House Guests: Recipe

It can't be easy to have guests descend upon your home with their particular ways of doing things and their needs being thrust upon you...but my sister and her family did it with grace and super kindness! My family made a 9 hour trip to see my sister and her family and it was wonderful.

It was so nice to wake up one morning to the sweet smell of scones and freshly brewed coffee. Here's my sister's recipe.

Lisa's Scones
1 1/2 cup flour
3 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. sugar
2 Tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup chilled butter cut into small pieces
1/3 cup dried cranberries
3/4 tsp. lemon zest
2/3 cup whole milk + 1 tsp.
1 Tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425. Mix flour with 3 Tbsp. sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. With your fingers or a pastry cutter, cut-in butter pieces (into the flour) until it resembles course meal. Mix in cranberries. Stir lemon zest into 2/3 cup milk. In the bowl, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into the well and mix quickly with a fork until moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gather together. Knead briefly. Form the dough into a rectangle about 1/2" thick, 4" wide and 8" long. Starting with a short side, fold the dough in half to make a square. Press the dough lightly so that the top adheres to the bottom. Cut the square on the diagonal into quarters (you'll have 4 big triangular scones).

Transfer to ungreased baking sheet, spacing them 2" apart. In a small bowl mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the tops of the scones. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes on the sheet. Serve warm (or let cool on a cooling rack).