Cheater Sweetheart Scones

I started a new part-time job this month. A dream job, really. I was invited to join the creative team in the test kitchen of my favorite spice purveyor, Savory Spice Shop.  I still can’t believe I get to wake up in the morning and go grocery shopping (one of my favorite pastimes) for a list of interesting recipes, cook with amazing spices all day, work with a photographer to shoot what I’m cooking, and then write about what I made. Seriously, it’s a dream job.

The downside, however, is that I come home from these test kitchen days exhausted and not really in the mood to start cooking again. I’m sure the exhaustion will fade soon and turn into a normal routine. But in the meantime, I’ve cheated a bit on this tea foodie recipe post.

It’s a super easy and super cute idea: Take your favorite packaged scone mix, fold in some lovely red-colored fruit relish, preserves or sweetened mashed up fruit bits (fresh or dried), and use a cookie cutter to make a batch of heart-shaped scones. Then give your sweetheart scones away to the ones you love on Valentine’s Day—paired with a package of your favorite tea, of course.

For this batch, I used a tasty new cream scone mix from the nonprofit Women’s Bean Project, made in collaboration with the Denver Tea Room. It’s a delicious scone mix that tastes even better knowing I’m supporting an organization that puts homeless women to work, teaching them job skills and empowering them to break the cycle of poverty.

I also used an outstanding Cranberry-Ginger Relish recipe that I got to make in the Savory Spice Shop test kitchen recently. Try it; you’ll love it not only in these scones, but also on sandwiches, cheese and crackers, or atop a piece of grilled fish or meat. Oh, and it’s incredibly easy to make.

Happy cooking and sipping!

Cheater Sweetheart Scones

(By Zanitea)

Makes about 12 scones

Ingredients:

1 plain-flavored packaged scone mix (I used Women’s Bean Project Cream Scone Mix)

½ cup red-colored fruit relish, preserves, or fresh or dried fruit pieces (I used the Cranberry-Ginger Relish recipe from Savory Spice Shop)

Preparation:

1. Prepare the scone mix according to the package directions. Before you roll out the dough, fold in your choice of red fruit.

2. Once you have your red fruit thoroughly mixed into your dough, roll out the dough on a floured surface until it’s about ½-inch thick. Use a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out your scones. Place scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake according to package instructions.

Tips:

• Here are some red fruit suggestions: Sweet cranberry or cherry relish; finely chopped fresh cranberries, raspberries or strawberries (add a decent amount of sugar to the fresh fruit to sweeten it before you add it to the scone dough); any type of red fruit jam or preserves; or any dried red fruit, such as cranberries, strawberries or cherries.
• The scones puff up pretty good in the oven, so it’s a good idea to push the heart indentation at the top of the scone as far down as you can to overemphasize the heart shape, otherwise it might get lost in baking and look like a blob scone instead of a heart scone.

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