Scones are weird. I have done much research on what is supposed to be an authentic or traditional scone. There is much variance on recipes, ratio of ingredients in the recipes, some are so hard you need to soak them in tea to make them edible and others so delicate and dry they have a hard time staying together. Some were baked at a low temp forever, some at ridiculously high heat – both in an attempt to get a nice golden brown crust.

For as many variations I found in recipes I found just as many opinions about what made a scone good. Some people felt it had to be brick like, heavy and hard as a rock. I had others who thought to be traditional it needed to have a thicker, hard crust and a  dry, dense crumb. Some people thought it was just a sweet biscuit, others a cookie. So I said fuck it, who cares wtf anyone thinks the damn things should be…what do I want to stuff in my face hole.

I like a scone that has a nice crisp crust, but not hard. I like the crumb to be tender, moist and dense. I like the color to be a nice brown and I do NOT want them to be dry – never ever ever ever dry. And so was developed my scone recipe. I have no idea what a scone “should” be…its on my list of things to seek out when I get my ass across the pond…but until then I like these scones. This is a fruit variation with lemon zest. I use blueberries, they are pretty sturdy and hold up to the abuse without getting obliterated; raspberries or blackberries would work, but you will def see more fruit smooshing bleed out in your dough.

Blueberry Lemon Scones

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Butter, COLD and cubed
• 1 cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen will work, use frozen from frozen)
• zest of a Lemon
• 2 cups Heavy Cream plus extra for brushing them down

Preheat the oven to 425, rack in the center. You will need 2 parchment lined half trays.

I use the food processor to make this faster. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter in the work bowl and pulse down until it is the consistency of coarse meal and all of the butter is completely incorporated. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add the blueberries and lemon zest, fold in gently so as not to smash the hell out of the berries.

Fold in berries and lemon zest

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and fill it with the cream. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold the cream into the dry gently. You do NOT want to over work this dough, the less you fool with it the better. It will not be pretty when you’re done, it will be rough, it will have wet spots and dry spots. I promise as long as it had come together into a ball of dough you are just fine.

A big gloppy mess. Perfect!

Put a layer of flour on the counter and dump the dough out onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour and press out into a square, about 1″ thick. Square up the edges. Dough should press out to be approximately 10″ x 10″, a little bigger ok, smaller and the dough may be too thick. Most important thing – make sure the dough is evenly pressed.

Press the dough out evenly into a square

Use a knife to cut the square into 4 strips, each about 2.5″ wide. Cut the square the other way into 3 slices around 3″ wide. You will have created 12 mini rectangles within the big square – you’re pretty awesome.  Cut each square into 2 triangles and transfer them to the parchment lined trays. They won’t spread a ton while baking, but 12 per tray should be perfect. Once trayed brush the top with heavy cream and bake for 20-25 minutes, until baked through and golden brown. Cool 20 minutes before glazing.

I wish pictures could capture aroma :)

Lemon Glaze

I use this on lots of things that need lemon glazing. Super easy and by itself tastes like lemonheads. Not that I would ever just eat something like lemon glaze.

• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• juice of 2 Lemons
• zest of 1 Lemon