Orange Raspberry Scones

A SWEET THING FOR BRUNCHIt's hard not to see the colors of Spring every time my head turns in April. In fact, instead of avoiding it,  I've decided to embrace it more than ever this year; I went out and bought myself a fitted Peplum dress varnished in pink, orange, and teal flowers.  It's one of the brightest things hanging in my closet after a bleak winter filled with dark, solid turtlenecks.  I'm so ready for this change, and all this enthusiasm has obviously spilled over into my baking project for the weekend.  I'm sticking to this resplendent and inspiring color palette with sunlit raspberries and lots of citrusy orange zest.

For some reason, whenever I think of scones, I think of Ina Garten cooking in her glorious kitchen out in the Hamptons.  There's just so much white sunlight bursting through the windows of her abundantly stocked, modern kitchen.  I only dream of cooking in a replica, baking fancy brunch food like scones, and tart lemon bars all day long.  So dreamy.

Here's how to make these

Orange Raspberry Scones

:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of AP flour (plus extra for dusting)

• 1/2 cup of sugar plus more for sprinkling

• 2 and 1/2 tsp of baking soda

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 8 tablespoon (1 stick) of very cold unsalted butter

• 3/4 cups of half and half plus 1 tablespoon for brushing

• 1 tbsp of lemon juice

• 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries

For the Orange Glaze:

• 4 large Navel oranges

• 2 tablespoon of orange zest

• 1/2 cup of sugar

• 1/4 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put 2 cups of AP flour in a bowl with 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 and 1/2 tsp of baking soda, and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cut in 8 tablespoon of unsalted butter until it's all mixed together, and the butter is the size of peas.

Like this..

Now for the fun part. Hand mixing!

Form the dough into a ball. Don't overwork the dough though.

Transfer the ball to a floured surface. Roll the dough out to a 1/3 inch thickness, and cut the edges so you have a nice rectangular shape.

Add frozen raspberries to 2/3 of the rectangle, leaving 1/3 of the upper part of the dough untouched.  Fold over the part of the dough with no raspberries onto half of the dough with raspberries.  And then fold it over a final time.

Cut the dough in half, cut the halves in half, and cut those halves into triangles.  Brush the tops with the tablespoon of  half and half, sprinkle them with the granulated sugar, and bake them until they're puffed and golden brown.

To make Orange Glaze:

Zest the oranges, remove all their skin (and whites) with a paring knife, and cook in a pot with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water.  Add 2 tbsp of the zest to the pot while it's boiling and turn the heat down.  Once reduced to a syrup, strain the liquid to remove the extra pulp.

Add the warm orange syrup to 1 cup of powdered sugar.