Is there anything better than a freshly-baked blueberry scone during peak blueberry season? These blueberry scones are easy to make starting with a cream scone base that comes together quickly. If you've never made scones before, please read about how to make the best scones for all my tips and tricks.

The crunchy turbinado sugar topping sprinkled on before baking makes them completely irresistible! Serve them with butter or clotted cream and homemade blueberry jam.

Ingredients To Make Blueberry Scones

If you want to make cream scones with blueberries, you will need the following ingredients:

• all-purpose flour to bind the ingredients together and give the scones structure. If you don't use enough flour (or the right flour), your scones may spread too much as they bake
• granulated sugar though used sparingly in this recipe will help tenderize and preserve the scones so they don't dry out too fast
• baking powder is a complete chemical leavening agent that doesn't require any special ingredients to work, as long as you add moisture (in this case from butter and cream) and heat (when you bake the scones in the oven). Do not use baking soda, which requires adding an acid to help baked goods rise. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure of the difference
• salt is really important to enhance flavour and also balance it out. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the scones will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case
• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise, your scones may be too salty
• fresh blueberries, though frozen will work here too. Use frozen blueberries straight from the freezer. Don't defrost them because they will release a lot of water, which will mess with the scone texture
• whipping cream (35 % fat) adds moisture and fat to the dough, leading to more tender and light scones that don't go stale too quickly.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions

With its simple list of ingredients, there isn't much room for substitutions when you make these eggless blueberry scones. Still, here are a few options:

• Fresh blueberries: I much prefer to use fresh blueberries but you can also use frozen. Do not allow them to defrost and work quickly so that you get the scones into the oven without giving the frozen berries a chance to thaw.
• All-purpose flour: If you prefer to use self-raising flour, use the same weight of flour, but omit the baking powder and salt since self-raising flour contains both. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid you use to form the dough as self-raising absorbs more liquid than all-purpose does.
• Cream: The liquid used to bring the dough together can be cream, milk, or buttermilk, but which one you use is entirely dependent on the chemical leaveners you will be using:
  • If you are using baking soda, you will want to use buttermilk, an acidic ingredient that will react with the leavener to help the scones rise.
  • If you use cream or milk, you'll want to use baking powder because it combines the acid needed with baking soda all in one complete powder.
  • If you want to make this scone recipe without cream and use milk instead of cream, this is how to do it: add an extra 58 grams (¼ cup) extra butter for a total of 173 grams (¾ cup) cold butter and replace all of the 35 % cream in the recipe with 250 mL (1 cup) milk (so slightly less milk than cream)

Variations

• Lemon blueberry: incorporate the zest of a lemon with the dry ingredients
• Orange blueberry: incorporate the zest of an orange with the dry ingredients
• Blueberry white chocolate chip: mix white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate with the blueberries before adding the cream (these blueberry white chocolate cookies are a prime example of this flavour combo!)

As for garnishing these scones:

• Before baking, I like to brush the tops of unbaked scones with cream or milk (or an egg wash) and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Turbinado is a coarse golden cane sugar that adds a lovely crunch to the tops of baked goods, and a little sweetness. Please read about the different types of sugar used in baking for more information.
• After baking, you can drizzle the scones with a simple glaze made from milk and icing sugar, or you can make a lemon glaze from lemon juice and icing sugar (like the glaze on these lemon butter cookies).

How To Make This Recipe

Scones are fairly easy to make and the process of making scones is quite similar to making pie dough!

• Step 1: use your fingertips to work the diced cold butter into the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt). The mixture will resemble a coarse crumble (image 1).
• Step 2: Stir in the fresh blueberries (image 2). Make sure the blueberries are evenly distributed (image 3) before adding the liquid.
• Step 3: Add the cold cream and vanilla to the bowl (image 4). You can use a Danish dough whisk (or a wooden spoon) to stir everything together.

Pro Tip: Remember to keep the ingredients cold, especially the butter and the cream to avoid overworking the dough. If the dough is too warm, the scones will lose their shape as they bake.

• Step 4: Transfer the shaggy dough to a clean work surface. You can very lightly dust the surface with flour to prevent sticking (image 5).
• Step 5: Pat out the dough into a thick even rectangle (image 6)and then, use a ruler and a chef's knife or a metal bench scraper to cut the dough into 4 wide strips across the width (image 7).
• Step 6: Cut the dough crosswise into 12 equal portions (roughly 2x2 inches each) (image 8).

• Step 7: Transfer the scones to a parchment-lined half-sheet pan (image 9). You can brush the tops of the scones with a little cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar before baking (image 10)
• Step 8: Bake the scones until golden brown (image 11).

More Scones To Bake

Looking for other scones to try? Here are a few to inspire you!

Other Recipes To Bake With Blueberries

Make the most of the season and bake these blueberry recipes:

• apple and blueberry crumble
• blueberry crumb cake
• blueberry jam
• best blueberry pie
• blueberry muffins with honey
• blueberry bran muffins (low sugar)
• blueberry rhubarb crisp
• blueberry oatmeal cookies with white chocolate
• blueberry hand pies

If you tried this recipe for scones with blueberries (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Scones with Blueberries

These tender blueberry scones are made with a traditional cream scones recipe made with butter and cream.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Chill time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 305kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• Danish dough whisk
• Bench scraper
• Pastry brush

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 300 grams fresh blueberries
• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking
• 15 mL Turbinado sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
• Incorporate the blueberries carefully so that they don't burst.
• With a big fork or a Danish dough whisk, stir in the cold cream until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
• Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk. Watch the blueberries!
• On a lightly floured surface, pat out the dough into a 10 x 7.5 inch rectangle.
• Cut the dough into 12 equal scones (2.5 x 2.5 inch squares).
• Place the scones on a parchment lined sheet pan, spaced out evenly. Chill for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
• Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little cream. Sprinkle with turbinado.
• Bake the scones for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges and tops are golden brown. Serve warm

Notes

• For more information, please read about how to make the best scones before you get started!
• This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour:
  • use 375 grams of self-rising flour and skip the baking powder and the salt in the recipe.
• Want to make this scone with whole milk instead of cream? This is how to do it:
  • Add 58 grams (¼ cup) extra butter for a total of 173 grams (¾ cup) cold butter and replace the 35 % cream in the dough with 250 mL (1 cup) of milk.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 93mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 619IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Scones with blueberries appeared first on The Bake School.

Ingredients to make scones

Scones are made from very basic baking ingredients, which means you probably have everything you need to make the basic scone in your pantry and fridge. Here's a rundown of the components of scone recipes.

