These buttery pastries are filled with summer’s best berries. Serve them with hot coffee or tea for a wonderful start to the day!
Summer usually means at least one trip to our , where picking a gallon is an easy pleasure and fingers turn purple-red from secretly taste testing the goods. We’re not venturing out much these days, so when I get my hands on fresh berries – even the store bought kind – I want to celebrate them! These scones are a beautiful way to use the season’s best berries.
As a well-practiced maker, I’ve tried almost every technique for cutting butter into flour. Scones are very biscuit-like, and my favorite way to make them is with grated frozen butter. It takes a bit of work on the large holes of a box grater, but it’s well worth the end result. The frozen pieces of butter evenly disperse throughout the flour, and stay cold throughout mixing and forming. As the dough bakes, the cold butter releases steam which gives the pastry light, fluffy texture.
I used whole blueberries, blackberries and chopped strawberries. I imagine whole fresh raspberries would work nicely in this recipe also.
The mixed dough will be ragged and a little crumbly. You could knead it together at this stage, but I prefer to handle the dough as little as possible. Instead of kneading, I squeeze the dough together and pack it under my palms to shape it into a circle. Overworking the dough will lead to scones that are tough with a chewy texture, instead of light and flaky. If kneading feels more intuitive to you, use a light hand and knead just until the dough comes together.
Cover and refrigerate the dough before cutting it for the neatest slices. It’s very important to use a sharp chef’s knife! You want the berries to slice without resistance. A dull knife will drag the berries through the dough and it will tear and crumble your neatly fashioned circle.
Ready for the oven!
The scones should bake to a light golden exterior, and come out of the oven in slightly less perfect form than they went in. Corners will not be as sharp. Remember, these are rustic beauties! They are supposed to develop crags and crackles on their tops.
I loved these with a zigzag of confectioners’ glaze, but you could also dust them with powdered sugar. If you’re looking for something less sweet, then just leave ‘em plain!
Be well, all of you! xo -h
Yields 8 scones
Scones
2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
6 tablespoons (85g) frozen unsalted butter
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (3 oz.) fresh blueberries
1/2 cup (3 oz.) chopped fresh strawberries
1/2 cup (3 oz.) fresh whole blackberries
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream, plus more for brushing scones
2 large eggs
Glaze
1 cup (114g) confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; whisk to aerate and combine.
Grate the frozen butter on the large hole side of a box grater. Immediately add the butter to the flour mixture and stir until the pieces are well-dispersed. *Alternatively, you can cut cold butter (not frozen butter) into the flour using a pastry blender or the tines of a fork.
Stir in the lemon zest. Add the berries and toss in the flour mixture to coat.
In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and eggs. Add the cream mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold together gently using a large rubber spatula until a ragged, shaggy dough is formed.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper or a lightly floured work surface. Using your hands, pack and form the shaggy dough into a 6-inch circle (alternatively, knead until the dough just comes together). Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Use a large sharp chef’s knife to cut the circle into 8 triangles. Transfer the slices to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream.
Bake 20-22 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown. Let cool before glazing.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Whisk together until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cooled scones.
