The Best Blueberry Scones

To be honest, when I picked out this recipe I didn't expect to find the best of anything! It was a late night after a long day at work, but I wanted to bring a treat to work the next morning as a thank you to my fantastic mentors/coworkers for this past month at my clinical internship. There are fresh blueberries galore in the house, and they clearly had to make a cameo in whatever I put together.

Scones are one of the most delicious additions to breakfast or afternoon coffee, and I've played around with a lot of different recipes and techniques with varied success. But of any of those, this recipe is by far the easiest and most delicious! Light and buttery crumb with a golden edge, balanced with sweet bursts of berries, you won't be able to stop at one. Lucky for you, they're easy enough to whip up any night of the week!


Note: I decided to make these as "drop scones," meaning you don't have to roll them out and cut them - just drop the dough onto the baking sheet! It's a bit of extra work and a lot more flour all over the kitchen to follow the original recipe, but if you're not one for shortcuts I'm sure it would be just as delicious.


Blueberry Scones

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Makes about 9 scones

2 C all-purpose flour

1/3 C granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into pieces

1 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C buttermilk (homemade: 1/2 C milk with 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar)

Raw turbinado sugar (for topping)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend butter into flour mixture using pastry cutter or forks, until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Gently fold in blueberries. Add beaten egg, vanilla and milk and gently mix until just blended. 

Drop about 1/3 C of dough for each scone spaced evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of each scone if desired. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until scones are just golden. Let cool before enjoying.

Two in one

I have always loved scones, and I love them even more with Devonshire cream, jam or lemon curd copiously spread over every single bite. Shockingly, I've been straying away from chocolate and embarking on a bit of a lemon kick lately - so I decided to see if the scone and the spread could in fact be united in one delicious package!

Scones are scones because they have very few ingredients that interact in just the right way to get just the right texture. Adding an additional ingredient, especially one like lemon curd, is bound to change the texture. Luckily, the new combination is DELICIOUS (in its own way) and the only major changes were a bit denser texture and almost no rising of the scone. I hesitate to call this a scone; as I was munching on my third of the morning I was compelled to describe it more as a light, crumbly biscuit. Whatever. If you love lemon and a light little bite to start (or end) your day, these are for you! Super easy, super yummy and one of those soul-restoring goodies that I love to have in my repertoire.

Lemon Curd Scones
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Makes 10-12 scones


2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C heavy cream
1/3 C lemon curd
Raw sugar


Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Blend butter into dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or forks until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Mix together egg, vanilla, cream and lemon curd in a separate bowl, then gradually add to dough. Blend just until combined - don't overmix!

Knead gently a few times and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds using a cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, then transfer onto prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with cream and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until tops are lightly golden brown.

It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

There is nothing that makes me happier than baking during the holiday season. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I'm officially in baking overdrive (and by default eating overdrive). To me, Christmas can be defined by two things - cranberries and gingerbread. I never see these ingredients used outside of winter baking, so obviously I look to them first when I start the marathon of December baking. I found this recipe and instantly knew I was going to bake - and love - it. The end product blew me away with its combination of sweet, spicy and tart, and it is like a little bit of Christmas in every bite.
I substituted fresh frozen cranberries for dried, and loved the result. As for the rest, I stuck to the recipe   - honestly, I wouldn't change a thing! I can't say enough good things about this recipe, and it's definitely going in my repertoire for future baking :)


Gingerbread Scones with Maple Glaze
Adapted from The Noshery
Makes 8 scones


1 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 C old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 C packed light brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 C dried cranberries
1/2 C buttermilk
2 1/2 Tbsp unsulphured molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract


Glaze:
1/2 C sifted confectioners sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp unsulphured molassas
1 – 2 tsp milk


Directions: In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together, flour, oats, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until it looks crumbly. Stir in cranberries and lemon zest. In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, molasses and vanilla. With the dough hook attachment, slowly mix the flour/butter mixture and gradually add buttermilk mixture. Mix until just combined and begins to form a ball. 

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead dough gently about four or five times and form into a large ball. Push the dough down and form into a large circle about 7 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the circle in half and cut each half into 4 even slices. Place scones on baking sheet.

Place baking sheet into another baking sheet to keep the scones bottoms from over browning.  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Transfer to cooking rack when done.

For the glaze, combine all ingredients. Add more milk as necessary (start with 1 tsp) to get your desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled scones and let dry. 

Good morning Los Altos!

It's always a good morning when you start with a scone. And coffee, but that goes without saying. Adding something sweet to your breakfast is not the most healthful choice but I say that if it's homemade, it doesn't have calories... I absolutely love scones, and there are a few basic recipe bases that you'll find out there. All of them use basically the same proportions of white flour, baking powder, salt and butter, but the differences lie in the form of dairy - milk, buttermilk, cream or even sour cream. I think that unfortunately the heavier the ingredient the better, so although I haven't tried it, I imagine cream is the best. I made these with homemade low fat buttermilk (lemon juice in milk), and they are definitely delicious and a little less guilt-inducing.
When you attempt these, make sure the butter is super cold and DON'T blend it past the size of small peas. You don't want it to be a uniform dough, it will screw up the texture and make the scones tough. Also, this basic recipe can be modified to fit any taste. Add cinnamon or nutmeg, take out or add in more lemon, exchange cranberries or chocolate chips for blueberries, whatever your heart desires! I wanted to try adding granola to the dry ingredients, and I don't know how much of a difference it made in the amount I added.

Also, scones can manifest themselves in a few different forms such as rolled and cut into circles (the classic British way), sliced into wedges or dropped like cookie dough. The drop scones are super easy and don't require rolling out, so if you're lazy like me and/or don't have the space to cover with flour and dough, I highly recommend that strategy!

I used a cup of incredibly fresh, huge, juicy blueberries and there's really no substitute for their tart sweetness that explodes (literally) with each bite. Dried fruit like raisins is another popular add-in, but you lose the fresh flavor and texture. However, frozen blueberries are just as good - one approach that saves my life in winter time is freezing a quart of fresh blueberries from summer. They taste just as good as they did in July!

Blueberry Granola Scones
Adapted from Feasts and Fotos
Makes about 12 medium-sized drop scones

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 C granola (optional)

1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 C fresh blueberries

zest of one small lemon

1/2 C buttermilk (or 1/2 C milk with 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice - let sit for 5 minutes at room temp)

1 egg (plus 1 egg lightly beaten for optional egg wash)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

raw sugar for sprinkling

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pulse flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture has the texture of coarse meal and still has pea-sized granules. Pour from food processor into large mixing bowl, then stir in blueberries and granola.

In another bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg , lemon zest and vanilla.  Drizzle over flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork (or knead lightly) until the dough comes together but a small amount of flour remains in bowl.  It’s important to not overwork the dough.

If you want to roll out and cut your scones, turn out dough onto work surface and gently knead once or twice just to incorporate the flour.  Pat the dough into a 1-inch thick round.  Cut the round into approximately 10-12 wedges or cut with a round cookie cutter.  Transfer to baking sheet. If you want drop scones, treat the dough like cookies and place a large spoonful on the parchment for each scone.

If you want, brush the top of each scone with egg wash. Sprinkle generously with raw sugar.  Bake until golden brown and cooked through, roughly 25 minutes.  Transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.