Blueberry Scones

Why Blueberry Scones? Woke up today with a full schedule… a good one, but lots to do. Company was coming, so it was a “hurry up! wedge that stuff into the closet and slam the door!” kind of morning (my sister-in-law is not a closet snooper… so we felt confident in our cleaning process).

I wanted to start a day baking something warm and yummy breakfast…. something that could be put together quickly, tasted great, and involved fresh fruit. …

Blueberry Scones were perfect. Blueberry scones are simple to make, sweet (but not too sweet) to eat, and loaded with fresh Blueberries (anti-oxidents are good for you). And with a cup of Peet’s finest for me and cocoa for the kids… we were ready to face the day.

This Easy Blueberry Scones Recipe can be put together in less than 10 minutes… and will be on your table 30 minutes later (really hot though! maybe wait another 10…)

I used Fresh Blueberries (especially now when they are in season), but you can use Frozen. The tops of the scones are sprinkled with Turbinado Sugar, which is a heavy grained sugar that has a bit of a molasses taste to it… you might know it as Sugar in the Raw. It comes in those little brown paper packets at Starbucks (no, I’m not suggesting that you take a few extra sugar packets from Starbucks to top your scones…umm… that would be wrong.)

My secret to great scones? I keep a stick of butter in the freezer. You see…. scone dough needs to be kept cold, and handled only minimally… if you grate frozen butter into the flour, you give yourself an edge. Rub the frozen butter shreds into the flour, then fold in the liquid. Add Fruit. Pat the dough into a disk, cut and bake.

Scones are about technique, so if you are still unsure, you can check out my step-by-step directions…. or go Skype your Scottish Grandma…. Don’t worry, these are easy, and so good you might even impress that Scottish grandmother of yours!

Blueberry Scone Recipe

Makes 8 Wedges (or more, depending on how you cut it)

Prep Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes (plus a bit of cooling time)

Ingredients

2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Granulated Sugar

1 1/2 Tbl. Baking Powder

1/4 cup Frozen Butter

1 Egg

1/2 cup Milk

3/4 cup Blueberries -fresh or frozen

2 to 3 tsp Turbinado Sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take out a medium bowl… put in the Flour, Baking Powder and Sugar, and whisk them together.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the Egg and Milk.

Rinse the Blueberries and set them aside (if they are frozen… just set them aside, if you wash them, they will freeze into a solid lump of blueberry, which can be fun, but it’s useless for scones).

Get your butter out of the freezer (you did store some there, didn’t you?) and grate it. Put the grated butter into the flour (if you can grate it over the flour… bonus points for you).

Using your fingertips, rub the butter and flour together a bit to mix it. Don’t overdo this… just a bit. Keep your palms out of the flour.

Make a well in the flour… pour in the egg and milk mixture.

Using a spatula, fold the ingredients. (Fold is where you scrape down the side of the bowl, and then bring it up through the middle of the ingredients. Rotate the bowl, repeat, rotate, repeat… until the ingredients are almost all mixed up.)You aren’t looking to blend everything together… you want it combined but still a bit dry looking.

Add the Blueberries… carefully fold to combine… just a few turns.

Now… Lay a sheet of Parchment Paper on the counter.

Dump the scone dough onto the parchment paper. Using the corners of the paper… shape and pat the dough into a disk shape. You want to touch this dough as little as possible with bare hands.

Flatten the paper back out.

Cut the disk into 8 wedges…. you can separate the wedges a bit if you like that crunchy “edge” part of the scone. My daughter doesn’t, so I tend to leave the wedges together is disk form… totally up to you.

Sprinkle with a few spoonfuls of turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) or regular table sugar if that’s all you have.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes

Take out of the oven… wait a bit for it to cool (a burnt mouth is no fun… wrecks the whole day)

Eat!

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS WITH PHOTOS

Whisk the Flour, Sugar and Baking Powder in a Bowl

Grate the Butter Into the Flour

Use Your Fingertips to Rub the Flour and Butter Together a Bit

See the Flour… See how the Butter Still Shows a Bit….But it’s Combined

Whisk Together the Egg and Milk .. Pour the Liquid Into the Center of the Flour Mixture

Fold the Wet and Dry Together

Fold- Scrape the spatula down the side of the bowl, and up through the middle…. then rotate the bowl and repeat… then repeat… then repeat. Until it’s mostly combined.

Add the Blueberries

See How the Dough is only MOSTLY Mixed… so it’s still partially unmixed… Now… if you are using Frozen Blueberries, you might turn your dough a bit blue. I personally think this looks neat… so don’t panic. (go listen to George Carlin’s riff on Blue Food… he was wrong… Blueberries might be purple, but they make scones blue).

After Folding the Berries Into the Dough… Dump it onto the Parchment Paper

Use the Parchment Paper to Help You Shape the Dough into a Disk

Cut the Disk to Wedges

You can Pull the Wedges Apart if You like Edge Pieces

Sprinkle With Sugar

Then BAKE

YUM!!!! Baked Blueberry Scones!

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