Dry ingredients

The dry ingredients to make scones include flour, chemical leaveners, and salt.

In the UK and some other parts of the world, the flour you bake with could be plain flour (all-purpose) or self-raising flour. If you are baking with plain flour or all-purpose, you would have to add baking powder and salt to your dough.

Self-raising flour comes with those in the mix, so in recipes with self-raising flour, you probably won't add any baking powder or salt. If you have a recipe that calls for one or the other, and you want to swap them, make sure to check out this guide to baking substitutions to help you.

Liquid

When it comes to the liquid ingredients to make scones, you have also options! Cream scones are made with flour, chemical leaveners, salt, a little sugar, and cream. Nothing more. The cream used is typically whipping cream with 35 % fat, though you could use double cream which has 40 % fat, or you could use half-and-half, with 15 % fat. All roads lead to scones, though depending on the fat content of the dairy you use, your scones will be more or less rich, and more or less tender.

Sometimes cream scones can be made with a combination of cream and butter, which is what I like to use instead of straight cream. I find working a little butter into the flour from the beginning helps "lighten" the scones and leads to a more tender scone in the end.

Americans often prefer to make buttermilk scones, using buttermilk instead of cream. Remember buttermilk is virtually fat-free. Scones made with buttermilk often have extra butter in the recipe to add back that richness. If you use buttermilk, you might want to also add some baking soda to your dry ingredients (roughly 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) baking soda for every cup of buttermilk). Otherwise, your scones may not brown properly.

You can also make scones with milk, but given the lack of fat, you'll want to also add butter to your recipe. To replace 250 mL (1 cup ) of heavy cream, try adding 190 mL (¾ cup) of milk and an additional 60 mL (¼ cup) of cold butter instead.

Sometimes, the liquid ingredients might include an egg, as I did in the pear and chocolate scones. That recipe has a lot more liquid than most and so it could fall into the drop scones category, where the dough can be scooped with a disher or muffin scoop to portion it out. No rolling needed! Instead I opted to do some rolling and folding with flour to yield a flakier scone.

Fat

The key to a good scone is the fat which makes them tender and rich, and prevents them from ending up hard as a brick or awfully dry. The fat in your scones will:

• reduce gluten formation, so that you don't end up with a chewy scone that's hard to swallow
• contribute to that melt-in-your-mouth quality so that they aren't dry nor as prone to drying out over time. Scones with more fat will store better than scones with less fat. 

The fat in scones is usually butter, but remember that if you are making cream scones, the fat will come from the cream you use, which is why some scones have no butter and are made with only cream (with a high percentage of fat around 35 to 40 %).

The ratio of ingredients

The easiest way to make scones is to remember the scone ingredient ratio and use it as a formula: 1 part fat, 2 parts liquid, 3 parts flour, by weight. The fat is usually cold butter, the liquid can be cream (or milk or buttermilk), and the flour is generally all-purpose flour (or self-raising flour in the UK). To these three ingredients, you will probably add sugar (but not too much because we aren't making cookies here).

To make a batch using this ratio, you could measure out 115 grams (½ cup) of butter, 250 mL (1 cup) of milk, and 375 grams (3 cups) of flour, adding 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of baking powder, 100 grams (½ cup) of granulated sugar, and 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) fine kosher salt to the mix.

With milk, I prefer to add in a little more fat, so 175 grams (¾ cup) of butter, 250 mL (1 cup) of milk, and 375 grams (3 cups) of flour, adding 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of baking powder, 100 grams (½ cup) of granulated sugar, and 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) fine kosher salt. The extra butter prevents them from drying out too quickly. Otherwise, scones made with milk go stale quite fast.

I like to make scones with a combination of butter and cream which leads to richer, more tender baked good that don't dry out as quickly, and I work with more cream than milk: 115 grams (½ cup) butter, 310 mL (1.25 cups) of 35 % cream, and 375 grams (3 cups) of four, adding 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of baking powder, 50 to 100 grams (¼ to ½ cup) of granulated sugar, and 2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) fine kosher salt to the mix.  I used this recipe to make these lavender white chocolate scones.

American vs British scones

In the US, scones tend to be a little larger and they are often made with buttermilk and in most bakeries and cafés, you'll see them glazed. They are served with nothing on the side.

This is quite different from British scones, which don't have any icing on them and are usually served with butter, clotted cream and jam or marmalade (like a rhubarb jam or three fruit marmalade).

Which is better? Cream vs milk vs buttermilk

The liquid used to bring the dough together can be cream, milk, or buttermilk, but which one you use is entirely dependent on the chemical leaveners you will be using.

If you are using baking soda, you will want to use buttermilk, an acidic ingredient that will react with the leavener to help them rise. On the other hand, if you use cream or milk, you'll want to use baking powder because it combines the acid needed with baking soda all in one complete powder.

And if you are debating whether to use cream or milk in your scone dough, remember that cream, especially whipping cream, is 35 % fat (or more), which brings a lot of richness to the dough, while adding slightly less water, and this will yield scones that are more tender and richer that store very well and don't dry out the way scones with milk or buttermilk do. But if you just have milk, use that. All roads lead to scones! And you can compensate by adding more butter to your recipe to replace the fat.

Tools to make scones

Scones are simple to make and you don't need any special tools. You could mix a batch with just a bowl and a whisk (or even a fork!), and then bake them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. That being said, there are some special tools you can invest in to make your life easier if you want to bake scones often:

• a kitchen scale will help you weigh out ingredients and create more consistent scones batch after batch.
• a Danish dough whisk works a little better for mixing scone dough and it makes cleanup easier because it's flat, making it easy to clean off bits of stuck-on dough compared to a standard balloon whisk.
• a bench scraper is great for cutting dough and cleaning your work surface
• a disher or muffin scoop helps scoop softer scone dough without handling it too much

How to make the dough

When you are making scones, you'll notice that the mixing method is the same as for pie dough:

1. Start with all the dry ingredients in a big bowl (the flour, chemical leaveners, salt, sugar, and any dried spices or other dry flavour elements you want to incorporate, like dried tea leaves or lavender buds).
2. Add diced cold butter to the big bowl and work it into the flour with your fingertips to form a crumbly mixture
3. Add the liquid and stir it in with a fork or a Danish dough whisk.
4. When a dough starts to form, you can dump the contents of the bowl onto your work surface and using your hands, press and work the dough just enough to gather it all together into a disk.
5. You can use a rolling pin to roll the dough to the desired thickness, or just pat it out with your hands. At that point, you're ready to cut out the scones and bake them.

