Cranberry Scones

If you're a scone lover, you have to give these babies a try. They're made with heavy cream and lemon extract and dried cranberries. And they are good. Oh so good.
The recipe comes from a fun book I'm about a third of the way through: Confections of a Closet Master Baker, a memoir (with recipes) by Gesine Bullock-Prado. You can see her blog here. The author happens to be the sister of actress Sandra Bullock. But more importantly, she's a wonderful baker. She left Hollywood and a job at her sister's production company to start up her own bakery in Vermont. And I, for one, am glad she did. Because if she hadn't, I wouldn't have this scone recipe.

And I'm reeeeeally glad I have this scone recipe.

CREAM SCONES (with dried cranberries)

1/2 c. heavy cream, plus an extra T. or two for brushing the scones
1 egg
1 t. lemon extract
3 T. sugar, plus another couple t. for sprinkling over the scones
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1T. baking powder
6 T. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits (I used salted)
1/2 c. dried cranberries

In small bowl, combine cream, egg, lemon extract, and 3 T. sugar. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Drop the butter into the flour mixture and use your fingers (I used a pastry blender) to work in the butter, until your mixtures is the texture of coarse meal. Stir in the cream mixture and the cranberries with a fork, stirring only until a sticky dough will hold together. Knead gently for about 30 seconds on a floured surface. Pat into a 1/2-inch thick circle.

At this point, the author uses a 1 1/2-inch fluted cutter to make scones. I decided to cut mine into wedges instead.

Place scones on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with cream, then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake on the center rack at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until golden. (I baked mine for 15.)

Now the question of the day: Do you have a favorite kind of scone? And what do you think: glaze or no glaze?