The Art.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I hosted a tea party for all my dearest friends, brewing up six pots of tea and baking all kinds of goodies. Among them were these delicious blueberry scones-- I based the recipe off of the Lemon Scones I posted previously. Of course, if one is a high tea hostess, one must dress the part! I made certain my uniform was starched and pressed, including my vintage yellow tea apron. I loved how it matched my china so much I got someone to take a picture of them together. The only thing that pleases me more than pretty china and tea aprons is sharing delicious scones with friends.
The Science.
If some of you have looked at this recipe and turned your nose up at the dried blueberries, you are snobs...that take after my own heart. I usually advocate for using fresh fruit whenever possible, but I made an exception here. Fresh blueberries have a high water content, like most fruit, and they also have a high amount of pigment. If you bake them in cookies or cakes or scones, the water and pigment bleed out into the dough and give everything a greenish-blue tinge that I find unattractive. And we can't have unattractive scones, can we? So, the simple solution is to bake with dried blueberries. They keep your dough the right color and add a nice, concentrated punch of blueberry flavor.
The Recipe.
(Makes 16 scones)
4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) salted butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs
3/4 cup lowfat milk
4 oz (one bag) dried blueberries
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice from one lemon
Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then drop in the pieces of butter. If you have a mixer with a pastry attachment, you can blend the butter in on low speed. Alternatively, you can crumble it in with your fingertips or a pastry blender. Continue blending until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and the milk. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the dry mixture on low speed. Once combined, fold in dried blueberries.
Roll dough out onto a floured surface into a square that is 1 inch thick. Cut scones by cutting the dough into 16 trianges. Bake on a cookie sheet on center rack for 17-20 minutes, or until tops are light golden. While the scones cool, make the lemon glaze by stirring together the lemon juice and powdered sugar. Drizzle glaze over scones and serve!