What shape should they be

There are actually many ways to shape scones before baking.

1. Use a disher or muffin scoop to form "drop scones"—this method is especially appropriate for scones that are made from a dough that is wetter
2. Pat out the dough into a disk and cut it into wedges or triangles
3. Pat out the dough into a square or rectangle and cut it into squares or rectangles
4. Pat out the dough to flatten to the desired thickness, ignoring the shape, and using biscuit cutters or large cookie cutters to achieve the desired shape, like plain round or round with a crinkled edge

Ways to dress them up

Before baking

You can include fun add-ins when you are making scones, from dried fruit (which is the more traditional route) to fresh fruit or even canned fruit. You can incorporate dark chocolate or white chocolate, sprinkles, fun spices, and more. 

When you are making the dough, you can:

• incorporate dried fruit, like raisins to make traditional fruit scones or dates to make date scones
• stuff scone dough with a filling, like an apple filling in these apple pie scones
• add chopped fresh fruit like fresh rhubarb in these mini rhubarb scones
• add whole berries, like in these scones with blueberries
• add chopped canned fruit and chunks of chocolate to make pear and chocolate scones 
• add culinary lavender buds to make lavender scones or Earl Grey tea to make Earl Grey scones
• add cheese to make cheese scones

Once scones are cut into the desired shape, you can bake them as is, "naked", or before baking, you can brush them with an egg wash, a little milk, or even cream. You can then bake them with nothing more, or you can also sprinkle the brushed tops with granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar, or even coarse turbinado, which adds a lovely crunch. 

After baking

If you will be glazing your scones after baking with a thin icing, I recommend leaving them naked or just brushing them lightly with some cream or milk. This way, your icing will adhere better to the scone, without any sugar getting in the way.

American bakers tend to favour topping baked scones with a thin icing made from powdered sugar (icing sugar) and milk to thin it out. These thin glazes can be flavoured with spices, coffee, tea, rose water, orange blossom water, or other extracts including simple vanilla extract. This would be a great place to use that vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract. 

Baking temperature

Though many bake their scones at 350 ºF, I prefer to bake them at a higher temperature (400 ºF) so that they rise up before the outer crust sets. I also prefer to bake at a higher temperature to help them brown more since scones are low in sugar, and browning is slow at 350 ºF.

Preventing scones from spreading

To prevent scones from spreading when they bake, it's the same principle as for other baked goods: chilling cookie dough prevents spreading and chilling a pie before baking helps the crust hold its shape: bake cold scones in a hot oven. Bake them at a higher temperature, like 400 ºF or even 425 ºF to set the outer crust before the butter has time to melt within. They will bake golden brown with a nice shape. This is one of the secrets to making the best scones that keep their shape!

Storing scones

Freshly baked scones taste great the day they are made, but the longer they are stored, they will dry out and become pretty unappetizing. Though they can be quite rich, scones are high in fat and low in sugar. Remember sugar leads to moist baked goods that store well because sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs humidity. That lack of sugar in the recipe means that they don't have as much ability to retain or absorb moisture. They dry out very quickly, especially if made with milk or buttermilk and less butter. For this reason, it's best to bake smaller batches of scones, or better yet, freeze them unbaked so that you can bake the amount you need when you want them. 

Freezing scones

To freeze unbaked scones, set them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and freeze them in a single layer. Once they are frozen solid, you can transfer them to an airtight freezer bag to seal them and store them in the freezer long-term.

To bake frozen unbaked scones, preheat the oven to 400 ºF and bake them, straight from the freezer, for at least 5 minutes longer than the recipe calls for.

You can also freeze freshly-baked scones in the same way, on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Then reheat them in a low oven (around 250 ºF) for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are warmed through.

Troubleshooting

Scones are made from simple ingredients and are very easy to make, but if made incorrectly, they can be pretty darn terrible! Here are some of the things that can go wrong and what to do differently next time.

They're too flat or they lose their shape as they bake

Scones can flatten out in the oven, instead of baking tall, for a number of reasons:

1. the butter is too warm leading to faster melting before the structure of the scone begins to set
2. you used too much liquid, leading to a looser dough that flattens out as it bakes because there's not enough flour to add structure
3. you didn't add enough chemical leavener or your leavener is expired
4. you rolled them out too thin

They're tough

If your scones end up super tough or chewy, it means you overworked the dough. After you add the liquid in your recipe to the dough, at that point, you should handle the dough as little as possible, briefly mixing just enough to moisten the flour and to be able to gather the dough into a messy disk.

Some people like to knead the dough, or roll and fold the dough a few times, with the hope of adding flaky layers, but these extra steps can lead to gluten developing given that you have a lot of flour in the dough and a fair amount of liquid, which can make scones tough.

They're dense

Scones can end up dense and have a very tight crumb if you aren't careful. The key to a light scone is working with cold ingredients so that the butter stays cold and distinct throughout the dough. This way, when the scones hit the hot oven, the butter will melt, and steam will form, causing them to rise, opening up the crumb. It's the same principle behind pie dough and homemade croissants.

If you overwork the butter from the beginning, the butter will melt into the dough and you will lose those tiny pockets of butter that open up the crumb of the scones as they bake. 

Tips for how to make the best scones

Now that you know everything that can go wrong, here are some tips on what to do to make sure you make the best scones every time:

1. Make sure to chill everything before making the dough
2. Chill before baking them, especially during the summer when your kitchen is warmer
3. Consider using a little less liquid OR a little more flour to avoid having an overly loose or wet dough
4. Check if your baking powder is still active
5. Work the dough minimally after you add the liquid in the recipe. This is key! We aren't making bread so don't knead the dough too much, if at all!

Serving suggestions

Scones are so versatile and you can serve them plain, with a little softened butter, clotted cream, and/or the following:

• lemon curd
• sweet compound butters
• orange marmalade
• grapefruit marmalade
• lime marmalade
• three fruit marmalade
• strawberry and red currant jam
• plum jam
• blueberry jam
• rhubarb jam

📖 Recipe

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Basic Scones

These tender cream scones are a traditional scones recipe made with butter and cream. It's a great jumping off point and you can easily customize it!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Freeze time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 305kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
• With a big fork, stir in the cold cream until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
• Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk.
• Divide the dough into two.
• Working with one disk at a time, pat out the disk to a 15 cm (6 inch) diameter. The thickness should be a little around 2 cm ( 1 inch).
• Cut the dough into 6 wedges.
• Repeat with the second half of dough. You will have 12 scones in total.
• Place the scones on a parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
• Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little cream.
• Bake the scones for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges and tops are golden brown.
• Serve warm, as is or with a glaze.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour:
  • use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt.
• Want to make this scone with whole milk instead of cream? This is how to do it:

1. Add 58 grams (¼ cup) extra butter for a total of 173 grams (¾ cup) cold butter
2. Replace the 35 % cream in the scones dough with the slightly less 3.25 % whole milk, so use 250 mL (1 cup) milk. 

