There are so many things I love about these scones.
- I just love scones in general.
- Blueberries and lemon are a match made in heaven.
- They’re one of the fastest baked goods you can make and are easy to pull together quickly for breakfast if you have all the ingredients on hand.
- Blueberries are in abundance right now and it’s a great way to use fresh blueberries (though you can also use frozen berries – but use them frozen and don’t thaw before adding).
I love blueberries. When I was a child, my family would spend hours picking wild blueberries in northwestern Ontario, where we had a cottage. We didn’t have an oven, so this wasn’t something we could make while we were out there, but we would bring buckets of blueberries back to the cottage, wash and dry them, and freeze them for later use. If we had an oven (and more than one electrical outlet in the whole cottage so we could plug it in) I’m sure these would have been on the breakfast table at least once a week. If blueberries aren’t your thing, you can substitute a different berry.
When I used to make scones, I’d cut the cold butter into small chunks and then gently work them into the dry ingredients before adding the liquid. One of my favorite tricks now, is to use the largest holes on a box grater to grate the butter before adding it. It’s much easier and quicker to work the cold shredded butter into the dry ingredients and it helps keep the butter cold.
These are best eaten the day they’re baked, but I have frozen them without the glaze. Thawed and warmed up a little in the toaster oven, they are still delicious. The glaze is optional and the scones are great without it. But for an extra punch of lemon, it’s a great addition.
Lemon Blueberry Scones
A quick sweet bread that's easy to prepare and delicious. Lemon and bluberries are a great combination and work so well together in this recipe. These are best served warm, the day they're made, but you can keep them in an air-tight container on the counter for up to two days.
Ingredients
- 10 oz / 280 grams all-purpose flour (2 cups)
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 oz / 56 grams granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
- lemon zest from one lemon, finely grated
- 4 oz / 112 grams cold butter, grated
- 6 oz / 170 grams bluberries (1 cup)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup whipping cream plus 2 Tbsp. for brushing the top of the scones
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 4 oz / 112 grams confectioner’s sugar (1 cup)
- 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Glaze:
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF / 190°C.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and lemon zest together.
- Add the butter and working quickly, use a fork to coat the butter in the flour and press the butter into the flour against the side of the bowl,until the butter is all pea-sized or slightly smaller pieces, but not completely incorporated into the flour.
- Add the blueberries and stir through.
- In a measuring cup, whisk the lemon juice, 1/2 cup of whipping cream, egg and vanilla together. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and use the fork to mix until the dough just comes together. There will probably be some crumbs that don’t completely combine with the rest of the mixture and that’s fine.
- Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and gather the dough together, folding over once or twice to bring everything together and pat into a rectangle, approximately 1-inch thick.
- Cut the dough into 12 pieces — I cut these into squares, but you can do rectangles or triangles or use a biscuit cutter to cut into circles. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the extra 2 Tbsp. of whipping cream.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the scones are puffed up and golden brown.
- You can serve these immediately, or add the glaze before serving.
- For the glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar with 2 Tbsp. of fresh lemon juice until smooth. Spoon some of the glaze on top of each scone and serve while still warm.
Pam's Kitchen 