Whenever I’m home from college, I make full use of my kitchen — so much so that I am limited to baking only after the last batch of treats is gone.
My goal this spring break was to trick myself into thinking we’re already in spring, by making a dessert that highlights citrus fruits and warm, lighter flavors — lemon blueberry scones with a lemon glaze.
I wanted to bridge the gap between winter and summer.
Making scones was a first for me, so I anticipated some struggles along the way, but it went pretty smoothly.
I wouldn’t say these scones were made with love — more like determination, mixed with some fear in hopes they’d turn out well and that I didn’t waste several lemons and heaps of blueberries.
The whole ordeal took me a little over two hours, including prep and baking time, so it’s not something you can quickly put together.
I started by combining all of my dry ingredients: flour, sugar, fresh lemon zest, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
It was funny to learn that it only takes one tablespoon of lemon zest to transform these scones from plain blueberry to lemon-blueberry.
Then, I grated a stick of unsalted frozen butter (frozen is key, not refrigerated, as I later learned) and combined it with my dry ingredients.
You can use a pastry cutter or two forks to combine, but I chose to blend the mixture with my fingers until it resembled several pea-sized crumbs. I let that sit in the freezer while I worked on the wet ingredients.
I combined heavy cream, one egg and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup. Then, I removed the mixture from the freezer, slowly drizzling the wet ingredients over the dry and added a cup of frozen blueberries to the mix.
I actually prefer frozen over fresh blueberries when it comes to baking. For one, they are more convenient and frozen blueberries retain their shape and texture better, preventing them from bursting and becoming mushy in baked goods.
With all the ingredients in one bowl, I gently mixed them with a spatula. Next, I lightly floured a large cutting board and worked the dough into a ball, but it was too dry — this is when some panic started to set in.
I added another tablespoon of heavy cream to moisten it. Once I worked with it enough to resemble a blue loaf, I pressed it into an eight-inch disk, one inch thick and cut into eight wedges.
After sectioning off the pieces, I brushed a mixture of heavy cream and water onto the dough.
At this point, I thought my dough might be too moist, so I carefully separated the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and stored it in the fridge for about 20 minutes while I dealt with the mess in my kitchen.
I started on the glaze, which was pretty simple: just combine three tablespoons of fresh lemon juice with a cup of confectioner’s sugar. If you don’t want to make a glaze, I recommend adding coarse sugar to the dough with the heavy cream before refrigerating.
After there was enough counter space available, I took out the scones and separated them; four on each tray.
They baked for about 22 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and filled my house with the best smell.
In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t cook all eight on one baking sheet because they expanded a lot and would have overflowed onto the oven racks.
I was so excited they came out beautifully and used all my self-control to let them cool for 10 minutes before drizzling on the lemon glaze.
Within a day, half of them were gone.
Scones are fun to make because you can get creative with different flavor combinations, whether sweet or savory, and they can be justifiably eaten at any time of day.
Breakfast? Sure. Snack? Yup. Little tea time? Absolutely.
I would definitely make these again. The scones were light, fluffy and tasted delicious. And they looked beautiful — the aesthetic alone made the two and a half hours of my life worth repeating.
Baking them felt like a small victory, and the best way to welcome a new season.