Nutrition

Calories: 305kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 93mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 619IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 2mg

The post How to make the best scones appeared first on The Bake School.

These little rhubarb scones are among the best rhubarb recipes I've baked. Scone dough is so rich and lightly sweetened. It is a lovely complement to tangy pink rhubarb. Once baked, they are tender on the inside with a slightly crunchy exterior.

The baking ratio to make scones

The baking ratio for the basic scone dough is very close to the 1-2-3 biscuit ratio. I wanted something a little daintier that you could serve with lightly-sweetened whipped cream and a cup of tea. 

What you need to make these fruit scones

If you want to make cream scones with rhubarb, you will need the following ingredients:

• flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the scones structure. If you don't use enough flour, your scones may spread too much as they bake. I used a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat, but you can stick to using just all-purpose, if you prefer
• granulated sugar though used sparingly in this recipe is important to help tenderize the scones and preserve them so they don't dry out too fast.
• baking powder is a complete chemical leavening agent that doesn't require any special ingredients to work, as long as you add moisture (in this case from butter and cream) and heat (when you bake the scones in the oven). Baking powder is different than baking soda. Do not use baking soda, which requires adding an acid to help baked goods rise. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure of the difference.
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• fresh rhubarb, chopped into small pieces.
• whipping cream (35 % fat) adds moisture and fat to the dough, leading to a more tender and light scones that doesn't go stale too quickly.

Substitutions

Scone recipes are pretty simple at their core, so substitutions are limited. Here are some options to explore:

• cream vs milk: I like using whipping cream instead of whole milk to make scones because I want richer scones. Half-and-half or even whole milk can work here, but I find the extra fat in cream helps prevent these from going stale too quickly. All roads lead to making the best scones! If you want to use buttermilk, you will have to make other adjustments (see below).
• baking powder: because you will use cream as the liquid in this recipe, baking powder is the chemical leavener of choice. If you prefer to use an acidic dairy, like buttermilk, you will likely need to add a small amount of baking soda to balance out that acidity and to ensure the dough has enough leavening once in the oven.
• flour type: this recipe works with all-purpose flour, or half whole wheat, half all purpose.
• sugar: I use granulated sugar in these scones because I don't want to add too much flavour. That being said, maple sugar would be amazing in this recipe and a great compliment to the rhubarb.

Technique

Scones are easy and the list of ingredients is short, that's for sure. Still, it's important to do the steps correctly because the method to mix the ingredients has an impact on the texture of them. Overwork the dough, and they may be tougher than you would like.

Start by mixing the dry ingredients together (flour, leavening agents, and sugar) together so that they are evenly combined. Then you can add in the cubes of cold butter. Work them into the flour with your finger tips. Alternatively, you can use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry mixture. The goal is to work the butter into the flour enough so that you have a crumbly mixture with pieces of butter of different sizes.

I like to add the fruit at this stage because I find it easier to mix it into the dough evenly at the dry stage, before adding the wet ingredients.

Once your fruit is evenly mixed in, you add the wet ingredients, in this case cream, and work it into the mixture to form a shaggy dough. There will be flour at the bottom still that hasn't been hydrated yet.

Dump the dough onto your work surface and use your hands or a bench scraper to help you draw the dry bits into the dough to form an even dough. You can then pat out the dough to the desired thickness. If the dough is sticking to the work surface, flour it very lightly. I usually pat it out to a little under an inch thick, which should give you 12 small scones.

At this point, you can cut out your scones with a cookie cutter or use a knife to divide into 12 equal pieces (they can be square or round scones). Then once you transfer them to your parchment-lined baking sheet, brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk, and the sprinkle them with turbinado sugar to add a little crunch and sweetness to the tops.

Adding fruit to scones

To incorporate fresh fruit in a recipe for scones, ideally, you would mix the fruit with the dry ingredients before adding in the liquid. So in this case, once the butter and dry ingredients are incorporated to form a crumbly mixture, then you mix in the chopped rhubarb, and finally the cream (or milk). This is the same technique used for the pear and chocolate scones and for the scones with blueberries.

Another option is to stuff the scone dough with fruit, like in these stuffed apple pie scones. This method creates a distinct fruit layer in the middle of the scone, which is quite interesting. However you choose to incorporate fresh fruit in your scones, the contrast between the rich sweet scone dough and the fresh fruit pieces is really lovely and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

If you prefer to bake scones with dried fruit to make a more traditional fruit scone, try these date scones, which have the most delicious orange blossom icing drizzled on top.

Special equipment

Scones are easy and you don't need any small appliances to make them. Just a bowl and a whisk, and an oven to bake. It's likely you have everything you need, but here's a rundown of the tools I use to make scones:

• whisk—I like the Danish dough whisk because it's easier to clean than a balloon whisk
• scraper to help incorporate the shaggy bits of dough with the rest without warming it with your hands
• cookie cutters, either round or with a fluted edge
• large sheet pan—a half sheet pan can fit 12 scones if they aren't too big!
• pastry brush—for brushing excess flour off doughs and for brushing on cream or egg wash.

What to serve with scones

Once you've made these rhubarb tea biscuits, you can serve them with:

• whipped cream (lightly sweetened or even unsweetened)
• homemade rhubarb jam
• lime marmalade
• apricot jam
• blueberry jam

Really any homemade jam will work with these, but my preference is rhubarb jam or lime marmalade. Blueberries work surprisingly well with rhubarb, as you can see with this blueberry rhubarb crumble.

Storing scones

Cream scones like this recipe with rhubarb can be stored at room temperature. You can reheat them in the oven or a toaster oven to serve them warm, but I find that scones made with heavy cream, butter, and some sugar, don't go stale too quickly. They will last a couple of days stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

You can also freeze the unbaked scones:

• Freeze the unbaked scones on a parchment-lined sheet pan until frozen solid
• Transfer to a freezer bag to store long term
• Bake from frozen—note that they will take longer to bake from frozen

You can also freeze baked scones in a freezer bag. Defrost them overnight in the refrigerator and warm in a toaster oven to serve or defrost and warm the frozen scones directly in the oven.

