Greenlake Guest House Blueberry Scone Recipe

Greenlake Guest House Blueberry Scone Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Baking Time: 15-20 minutes

Servings: 8

Here at Greenlake Guest House, we sometimes enjoy whipping up a batch of scones to be baked hot from the oven at breakfast time rather than a traditional coffee cake or quick bread. You can add butter or jam if you like, but in our opinion, the blueberries are juicy and sweet enough that the scones can be eaten without anything added. The scones can be prepped in the morning but we often prep them up to the baking step the night before. If we have lot of berries, we might even prep a few batches for the freezer.  Chilling or freezing the dough ahead of the baking step makes for a flakier scone. It makes a very tender, flavorful scone and it is extremely flexible. However you prep them, they are always delicious.

During the summer, we grow our own blueberries here at Greenlake Guest House. This Blueberry Scone recipe is the best one we have tried. We think it’s the perfect way to start the morning and also use our abundance of summer berries. We adapted the recipe from Leslie at Stratford Manor about 20 years ago. The freshly picked berries are nice and firm and don’t break easily when blended into the dough.

2 cups flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon finely zested orange peel (about 1 large orange)

½ stick (1/4 cup) butter, chilled

1 cup blueberries (fresh berries are ideal rather than frozen, to avoid turning the dough blue)

1 egg

½ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sanding sugar or regular granulated sugar for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add orange zest. Using a pastry blender or food processor, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course crumbs (this step only requires a few pulses with the food processor so don’t overmix it or the dough will be tough). If using a food processor, put the blended mixture back into the large bowl after this step.

Gently toss in the blueberries with a spoon or fork, trying not to break them. Use a large spoon to make a well in the center of the ingredients and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients, stirring with a fork just until moistened (do not overmix or dough will be tough). Turn dough onto a lightly floured board or parchment paper and knead lightly into a ball shape. Pat dough into a 7-inch circle. The dough can be wrapped and refrigerated or frozen at this point until you are ready to bake the scones. For best results, thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking.

Sprinkle the scones with a little sanding sugar if desired, then cut into 8-10 wedges. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet, leaving 1-2 inches between the scones.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden at the edges. Serve warm with a little butter and jam if desired.

This blueberry scone recipe is equally delicious with cranberries instead of blueberries during the holiday season. Substitute 1 cup of chopped, fresh cranberries or chopped dried cranberries for the cup of blueberries. We have also made these scones with chopped apricot and white chocolate chips (leave out the orange zest) or made them plain. We think you could also make a savory scone with a little grated cheddar cheese and green onion or chopped cooked bacon or ham if you leave out the sugar.