I’m smitten with a lowly flour.

It all started last year with a trip to upstate New York. I went to the teeny-tiny, mill town of Penn Yan. It was quaint. But what do you do in a mill town except buy flours and grain? Not a whole lot. So, I filled the trunk of my car with stone-ground polenta, finely milled pastry flour, groats, and buckwheat flour.

The buckwheat flour was excellent, nutty, chewy, and somehow fluffy. I made filling buttermilk pancakes and delicate crepes– enjoying every mouthful. A few months after my trip, my supply quickly diminishing, a dear, like-minded friend moved away.  He left behind a cache of baking ingredients for me. As I was unpacking my new muscavado sugar, whole wheat pastry flour, and vanilla paste, I found his supply of buckwheat flour. Great minds and hungry bellies think alike!

With my supply replenished without a trip to the health food store, I decided to mix things up a bit. Venturing away from the griddle, I made Buckwheat Cranberry-Walnut Scones. These scones gives the air of being healthy, but not obviously so. They are sturdy yet buttery, nutty from both the walnuts and the buckwheat flour, seasonal, from the cranberries, and meltingly tender.

See why I’m smitten? I guess it doesn’t take much for me. I have already started to think of different ways to incorporate this flour into the repertory. Let me know if there’s a way that you use buckwheat flour.

These scones just may be ascetic enough to make during your post-Thanksgiving weekend next week. Gobble, gobble!

Buckwheat Cranberry-Walnut Scones

1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup walnuts
1/3 cup cranberries

In a small bowl, whisk egg, milk, and cream and set aside.

In a medium size bowl, whisk both flours, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add the butter. With your hands work the butter into the flour mixture creating a coarse meal. Add the walnuts and the cranberries, tossing until well-incorporated. Pour in the milk mixture. With a rubber spatula or your hands, but the mixture will be sticky, work minimally into a loose dough. Gather the dough into a ball, and knead it about 5 times in the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured counter, and with floured hands, gently pat into an 8 or 9 inch square. Cut the dough into 9 scones, making 3 horizontal and vertical cuts. Place each scone on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Place pan in the refrigerator and let the scones rest while oven is preheating, about 15 minutes.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cool on a rack and then serve warm or room temperature.