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Rhubarb Scones

These mini rhubarb scones are tiny rich buttery scones with fresh pink rhubarb in them!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine British

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 126kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Rolling pin
• Pastry brush

Ingredients

• 94 grams whole wheat all-purpose flour
• 94 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 7.5 mL baking powder
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 77 grams unsalted butter cold, diced
• 100 grams fresh rhubarb ~1.5 stalks, sliced
• 170 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus more for brushing on the tea biscuits before baking
• 2.5 mL pure vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top
• rhubarb jam

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl with a whisk.
• Drop in the butter and work it in with your hands until you get a coarse crumb. Stir in the rhubarb.
• Add the cream and vanilla, and mix it in with a fork to form a rough dough. Don't overwork it.
• Drop the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and work it with your hands just enough to gather in the dry bits and incorporate them. You can pat out the dough and fold it over a couple of times to create a little layering.
• Pat out the dough to about ¾–1 inch (1.9–2.5 cm) thick and cut with a 2-¼ inch (5.7 cm) cookie cutter.
• Transfer the scones to the baking sheets. You can press the scraps together gently to make a few extras and use up all the dough.
• Brush the scones with a little cream and sprinkle with turbinado.
• Bake for about 25 minutes until the bottoms begin to turn nice and golden. Let cool slightlly before serving with a little whipped cream and jam.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can also use this recipe to make 6 regular-sized scones, by patting the dough into a disk and cutting into wedges. Note that the baking time will be longer, closer to 25 or even 30 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 126kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 46mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 186IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg

Frequently asked questions

Other fruit scones to try

Adding fruit to scones is a great way to jazz them up. Here are some other recipes to try:

• apple pie scones
• blueberry scones
• pear scones with chocolate

The post Rhubarb Scones appeared first on The Bake School.

You can easily incorporate fresh or frozen fruit or dried fruit into a scone dough, mixing it into the dry ingredients before you add the liquid (cream, buttermilk, or milk). For example, you can incorporate chopped rhubarb into your dry ingredients to make these cute little rhubarb scones, or chopped pear into these pear and chocolate scones.

For these apple cinnamon scones, we are using a different technique where the dough is stuffed with a delicious sweet filling.

Apple Cinnamon Scone Ingredients

• flour—I bake with bleached all-purpose flour, but unbleached would be fine here too.
• sugar—I used granulated sugar to avoid any molasses flavours to the scone dough.
• leavening—I made these scones with baking powder as the chemical leavening, not baking soda, since there aren't really any acidic ingredients in the dough to balance out baking soda. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference between the two.
• salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount listed in the recipe card.
• butter—use unsalted butter (diced and kept cold) or if using salted butter, reduce or omit the salt added to ensure the dough isn't overly salty
• egg—I always bake with large eggs, which weigh 56 grams with the shell on. If you use a different size of eggs, the dough may too dry or too wet.
• cream—you will need enough whipping cream (35 % fat) in the scone dough and also some to brush on top before baking
• vanilla—I bake with pure vanilla extract
• apple—for these stuffed apple pie scones, you will need both apple butter and fresh apple. Choose an apple variety that holds up to baking
• cinnamon—I made these scones with cinnamon sugar, rather than ground cinnamon to add some sweetness to the filling and topping since there isn't much sugar in the dough or the filling.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities and ingredients.

Substitutions and Variations

Your options for variations substitutions are limited, but here are a few suggestions:

• Scones without eggs: replace the egg with 60 mL (¼ cup) more cream. I do this quite often and it works great!
• Cinnamon sugar: if you don't want to make cinnamon sugar, just sprinkle generously the filling and dough with granulated sugar and cinnamon. Alternatively, you can garnish the tops of the scones with turbinado sugar before baking. This will give them a lovely crunch on the outside.
• Apple butter—I buy apple butter, but you could make it by cooking down apple sauce (or by making apple sauce and then boiling it down into a thick, dark spread). You could replace the apple and apple butter with apple jam.
• Apples—replace them with pear. You could even use canned pear. I prefer to buy canned pears in syrup because the taste is better. I used canned pears for these pear scones with chocolate.

Another option for the filling is to use a commercial apple pie filling instead of the combination of apple butter and diced apple. This would work fine, but personally I'm not a huge pan of canned apple pie filling from the grocery store, which can be somewhat gelatinous in texture.

Other Filling Ideas for Stuffed Scones

When I stuff scones, I like to combine a spread or preserve with some fruit. Here are a few ways you can change these up according to the seasons:

• jam—use homemade rhubarb jam (no pectin), plum jam, or spiced apple jam instead of the apple butter
• marmalade would make a great replacement for the apple butter, like this orange marmalade, grapefruit marmalade, or even three-fruit marmalade.
• spreads—try this homemade Nutella without hazelnuts or homemade maple butter
• fresh fruit, chopped apple, chopped pear, stone fruits, berries, etc

Mix and match these to see what you like. For a blueberry stuffed scone, I'd combine blueberry jam and fresh blueberries as the filling. Or make blueberry scones and stuff them with jam.

How to Make Stuffed Scones

These apple cinnamon scones are stuffed scones filled with apple butter, chopped apple and cinnamon sugar. Here's how to make them:

Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients with the sugar in a big mixing bowl (image 1), then use a Danish dough whisk to incorporate them (image 2) before dropping cubes of cold butter into the bowl (image 3) and working them in with your hands to make a coarse, uneven mixture (image 4)

Step 2: Once the butter is worked in, the mixture will resemble uneven bread crumbs (image 5). At this point, you can mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (preferably with a pouring spout), whisking together the cream, egg, and vanilla (image 6) before adding them to the bowl with the dry ingredients (image 7).

Step 3: Use the dough whisk to do as much of the mixing as you can (image 8), then I like to switch to a bowl scraper to do the last of the kneading (image 9).

Step 4: Divide the dough in two and place each piece on a rectangle of parchment paper (image 10), then pat out each into an 8-inch diameter circle using the palm of your hand to gently flatten it out (image 9).

Step 5: Spread apple butter on the surface of one disk of scone dough, leaving a ½ inch (1.3 cm) border (image 12). Scatter with apple chunks (image 13), then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top (image 14). Top with the 2nd disk of dough (image 15).

