out scones benefit from time in the freezer. Guess it sets up the little bits of fat longer and helps the scones keep their shape. I found this tip on King Arthur Flour’s website – that if you freeze scones for 15 minutes, they’ll bake up taller than ones you don’t freeze first. So I let scones live in the freezer a month or two, three at most, before they lose their quality. I do make sure to double wrap them so they don’t absorb moisture or those dreaded freezer odors.
Pictured below, left to right, a scone frozen for 15 minutes is taller than one put directly in the oven, and scones are bagged, ready for the freezer.
Our pomegranate, blood orange and crystalized ginger scone idea came to me last fall. I thought about it a long time and finally tried it with great results.
These late fall and wintertime fruits are rich in color, so that adds visual excitement to the scones. I took these photos on a cloudy, late afternoon in winter, and it was such fun photographing a still life. The icing is a natural pink tint from the blood orange juice. Any orange is fine to use in the recipe, but blood oranges are sweeter and have that beautiful, deep color.
Pictured above, left to right, pomegranates and blood oranges, and a pomegranate in full bowl of cold water, cut open and ready for the seeds to be separated.
We like to take a few extra minutes to cut out the scones with different shaped cookie cutters instead of simply cutting them into triangles. Especially if we’re making the scones for a holiday, shower or party, making them miniature or heart-shaped adds to the occasion.
Blood Orange, Pomegranate and Ginger Scones
ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup vegan margarine
- 2 small blood oranges, or 1 medium orange, preferably organic
- 1/2 cup crystallized ginger pieces
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1 cup almond or coconut milk
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- turbinado sugar
instructions:
- Heat oven to 400°
- Seed the pomegranate.
- Wash, dry and peel the blood oranges, being careful to get only the peel and not the white pith. Place the strips of peel in a mini food chopper along with 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Pulse a few times and add all the crystallized ginger. Pulse until combined and finely minced.
- Juice the blood oranges and add half to the nondairy milk. Set aside. Reserve the remaining juice for the icing.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cut in the margarine with a pastry blender until coarse, about the size of peas.
- Stir in the minced zest/crystallized ginger mixture and stir with a fork until evenly combined and clumps are broken up. Stir in the pomegranate seeds, being careful not to break them.
- Stir in the milk until the dough just comes together.
- Turn the dough onto a floured board. Knead 3-4 times. Pat out the dough to 1/2" thickness. Cut into shapes with a 2 1/2" cookie cutter or juice glass. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Lightly whisk egg and brush over tops of the scones. If you’re not going to ice the scones later, you can sprinkle them with turbinado sugar before baking.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes. Enjoy warm from the oven or cool and drizzle with icing (see below). Store leftover scones in an airtight container.
- Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar to the reserved blood orange juice. Add additional sugar to reach a runny icing consistency. With a fork, drizzle a small amount of icing on cooled scones.
NOTES:
Scones freeze well. Reheat un-iced scones in a 350° oven for 5-8 minutes until warm. Make it dairy-full: substitute dairy milk for the almond milk and stir in orange juice, just the same, and use real butter. Before cutting the pomegranate open, immerse it in cold water to prevent juice from getting everywhere.
