Blueberry Lemon Scones

Soft, tender scones bursting with blueberries and lemon zest.

This past weekend my husband and I went down to Universal Studios and we stopped at a coffee shop to grab breakfast before we went to the park. I ordered a blueberry scone with my coffee and was so disappointed. It was one of the worst scones I've ever had. It had no sweetness to it, almost as if they had forgotten to add sugar, and it tasted like baking powder. Not only that, but the texture was awful! You could tell the dough had been worked too much and so it felt tough and rubbery. This morning I had to make up for that sorry excuse of a scone I had and make my own scones. The scones I make are anything but bland, and most definitely not rubbery in texture.

Just like with pie crust, you want to use cold fats and you don't want to overwork the dough. The cold fats we're using here are the butter and heavy cream. To avoid overworking the dough, you mix until almost just combined before turning the dough out onto the counter. Once the dough is on the counter you gently fold it over two or three times before forming a disc to cut the triangles from. 

The blueberries and lemon zest add a little tartness to balance out the sweetness in the scones. You can brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle turbinado sugar crystals before baking for an added crunch, or you can dress them up with a simple glaze after they've baked and cooled.

This recipe makes 8 scones. Lately I've been halving it and making just 4, but when I took a poll on Instagram everyone wanted the recipe for 8 instead of 4. If you would like to half this, just use an egg yolk instead of 1 whole egg, and then divide everything else in half. Enjoy!

If you'd like to see me make these scones, head on over to my Instagram page where I have a story saved to my highlights of me making these!

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Blueberry Lemon Scones

by Julia Alvarez June-18-2018

Simple and classic scones. Tender and bursting with blueberries and lemon zest.

Ingredients

for the scones:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 tea. salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed or grated
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 T lemon zest

for the glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 tea. vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Cut the cold butter cubes into the flour with a fork or your fingers, making sure not to warm the butter up too much. Aim for chunks no larger than the size of peas. If you grated the butter, there is no need to cut it into smaller chunks, just stir it in.

Mix in lemon zest and blueberries.

In a small bowl, whisk cream and the egg.

Gently stir cream mixture into the large bowl until just combined. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and gently pat the dough down with your fingertips.

Fold the dough over itself and pat down. Repeat 2-3 times. Be careful not to handle the dough too much or it will cause the scones to be tough and hard.

Form into a flat round and cut into 8 even triangles with a sharp knife or bench scraper.

Place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush scones with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown and puffed up. Let cool.

To make the glaze, add the lemon juice and vanilla to the powdered sugar in a bowl and combine. To thin it out, add more lemon juice. To thicken it, add more powdered sugar. Drizzle over scones once cooled.

Details

Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 35 min Yield: 8 scones