Step 6: Brush the top of the scones with a little cream (image 16), then sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar (image 17). Cut into 8 scones using a bench scraper (image 18).

Step 7: Transfer the scones to a sheet pan (image 19) then bake until golden brown and baked in the middle (image 20).

Scone Baking Tip

If you do not separate the wedges at all and leave them as a disk after cutting (as above), there will be little to no airflow on the cut sides of the scones and the scones will take 10–20 minutes longer to bake through!

For faster baking, separate the wedges from each other to allow airflow between them for better heat distribution and to help them dry out a little on the edges, setting faster.

Scone FAQs

Other Recipes with Apple Butter

Looking for other recipes to bake with apple butter? You can make:

• apple butter pie, like a pumpkin pie but with apple butter
• apple butter cake with an oat streusel topping
• apple cupcakes made with apple butter and topped with the most delicious thick cream cheese frosting

If you tried this recipe for apple cinnamon scones (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Apple Cinnamon Scones

Learn how to make the best apple cinnamon scones with this easy recipe. These stuffed scones have a filling that tastes like apple pie, made with apple butter, chunks of fresh apple, and lots of cinnamon sugar.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine British

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Chill time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 450kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Danish dough whisk
• Pastry brush
• Bench scraper
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter diced and kept cold
• 1 large egg(s)
• 250 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus more to brush on the scones before baking
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 60 mL apple butter I used Filsinger or Eden brands
• 1 Cortland apple(s) cored and diced
• 15 mL cinnamon sugar plus more for garnishing the tops of teh scones before baking

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Drop in the cold, diced butter. With both hands, quickly pick up handfuls of the flour mixture and press/rub it all them together with your palms to work in the butter. This is called “sanding”. Continue sanding the flour until you obtain a fairly even mixture that resembles very coarse oatmeal or bread crumbs.
• In a small bowl, combine the cream, egg and vanilla. Whisk it together to break up the egg then pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients.
• Using a Danish dough whisk, stir the wet ingredients into the flour. When it’s all combined, give the mixture a last knead with your hands to ensure you've incorporated all the dry bits. Divide the dough in two.
• Pat out each half of the dough on parchment paper to about 8 inches in diameter.
• Spread the apple butter on the surface of one disk, and top with the chopped apple.
• Pat out the other half of the dough until it's also 8 inches in diameter.
• Place the second dough round on top of the first, pressing it down and gathering in the edges with your palms to tighten the edges and seal them together.
• Brush the round with cream and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Cut into eight large wedges. Freeze for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
• Transfer the wedges onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, staggering them, and bake for about 30–40 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
• Let the scones cool for about 10 minutes to firm up. Serve warm with more apple butter.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• If you prefer to make your scone dough without eggs, replace the egg with 60 mL (¼ cup of cream). This means that in total for this recipe, you would measure out 310 mL (1-¼ cups) of cream.
• I used store-bought apple butter, but you can also make it by cooking down apple sauce until it is thick and dark and most of the water has evaporated. 
• If you don't have apples, you can use fresh or canned pears. I love to use canned pears in syrup, specifically. The flavour is better. Blot them dry before using them.
• You can make a big batch of cinnamon sugar to use in your recipes. Or you can replace it with a combination of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. You can sprinkle the tops of the scone with crunchy turbinado sugar if you prefer.

Nutrition

Calories: 450kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 302mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 861IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 120mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Stuffed Apple Cinnamon Scones appeared first on The Bake School.

Some scone recipes are aiming for a flakier scone using a folding technique, similar to homemade croissants or puff pastry. I've used the rolling and folding technique for these pear and chocolate scones, which were made with a more wet dough that benefitted from the rolling and folding in flour, without toughening them. 

On the other hand, for these mini rhubarb scones and the scones recipe below, I kept the recipe and method simple, like for this recipe, no folding necessary.

What are these scones made of

If you want to make cream scones with lavender and white chocolate, you will need the following ingredients:

• all-purpose flour is needed to bind all the ingredients together and give the scones structure. If you don't use enough flour, your scones may spread too much as they bake
• granulated sugar though used sparingly in this recipe is important to help tenderize the scones and preserve them so they don't dry out too fast.
• baking powder is a complete chemical leavening agent that doesn't require any special ingredients to work, as long as you add moisture (in this case from butter and cream) and heat (when you bake the scones in the oven). Do not use baking soda, which requires adding an acid to help baked goods rise. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure of the difference.
• salt is really important to balance out the sweet flavour. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cookies will be saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the dough, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cookies may be too salty
• white chocolate adds a sweet creamy flavour to these, and it also caramelizes as the scones bake. I like to use white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate bar (like Lindt) or Cacao Barry Blanc Satin or Zéphyr.
• dried lavender buds add a floral taste to these, but make sure to use culinary grade lavender. This isn't a place for lavender that goes in closet sachets!
• whipping cream (35 % fat) adds moisture and fat to the dough, leading to a more tender and light scones.

Scone texture

Personally, I don't think scones need to be layered or overly flaky. We aren't making homemade croissants! It's more important that they be moist and tender, almost delicate. The perfect scone should be easy to pull apart with your fingertips with only the slightest tug and it should melt in your mouth. Plus that rolling and folding is a little extra work that I'd avoid, especially since there's always a risk of overworking the dough, making the scones tough, chewy, or hard.

For this white chocolate scones recipe, I've kept the method as simple as possible, the same simple method I used for these rhubarb scones. If you are looking for a stuffed scone, try these apple cinnamon scones, which are a little more elaborate, but taste really great in the end!

Adding lavender to scones

These scones are flavoured with lavender buds. Make sure to always buy culinary grade lavender or lavender tea, and not potpourri, which isn't edible! There are different ways you can go about infusing baked goods with lavender (or tea leaves like Earl Grey):

1. Heat the liquid in the recipe and infuse that liquid with lavender buds (or tea leaves), just like you would if you were steeping a pot of tea. Once steeped, strain and chill overnight before making your scones. 
2. Add lavender buds to the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). That's it. This is what I did with Earl Grey tea leaves to make this Earl Grey cake, for example.

I've tested both ways and honestly, adding lavender buds straight to your dry ingredients works great. You can taste the lavender in the baked scones. The flavour comes through, without it tasting soapy.

A different way of adding a floral taste to scones would be using glaze, like with these date scones, which are a fruit scones recipe glazed with orange blossom icing.

