Scones are the typical coffee shop pastry item. They are crumbly, fruity and just so delicious. However, at about $2/each, I really wanted to see if I could make coffee shop quality scones on my own. I’ve tried making scones before, but they always ended up cakey and not quite the texture I desired in a scone. This time, though, I think I found my recipe.
I will admit, the directions, especially for rolling the dough, sound completely ridiculous, but I almost always follow a baking recipe exactly the first time I make it, so that I can give a proper critique of it. It’s a pet peeve of mine to go to a recipe site and see that a recipe has 3 stars because people made 4-5 substitutions that didn’t work. It’s fairly stupid, in my opinion, since those substitutions were the reviewer’s doing and had nothing to do with the original recipe.
Anyway, this recipe is really good. The only thing I will change next time is subbing dried blueberries for fresh. I didn’t really like having fresh blueberries in it, because as much as I love blueberries, the random bursts of juice from the berries just were not expected or desired much in this recipe.
Blueberry Scones
Source: Cooks Illustrated (Annie’s Eats‘ adaptation)Ingredients:
- 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen whole
- 1½ cups (7½ oz.) fresh blueberries
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 cups (10 oz.) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
- ½ cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
Directions:
- Adjust an oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425˚ F. Grate the frozen butter on the holes of a large box grater. (I like to use my food processor for this – fast and easy.) Place the blueberries in the freezer until needed.
- Whisk together the milk and sour cream in a medium bowl; refrigerate until needed. Combine the flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the grated butter to the flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.
- Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula just until combined. Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour, and knead with well floured hands, 6-8 times, just until the dough holds together in a ragged ball. Add small amounts of flour as needed to prevent sticking.
- Roll the dough into a 12-inch square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter (a dough scraper really helps with these steps). Fold the short ends of the dough into the center in thirds, to form an approximate 4-inch square. Transfer the dough to a plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.
- Return the dough to the floured work surface and roll into an approximately 12-inch square again. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the surface of the dough, and gently press down so that they are slightly embedded in the dough surface. Using a dough scraper, roll the dough up to form a tight log. Lay the log seam side down and press the the log into a 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using a sharp, floured knife, cut the rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the scones with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar. (If freezing ahead of time, flash freeze on the baking sheet for 20 minutes, then wrap individually and store in a freezer bag until needed.) Bake until the tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.
I love scones and just marked this recipe. Hopefully I’ll give it a try this weekend!
Hope you enjoy it!
Sounds delish! I’ve only ever made scones from a mix before!
My Mom makes great scones, but usually cheese or currants. I’ll have to pass this on to her and bookmark it for myself when I am brave enough to bake this myself 🙂
Cheese scones?! Care to share the recipe? 😛
These look incredible!! Your photography is awesome, by the way!
Oh my gosh! You just made my day! Thanks Kristin. 🙂
Just wanted to say that I have made these (and I am neither a baker nor a foodie) and they were the best scones I have ever had! I definitely recommend it. Amy you should be working for a magazine with those photos!!! PS: I wish we lived closer because I would be at your house every evening, hahahahaha
Aw thanks girl! I’m trying to learn how to use this camera…I find it pretty neat. 🙂 Uhm and you can totally come over anytime!
These look really good but to be honest, I am SO in love with the Creamy Dreamy Scones from the Smitten Kitchen site that I’m not sure I can “cheat on” that recipe (but I may just to have a comparison 😉
Very nice photo, love the blueberries next to the scone, we might have to copy the layout of that shot. Also, the scones look great. We’re a bit of scone fanatics ourselves (thus, we started a scone company), and in our opinion the fresh scones are better than the dried. We actually prefer the bursts of flavor (Blueberry is one of the recipes we carry). Again, lovely photo (Found you on TasteSpotting)
Thank you so much for the photo compliment. Maybe I might break up the berries somehow. I know fresh is better, but for some reason, the bursts didn’t appeal to me (and I love blueberries). I guess I’m weird?
Wow this looks really good!! I may need to try these and bring them into work so I don’t eat a whole batch by myself. Also the photo is great!! What camera are you using?
Thanks girl! 🙂 I shoot with a Canon Rebel XSi (using kit lens right now). 🙂 I hope you enjoy them if you get to make them, and your coworkers would probably love you if you brought them in!
These look amazing – so professional! 🙂
I need to make these…
I made these this snowy morning – amazing! Question – if I were to freeze ahead of time, would you bake them from frozen or let them defrost a bit?
I’d let them defrost. You’d probably end up burning the outside before the inside got fully baked. :
I’m so excited to try these! I don’t have blueberries, but I do have dried cherries on hand. Do you think those would do well in this recipe?
I would think those would work just fine. 🙂
These are super yummy! I saw them on pinterest and made them for breakfast this morning 🙂 Next time, I think I need to work the dough a little less though.
Just got these out of the oven and while they are truly delicious, mine turned out “cakey”. They are more of a heavier, flat muffin. Not sure what I did wrong. The only slight variation I made was using wild, frozen blueberries (they are the really small ones) and 1 1/2 cups resulted in more berries than the typical size. Not sure that this would affect the actual scone consistency tho. My family is loving them irregardless.
I’m so sorry that happened! I have no idea how they would turn cakey, though. I’m glad to hear that they were enjoyed though.