CHOCOLATE CHIP CRANBERRY SCONES: National Chocolate Chip Day

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day. I always have a few bags of chocolate chips in the pantry - milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and dark. The obvious post for today's holiday would be Chocolate Chip Cookies, but since I'm a big fan of scones, I thought I'd post this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cranberry Scones. Scones are not biscuits, and they're not cupcakes... they're something in-between. It's all about the batter. And, American scones use more butter than British scones. Just an FYI. I tend to make my scones not as sweet as most. So for today's post here's a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cranberry Scones. I'm pretty sure I adapted this recipe from one on the Recchiuti blog, but can't seem to find a link. I've made these a few times, and they're easy and delicious. You can also substitute dried cherries in this recipe, just leave out the orange zest. I serve my scones with clotted cream or unsalted butter..and sometimes a little jam. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE CHIP CRANBERRY SCONES

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1 extra large egg
1Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 Tbsp granulated cane sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp orange zest, about 2 oranges
1 cup unsalted butter, very cold and cubed
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (used for brushing tops of scones)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line bottoms of two 12-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper.
Combine buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract in medium bowl and whisk by hand until well mixed.
Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add sugar, salt, and orange zest. Beat on low speed until combined.
Carefully add cold butter and beat on medium speed until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Switch mixer to low speed. Add liquid mixture and beat until just combined.
Turn mixer off. Add cranberries and chocolate chips. Pulse until just incorporated. Do not over-mix.
Turn out onto lightly floured work surface, and press into flat square about 1 inch thick. Cut into 2-inch squares and place on prepared pans, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Brush surface with heavy whipping cream. Bake on middle shelves of oven until tops are golden and have some spring when pressed with finger, about 20 minutes.
Serve warm or let cool on pans on wire racks.