These lavender scones have a delightfully crunchy exterior with a tender, soft interior that is infused with just enough lavender flavour without being overpowering. The scone dough isn't too sweet, which is why the white chocolate chips are a nice touch. And you will notice that, because the best scones are baked at a higher temperature, the white chocolate caramelizes, which makes these white chocolate scones even better!

For the white chocolate, you can use either white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate.  And though some might not consider it chocolate, white chocolate is a type of chocolate that I encourage you to explore for it's sweet, creamy flavour.

This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour, use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt. 

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Lavender Scones

These tender lavender scones are made with cream, lavender buds, and chunks of white chocolate, yielding a rich scone that has a light texture and isn't too sweet.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Freeze time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 356kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 10 mL dried lavender food grade
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 175 grams white chocolate chopped (or white chocolate chips)
• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking
• 15 mL Turbinado sugar or a sanding sugar that doesn't melt

Optional for serving

• unsalted butter softened
• clotted cream
• jam or marmalade

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, lavender, and salt.
• Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
• Mix in the chopped white chocolate
• With a big fork, stir in the cream just until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
• Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk.
• Transfer the disk of dough onto a lightly floured work surface.
• Using a rolling pin, roll the disk into a bigger disk between 18 and 20 cm (7 and 8 inches) in diameter. The thickness should be a little over 2.5 cm (almost 1 inch).
• Cut the dough into 10 round scones with a cookie cutter that has a diameter around 6.5 cm (2.5 inches). Gather the scraps of dough and gently press them together to be able to cut out 2 more scones. You will have 12 scones in total.
• Place the scones on a parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
• Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake the scones for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges and tops are golden brown.
• Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of cream.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour, use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt.

Nutrition

Calories: 356kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 217mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 550IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Lavender Scones with White Chocolate appeared first on The Bake School.

I have a love-hate relationship with scones. Most of the time, when I buy scones from the average cafe, they are... mediocre. Am I allowed to say that? Whatever. I just did! I can't be the only one who feels this way. I pretty much avoid scones when I go out, even if there are chocolate scones, loaded with chocolate chunks. A bad scone is downright disappointing.

So, how do you make the best scones? The secret to amazing scones: use good quality ingredients, use as little flour as possible, add cream (and butter!), do not overwork the scone dough, gentle touch. This pear and chocolate scone recipe is so good that it stands up to freezing: make a batch, bake and freeze them, and you'll see. All you need to do is reheat them in an oven for about 10 minutes to enjoy fabulous warm scones.

When you incorporate fruit into scones, you have a few options:

• add fresh fruit, like chopped rhubarb as in this rhubarb scone recipe, or chopped apple like in these apple cinnamon scones
• add canned fruit, like in the recipe below
• add dried fruit, which is a very traditional way that is common in the UK where fruit scones actually refers to scones made with dried fruit, like raisins or currants.

For these scones, I used Ocoa chocolate from Cacao Barry, which is a 70% cocoa dark chocolate with a deep cocoa flavour that’s not too sour and not too sweet. You can find it at IGA grocery stores in Quebec in 1-kilo resealable bags. If you aren’t living in Quebec, you can order it and most Cacao Barry products online via the Vanilla Food Company website and they ship across Canada and to the United States! This means that we all have access to professional quality chocolates so we can make better baked goods at home. There are many different types of chocolate for baking, so make sure to choose the best.

If you prefer white chocolate, check out these lavender scones with white chocolate.

This scone dough is a little sticky, so you are going to want to keep a pastry scraper handy to help you out. I tend to reach for plastic pastry scrapers (like this one on Amazon), but if you prefer a more sturdy metal bench scraper, go with one from Oxo, which you can also find on Amazon. A pastry scraper will help you fold the scone dough and seal in the chocolate and pear chunks. I also used a set of nesting cookie cutters that are crinkled on one side (like these on Amazon) to cut out the scones.

After much research, I noticed that for flakier scones, the scone dough is worked much like a puff pastry—rolled, folded, and turned several times to produce a layered interior that will bake up light, but moist. Rose Levy Beranbaum uses this rolling and folding technique in her flaky scones in the Bread Bible. I've used the rolling and folding technique for these 1-2-3 biscuits, where the technique added layering and structure to the dough. It's very similar to the technique used for homemade croissants and puff pastry.

If you prefer to skip this, feel free to use a disher or muffin scoop to drop portions of the scone dough on a parchment-lined sheet to bake them like drop scones.

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Pear and Chocolate Scones

The chocolate chip scones are made with chunks of dark chocolate and pear for the perfect breakfast treat.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American, British

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 251kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• 3-¼ oz scoop
• Pastry brush

Ingredients

• 312 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 5 mL ground cardamom
• 77 grams unsalted butter cold
• 250 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 1 large egg(s)
• 30 mL unsalted butter melted
• 15 mL turbinado sugar
• 75 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) chopped
• 160 grams diced canned pears in fruit juice

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200 °C). Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Set aside.
• Chop the cold butter into cubes, then dump it into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Work it into the flour rubbing/pressing gently until the mixture ressembles a coarse crumble and the flour has changed colour slightly.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream and the egg. Pour it over the buttery dry ingredients in the large bowl and mix it into the bowl. You can also use your hands. The dough will be sticky.
• Generously flour your work surface and then scrape the scone dough onto it. Pat flour over the surface of the dough as you pat it out. Dump the chopped chocolate and the pear chunks onto the dough and using a big pastry scraper, fold the dough onto itself like a letter. This will be messy, and a little sticky, but don't worry. Use a little flour if you need to. Press and fold a couple times to get the chocolate and pears into the scone dough, using a little flour if necessary. You don't want to overwork or over-handle the dough, and you don't want to incorporate too much flour.
• You can either use a very large cookie or ice cream scooper (like this on Amazon) to form divide the scones OR pat the dough out to a 1 inch thickness and cut out circles with a floured 2.5 inch cookie cutter. Place on parchment-lined sheets. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with turbinado. Gently pat together scraps to cut out as many scones as you can. You will probably get 10 to 12 scones.
• Bake the scones one sheet at a time in middle of oven for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the sheet after about 20 minutes.

  Feel free to brush the scones with more melted butter and sprinkle with more turbinado when they come out of the oven.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• I baked these muffins with Cacao Barry Ocoa chocolate, which you can find at IGA grocery stores in Quebec, or online at Vanilla Food Company.
• Freeze the cooled freshly baked scones on a parchment-lined sheet until frozen through, then transfer to a freezer bag to store.
• Reheat frozen scones at 350ºF for a good 10 minutes to warm them through.

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal

This post is sponsored by Cacao Barry.

