Breakfast

Mornings have just gotten better with these Blueberry Lemon Scones. They are made with tangy buttermilk, scented with grated lemon peel and drizzled with a lemony glaze.

Several months ago my daughter gifted me with a Ricardo Magazine subscription. The English edition (much anticipated by moi) launched last September and is packed full of gorgeous photography, mouth watering recipes, plus tips and tricks to help new beginners in the kitchen.

For those not familiar with Ricardo Magazine, it is Canada’s one and only National Food Magazine. A treasure trove of recipes for all foodies, whether you are a seasoned cook or just beginning, you are bound to find some inspiring meal ideas.

Glancing through the magazine, what caught my eye was not the Strawberry and Lemon Cake that graced the front cover nor the Hot Fudge Sundae with Caramel Popcorn (although I may try the latter next), but rather these heavenly buttermilk Blueberry Scones.

I was flipping through the magazine while waiting for my dad who was undergoing a PET Scan at a local hospital as I noticed this little old lady sitting next to me edging ever so slightly closer with every turn of the page. When I happened across these blueberry scones, my magazine was practically in her hands. She laughingly asked if I would not mind writing down the recipe for her. Contemplating a response, I very dubiously replied, “do you by any chance have a cell phone with a camera?”. “Yes”, she replied sheepishly, “but I don’t know how to use it”.  “No problem”, I said to her, “I just happen to love taking pictures of food, let me help you out.” 🙂

Scones come in a wide variety of shapes and unlike other recipes where the blueberries are mixed in with the scone batter, here the blueberries are rolled delicately into the dough. These scones are crispy around the edges and have a soft, dense interior bursting with the sweetness of the blueberries.

What I did differently, merely as a personnel preference, is I added lemon zest to the batter and drizzled the scones with a tangy lemon glaze. They are so insanely delicious and will have you doing the happy dance in your kitchen! 🙂 Warning though, they are extremely addictive.

Tip: They are best served immediately, however, they can be frozen for about a month. Simply thaw and reheat in a 350* oven for about 10 minutes. As an added note to save on time in the morning, combine all the dry ingredients with the frozen grated butter in a bowl and keep this mixture in your freezer. In the morning remove the mixture from the freezer and continue on with the recipe.

I tested the recipe using cold butter and another time with grated frozen butter and I have to say I prefer the frozen butter. It simply rendered the scones more airy on the inside but both ways were delicious!

Making the Blueberry Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp  baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
•  lemon zest (from 1 medium lemon)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 tbsp coarse sugar
• Lemon Glaze:
• 1 cup icing sugar
•  freshly squeezed lemon juice (from one medium lemon)

Preheat the oven to 425F (210C).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and grated lemon peel.

Grate the frozen butter and toss it into the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to work in the butter just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in one cup of buttermilk. With a rubber spatula, gently toss together the mixture just until it appears moistened.

Turn out the dough on a floured surface. Dust a rolling pin with flour and roll out your dough into a 16 inch square. Scatter the blueberries over the dough.

Dust your hands with flour and start rolling the dough into a long cylinder. Use a pastry cutter to help loosen the dough from the work surface if needed. Once your dough is completely rolled out, press it slightly down to a thickness of about 1 and 1/4 inches while maintaining 16 inches in length.

Next, cut the dough into 7 equal rectangles and then cut each rectangle diagonally in half to form a triangle.

Place 7 triangle pieces onto each prepared baking sheet. Brush each scone with the remaining buttermilk and sprinkle generously with the coarse sugar.

Bake one sheet at a time, with the rack on the highest position, for 18 minutes or until the blueberry lemon scones are a gorgeous golden brown. 🙂 Let cool.

Just before serving, whisk together the icing sugar and the juice of one lemon. Here is where you can adapt the icing according to your taste. If you prefer a thicker lemon icing simply add more sugar, when ready drizzle lightly over the blueberry lemon scones. Heavenly 🙂

The end pieces puffed up a little higher because the blueberries mostly centered in the middle when rolling. Next time I will spread them out much more towards the edges of the dough. However, it mostly certainly did not take away from the taste of these addictive scones.  Yields 14 scones.