Cranberry and stem ginger buttermilk scones

A festive take on one of my favourite tea time treats, and a little lighter than some of the richer fare around at this celebratory time of the year. Dried cranberries for their sweet tartness and ginger for warmth during the cold part of the year.
Still perfect with butter, but even better with butter and ginger preserve!

Cranberry and stem ginger scones
Ingredients
225g self raising flour
55g butter
25g golden caster sugar
50g cranberries
3 balls of crystallised stem ginger in syrup (about 40g), chopped
150ml/g buttermilk

Method
- Preheat the oven to gas 6 1/2 ish (about 210C). Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Rub the butter into the flour until it forms a breadcrumb type texture.
- Stir in the sugar, cranberries and chopped ginger, trying to break up the ginger as it tends to stick together.
- Add the buttermilk and bring together into a soft dough.
- Tip onto a work surface and pat out to a fairly thick blob. (Around 1 1/2" high)
- Cut out scones (I used a 2" cutter and got about a dozen little scones), reforming the dough as necessary. Dust with flour.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Best enjoyed the same day, freeze any leftovers. Fabulous warmed in the oven or microwave - I'd really recommend warming them up - the ginger flavour seems to be magnified and infuse the whole scone with warmth! These are light and tasty morsels - helped by the use of buttermilk the crumb is really tender and just delicious. (No comments from colleagues - scones are one of the treats I make exclusively for my own enjoyment!)