blueberry scones
Over the weekend I saw this recipe being made on America's Test Kitchen on PBS. They looked wonderful. I have been to their website before trying to get recipes but they want you to join and the cost is expensive as is their magazine, Cook's Illustrated. I went to the comments section, low and behold someone had posted the recipe in the comments. I made these last night and have to say they are undescribably delicious. They were plesantly crunchy on the outside, fruity and tender on the inside. The smell when they were baking was amazing, with the hint of lemon, then the perfume of the blueberries and raspberries and then a whiff of the wonderful cake like batter. I'm making these again soon. I think I will use cinnamon, apple and raisin's next. I'm not posting a prep time as these are a little time consuming but well worth the extra effort. They can be frozen and baked at a later date or refrigerated and baked the next day. Don't forget to read at the bottom of the directions, what I did different and they still turned out wonderful. I tried to take a picture but my SD card could not be read. I will post a picture when I make them next.
Blue Ribbon Recipe
Yes! These scones bake up beautifully. Bursting with blueberries and sparkling with a dusting of sugar crystals, they look as good as they taste! I piled them in a basket and they looked great on the table. The only substitution I used was to replace half of the flour with white whole wheat flour. When I bake for my family I try to use whole grains as much as possible. You absolutely could not tell that I had subbed in the "healthier" flour...still light, flaky, moist and delicious! These would be great with any kind of berry or even dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, etc.
Ingredients For blueberry scones
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1 stickunsalted butter, frozen and grated, plus 2 tbsp. melted (do not substitute, use unsalted butter)
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1 1/2 cfresh or frozen blueberries, if using frozen do not thaw
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1/2 cwhole milk
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1/2 csour cream
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2 call purpose flour (recipe said unbleached ap flour)
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1/2 csugar, plus 1 tbsp for tops
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2 tspbaking powder
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1/4 tspbaking soda
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1/2 tspsalt
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1 tspgrated lemon zest
How To Make blueberry scones
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1Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grate 8 Tbsp.(1 stick) butter on big holes of a box grater, place back in freezer. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter and set aside.
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2Wisk together milk and sour cream. Refrigerate until needed. In mixing bowl, wisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest. Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until throughly coated.
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3Add milk mixture to flour mixture; fold milk into flour with rubber spatula until just combined. Transfer dough to liberly floured work surface. Dust surface of dough with flour. With floured hands, knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it holds together in a ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking.
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4Roll dough into aprox. 12" square. Fold dough in thirds, like a business letter. Lift short ends of dough and fold into thirds again, to form aprox. 4" square. Transfer to a lightly floured plate and chill in freezer 5 min.
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5Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll aprox. 12" square. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over surface of dough, then press down so blueberries are slightly embedded. Roll dough (may have to use a bench scrapper or spatula to help lift dough) pressing to form a tight log, 12" X 4" rectangle. Use a sharp knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles (I would call them more like squares). Cut each rectangle (or square) diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to parchemnt lined baking sheet.
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6Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are brown, 18-25 minutes.
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7TO MAKE AHEAD: After placing scones on baking sheet, either refrigerate or freeze. IF REFRIGERATED: When ready to bake heat oven to 425 and follow directions in step 6. IF FROZEN: Heat oven to 375 and follow directions in step 6 and extend baking time to 25 to 30 minutes.
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8MY NOTES: 1. I used 1 cup of frozen blueberries and 1/2 c. frozen raspberries. If using frozen fruit, do not thaw. 2. I did not use the whole milk and sour cream. Instead I used 1 c. buttermilk. They still turned out great. 3. The flour I used was just All Purpose, It was not unbleached. 4. I will admitt my dough did not have much of a shaggy look to it. I suppose that could have been because I used buttermilk instead of the sour cream and whole milk. Or maybe I folded milk into flour a little more than I should have. 5. Make sure you use plenty of flour on your work surface and on top of the dough. It is a very soft and sticky dough. 6. For the sugar on buttered tops, I used Sanding Sugar. I think it made them even crunchier. 7. Next time I make these I want to try finely diced apple and raisins mixed with a little cinnamon.
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9Variation: Apple Raisin Cinnamon. Follow directions above, replace blueberries with 1 c. small diced apple, 1/2 raisins, 2 tsp. brown sugar and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Mix together well and sprinkle on dough as indicated in step 5. - Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
