Cranberry Orange Scones

These cranberry orange scones beg for a pat of butter when still warm from the oven... and are perfect with a cup of tea. They made an appearance during a recent British themed evening we hosted to celebrate the return of BBC's Sherlock (go watch it if you haven't. Really, I'll wait till you get back.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups (500 ml) of all purpose flour 
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) baking powder 
• 1 tsp. (5 ml) salt 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) cold unsalted butter, diced 
• 2/3 cup (175 ml) buttermilk 
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) Grand Marnier
• 1/3 cup (75 ml) chopped dried cranberries 
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) grated orange rind

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F (200C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat sheet
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt 
3. Add the butter and chop with a pastry cutter until the dough takes on a chunky texture 
4. Add the buttermilk and Grand Marnier, and combine gently without disturbing the chunky texture
5. Gently cut in the cranberries and grated orange rind
6. Place the dough on a lightly floured cutting board or clean counter, and roll out to roughly 3/4 inch height
7. If you want to be official, use a biscuit cutter, the rim of a glass, or any other round shaped object to cut the dough into scones, and transfer them to the baking sheet. 
8. Gather any scraps together to make the last few scones. Heck, if we're hand forming scones here, why not skip the "biscuit cutter" altogether and just do them all by hand? Much more rustic that way (but beware: your hands will be very sticky by the end... keep extra flour on hand!)
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes

Bonus: brush the scones with butter and sprinkle large grain sugar on top at roughly the 10 minute mark... you'll get a slightly crunchy, sweet crust on top with a golden-brown glaze!