Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Lemon Blueberry Scones

This was a first for me.  I've never made scones, nor would I consider myself a fan of scones.  If I'm going to get something for breakfast it's usually a muffin, pancakes, eggs, or lately mainly French toast.  I saw this recipe from Dorie Greenspan and thought it sounded delicious. So, I gave it a go, and figured the worst that could happen is I try them and throw them out.. or pick the blueberries out and eat those!  I was pleasantly surprised.  When I think of scones I think of a hard dough, and these were soft and fluffy.  The lemon and blueberry flavors together are awesome.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Beat egg, buttermilk and lemon zest together and set aside.  In a separate bowl beat one egg with one teaspoon of water and set aside for egg wash.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.  Add butter and using a fork, or your fingers (which is what I did) cut into the flour until you have a pebbly mixture the size of peas.
Pour egg and cream into the flour mixture and stir to combine with a spatula.   
Very gently fold the blueberries into the dough, be careful not to crush them.  This proved the hardest part of the recipe for me.  As I've said before I'm very messy and usually don't take my time, so not getting blueberries everywhere was a little tough.  Be patient and gentle and you should be fine.  
When the mixture is totally incorporated, pat the dough onto a floured surface until it's around one inch thick.  Using a biscuit butter, or in my case a pizza cutter (gotta make do with what you have!) cut out circles, or into slices.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, then sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until nicely browned.  Serve immediately.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
I served them warm with a fruit salad.  It was a very beautifully colored plate, as you can see!  I really enjoyed the scones and will be trying some different things with the recipe.  The fruit in them gave them extra flavor and really sparked me to think of the many ways I could make these.. more to come on that :)  Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Scones
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
2 eggs
1 teaspoon water
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of two large lemons
1/2 pint fresh blueberries
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Beat one egg with one teaspoon of water for the egg wash, set aside.
Beat buttermilk, one egg and lemon zest together and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. 
Add the butter and using a fork or your hands cut the butter into the flour until you have a pebbly mixture.
Pour the egg and cream mixture into the flour and stir to combine.
Very gently fold in the blueberries.
When totally combined roll dough out on a floured surface until around one inch thick.
Using a biscuit cutter cut our circles.  You can also cut out triangles (like I did) or squares.
Brush tops of the scones with egg wash, then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until nicely browned.

3 comments:

  1. Your lemon blackberry combo looks so delicious. Fluffy scones are the best in my opinion. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your scones up. Feel free to link up other sweet treats from this week as well. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweets-for-saturday-15.html

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  2. TAB - Thank you! Great breakfast if you ever want to try them :)

    Lisa - I added a couple links, I appreciate you letting me know so I could include my posts! Thank you for stopping by, I hope you continue to read!

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