Scones are one thing I’ve always avoided ordering when I’m out because they’re usually just not worth it. I have yet to have a truly delicious scone in a restaurant. But who knows that could change someday. For now, I just make them at home. Then I know they’re not going to be crumbly and dry, with the texture of sawdust!
The key to a good scone is good butter – plain and simple- and there’s no skimping on the butter around here. Just think of it as a treat, there’s no point in trying to cut back on the butter. It will ruin the texture and taste of your baked good (any baked good for that matter). I remember the day I got one of my favorite cookbooks in the mail. I sat down that evening read ‘Once Upon a Tart’ and they quickly won my heart when they described customers asking for a low fat scone. They would simply respond to the query with, ‘just eat half’, and I couldn’t express it any better myself!
There’s nothing like fresh, buttery baked goods on a weekend morning. And it’s even better when I get to take these scones along for a hiking weekend. You can only imagine the looks of envy we get from other campers, or other photographers for that matter. We like to set up for a sunrise, and once we’re in place, we break out the homemade baked goods, and make fresh coffee.
Fresh blueberries work the best in scones. You can use frozen berries, but they will turn the batter purple which will bake into grey colored scones. They taste fine, but the color is not as pretty.
For the flakiest scones, I like to work the butter in like I would for a pie crust. I add the butter into the flour mixture in thin slices. Then using my hands I make a smearing motion working the butter into the flour between my palms. You want to work fairly quickly so the butter doesn’t get too warm. I also like to leave fairly big pieces of butter showing, (see the above photo). This creates flaky layers as the scones bake.
Then the blueberries are mixed in…
… and finally the liquid is added.
Then you lightly roll the dough into a round before cutting the round into 8 triangular pieces.
I brush the tops with buttermilk before baking, and you can sprinkle them with sugar if you want to skip the glaze.
The glaze comes together easily in a saucepan, and then I poured mine into a squeeze bottle to make it easier to decorate the tops of the scones.
We’ve really been enjoying these over slow easy going mornings, and I can’t wait to take them along on some photography trips. I have a post coming soon for a Summer Bucket List for 2017, and one thing on that list is to watch a sunrise with coffee and something baked. So at least I know what I’m making for that! 4.8 from 10 reviews The nutritional information is calculated using Namaste gluten free flour. To reduce the number of calories per serving, try making the scones half the size. These are large, bakery style scones, so they can easily be made smaller!
