Tag Archives: scones

Lemon Scones

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It’s been rainy and dreary here in New York. So we definitely needed something yummy, and warm and comforting.

But it’s also almost Spring (or at least it should be feeling like Spring, ahem, Mother Nature).

So I was thinking of a recipe that would be good for a rainy day but would also hint at the coming of Spring.

My thoughts immediately turned to scones. What’s better on a rainy day than a warm, buttery scone and a mug of tea?

Nothing! That’s right.

But how to spring-ify that scone?

I don’t know about you, but spring always makes me crave bright, citrusy, lemony desserts.

Bingo.

Here you have super simple, super warming scones, topped with a bright lemon sugar.

For the scone recipe you will need:

  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 2-3 tablespoons sugar (depends on how sweet you want them)
  • 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • .5 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk

Topping

  • zest of one lemon
  • 2-3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix together the dry ingredients and then add five tablespoons of cold butter.

Using a pastry cutter or two knives combine the butter with the dry ingredients.

Then make a well and add the buttermilk, stirring until the ingredients come together. You may have to get in with your hands and knead the dough a bit.

Let the dough sit for a minute while, in a bowl, you combine the lemon zest and some sugar to make your lemon sugar topping.

Break off roughly baseball sized balls of dough, loosely form in a ball and press the top into the lemon sugar.

Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or so.

Buttery, warm, comforting scones with a bright lemon zing.

Come on Spring!

Orange Cranberry Scones

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I posted a recipe for the scones I made for mom and grandma last mother’s day, and with mother’s day coming up again soon, I decided to revisit that recipe and put a new spin on it.

Granted, I didn’t do anything more than add in some orange juice to the dough.

But it’s enough of a tweak to give the scones a new taste and a nice burst of freshness.

Sometimes a tiny change to a recipe is all you need!.

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 2-3 tablespoons sugar (depends on how sweet you want them)
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • zest of one orange

Preheat the oven to 400

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

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Add the cold butter to the dry ingredients.

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If you’re fancy, you can pull out your pastry cutter to combine the butter and flour mixture. If you’re lazy, you can use your food processor to blend it all. If you’re like me, you know that your hands are the best tool. I just stick my hands in and start breaking the butter up into the flour. You want to end up with pea-size bits of dough.

Make a well in the center and pour in the orange juice and the milk.

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stir to combine.

Sprinkle in the orange zest and the dried cranberries then mix again.

The dough will be tacky.

Form into little football shapes and place on a cookie sheet.

I got 8 scones from this recipe.

Bake for 13-15 minutes.

The perfect breakfast or mid-morning snack!

The easiest scones ever. Period

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I know.

You saw the word scone and you thought, yea okay, Martha Stewart. I’m really going to make scones.

Well, really.

Yes.

You are.

Well, I am.

And then you’ll see how easy they are and then you will, too.

You’re thinking, scones? Why on earth will I ever want or need to make those? I can grab one in the morning at Starbucks if I really want one, but when in my life will there be an occasion where me making scones will be necessary or appropriate.

First, making these is cheaper than buying a breakfast pastry on your way to work.

Second, making scones is kind of impressive. I just made these for mother’s day and both my boyfriend’s mom (future mother-in-law ladies, pay attention here) and grandmother  (who is the most amazing home cook) went nuts for these.

Third, when someone asks you what you’re up to and you say making scones, you just sound so domestic. You might not know how to do your laundry without shrinking your blouse or how to get rid of that weird ring around the bathroom sink, but you say you’re making scones and you are a domestic diva in the minds of all of your friends.

And fourth. One word. Brunch. Scones are always appropriate and necessary at brunch.

But what about all that kneading and rolling out the dough? I don’t have the space for that. You promised I could make all this in my tiny kitchen.

Guess what?

No rolling out dough.

Nope.

None.

This recipe is easy, almost foolproof. And you probably already have everything you need in your kitchen. And if you don’t, then once you buy these ingredients, you’ll have all the baking basics you will need to make many more wonderful sweets.

Preheat oven to 400.

Now I hate measuring and haven’t given you precise measurements until now. But baking is different than cooking. So here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 2-3 tablespoons sugar (depends on how sweet you want them)
  • 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • .5 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk

The buttermilk is the only non basic ingredient. It’s like 2 bucks though. And you can make pancakes with it. And who doesn’t like pancakes.

So those are the ingredients for the basic scone dough.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Now, here is the trick to this recipe. This is the only important step in making these.

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The butter needs to be cold. Really cold. Take it out of the fridge right before you are going to add it to the flour mixture. Cube it and toss it into the dry ingredients. The butter being cold will make the scones flaky and will give you these little buttery pockets to bite into.

If you’re fancy, you can pull out your pastry cutter to combine the butter and flour mixture. If you’re lazy, you can use your food processor to blend it all. If you’re like me, you know that your hands are the best tool. I just stick my hands in and start breaking the butter up into the flour. You want to end up with pea-size bits of dough.

Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Grab a spoon and mix until just combined.

The dough will be tacky and have a thick paste-like thickness.

This is your basic dough.

Now, you can go wild.

I added a handful of dried cranberries because I had them on hand. But raisins, dried apples, dried peaches, chopped hazelnuts, some chocolate chips or even just a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar will work. If you want, you can bake em off plain and slather em with strawberry jam, piping hot out of the oven so the jam melts into the buttery bites.

Once you have your mix-in mixed into the dough, scoop relatively even-sized blobs of dough onto a cook sheet. I roughly form them into a football shape. These won’t spread much, so you can plop them down fairly close together. I usually get about 8 scones out of this recipe.

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I don’t go nuts about them looking perfect or being exactly the same size or shape. They will cook more evenly if they’re about the same size is all.

They take about 15 minutes. I check at the 13 minute mark and turn the pan if I need to.

Your kitchen is going to smell amazing.

These are not going to last long.

Brew a pot of coffee or some tea.

Pick out a witty British novel.

And enjoy.

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