The post Pear and chocolate scones appeared first on The Bake School.

Growing up, my parents used to buy me these fluffy bread buns from the Lebanese bakery: the buns were stuffed with date purée and flavoured with orange blossom water. I was the only person in my family who ate them, and boy did I love them.

I grew up with the flavours of orange blossom water, rose water, pistachios, and dates. And to this day, these flavours still make me smile. The orange blossom glaze combined with the chopped dates in this fruit scone recipe makes these date scones taste exactly like those buns I grew up eating. 

You have a few choices when it comes to the types of dates you can use in this recipe:

• medjool dates are the plumpest, most tender
• Noor deglet dates, which are also a great option here
• the dried pitted dates that are sold in the baking aisle. Those dried dates for baking are quite a bit drier than Medjool or Noor deglet dates, but they also work well in this recipe, surprisingly! Those dried pitted dates are also suited for a date filling where you have the opportunity to rehydrate them with water, like in date squares.  

These date scones are a variation on a fruit scone, which is a scone made with dried fruit, not fresh fruit, traditionally. If you want to make a fresh fruit scone, try these mini rhubarb scones or these apple pie scones (which are a stuffed scone!). You can also use canned fruit to make scones like for these pear and chocolate scones.

I wanted to incorporate orange blossom water in this recipe to go with the dates and cardamom, but I worried that the delicate floral flavour would get lost if I added it to the dough before baking the scones. A better way to work with delicate rose water and orange blossom water is to add them to syrups (like when you are making pistachio baklava) or in an icing, like the glaze in this recipe.

Usually, I don't glaze scones, like these lavender scones didn't need a glaze because the scones themselves had so much flavour from the lavender baked within. And though they tasted great plain, these date scones were even better glazed with the orange blossom icing.

You can easily halve this recipe, which I did for the photos, which is why you only see 6 instead of 12. And to make the glaze, I went with a very thick glaze, the kind that is just thin enough that you can drizzle it, but not so thin that it flows off the scones. This thick glaze doesn't coat the scones completely, though I suppose if you want that, you could thin it out with a little more milk. 

To make the best scones, I like to use butter and cream. For these scones, I did a few tests, just to make sure, comparing buttermilk, whole milk, and 35 % cream to make the scones. I much preferred the texture of the scones made with 35 % cream. If you prefer to use milk or buttermilk for your scones, here's what you have to do:

1. add more fat so use more butter: add an extra 58 grams (¼ cup) of cold butter, so that the total amount of butter in the recipe is 175 grams (¾ cup)
2. add a little less liquid: reduce the liquid by 60 mL (¼ cup) so use 250 mL (1 cup) of whole milk or buttermilk, or if you don't, you will either have to scoop the dough onto your prepared baking sheet OR you will need to flour generously your hands and your work surface to be able to handle the scone dough. Be warned!

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Date Scones

These tender date scones are a traditional fruit scone, made with chopped dried dates instead of raisins, and topped with a delightfully floral orange blossom water glaze

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Freeze time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 418kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL baking powder
• 10 mL ground cardamom
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 240 grams pitted dates chopped
• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking

Orange blossom water glaze

• 160 grams icing sugar
• 45 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 2.5 mL orange blossom water or rose water
• cardamom seeds freshly crushed (optional for garnish)

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt.
• Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
• Mix in the chopped chopped dates.
• With a big fork, stir in the cold cream until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
• Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk.
• Divide the dough into two.
• Working with one disk at a time, pat out the disk to a 15 cm (6 inch) diameter. The thickness should be a little around 2 cm ( 1 inch).
• Cut the dough into 6 wedges.
• Repeat with the second half of dough. You will have 12 scones in total.
• Place the scones on a parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
• Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little cream.
• Bake the scones for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges and tops are golden brown.
• Let cool slightly while making the glaze.

Orange blossom water glaze

• In a bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, milk, and orange blossom water. The glaze will be thick, but still drizzle-able. Taste and add a little more orange blossom water to your liking.
• Drizzle the glaze generously over the warm scones. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour:
  • use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt.
• Want to make this scone with whole milk instead of cream? This is how to do it:

1. Add 58 grams (¼ cup) extra butter for a total of 173 grams (¾ cup) cold butter
2. Replace the 35 % cream in the scones dough with the slightly less 3.25 % whole milk, so use 250 mL (1 cup) milk. 

Nutrition

Calories: 418kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 96mg | Potassium: 325mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 625IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 2mg

Other recipes to bake with dried dates

If you love dates as much as I do, here's a list of other recipes you can bake with dates:

• best date squares (my favourite)
• date bran muffins
• salty sweet date and chorizo loaf cake

The post Date scones appeared first on The Bake School.

Incorporating cheese in scones

The basic steps to make scones with cheese are the same as for regular scones, in that you combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl, and then work in the butter to form a sandy mixture with clumps of butter. At this stage, you add the cheese.

Once you've mixed in the shredded cheese so that it's evenly dispersed, you can work in the liquid `(in this case milk) to form the dough.

You can use a rolling pin to roll out the dough or just pat it with your hands before cutting into rounds. Patch the scraps together to cut out a total of 12 scones.

I like to brush the surface of the scones with a little milk and then sprinkle on more cheese.

Hint: Use a round cookie cutter to cut out scones evenly. I like this set of round cutters, which gives you all the size options you need to tackle any baking project!

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Scones With Cheese

These tender cream scones are a traditional scones recipe made with butter and cream. It's a great jumping off point and you can easily customize it!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Freeze time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 229kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Sheet pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Rolling pin
• Round cutters

Ingredients

• 375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 15 mL baking powder
• 5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 5 mL crushed hot pepper flakes optional
• 5 mL freshly ground black pepper optional
• 115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 140 grams shredded cheese plus extra for garnish
• 190 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, hot pepper flakes, and ground pepper.
• Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
• With your whisk, incorporate the shredded cheese.
• Stir in the cold milk until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
• Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk.
• Roll or pat out the dough to a 2.5 cm (1¼ inch) thickness.
• Cut the dough into circles using a 2¾ inch round cutter.
• Repeat with the scraps of dough, pressing them together to cut out more scones. You will have 12 scones in total using all the dough.
• Place the scones on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
• Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little milk and sprinkle with extra cheese.
• Bake the scones until the edges, bottoms, and tops are golden brown. This takes about 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour:
  • use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt

Nutrition

Calories: 229kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 244mg | Potassium: 197mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 346IU | Calcium: 140mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Scones with cheese appeared first on The Bake School.