My Favorite Scones

I apologize if two breakfast posts in a row seems a bit repetitive.........but I made these scones for breakfast this morning and thought they might be a tasty Father's Day treat if you're not up to making the Belgian Waffles I blogged about earlier this week.

I don't think I've ever met a scone I didn't like.

These are my absolute favorite.  They're a perfect combo of lemon, blueberry and cornbread.  What's not to love about that?

Happy Father's Day!

Lemon-Blueberry-Cornmeal Scones
Printable Recipe

• nonstick cooking spray (like Pam)
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into little pieces
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• sanding sugar or large-crystal sugar

Icing ingredients

• 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

Gather all of your ingredients.  There sure are a lot of them!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Stir dry ingredients to combine.

The butter needs to be cut into little pieces and added to the dry ingredients.  I like to grate it right into the bowl.

If you think of it, freeze the butter ahead of time.  That way it won't melt in your hands so quickly while you're grating it.

Using two knives (or a pastry cutter), cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles course crumbs.  This doesn't really take too much effort when you have already grated the butter.

Grate the lemon peel.

Combine the buttermilk and egg with the lemon peel.

Stir until it's thoroughly combined.

Make a little well in your dry ingredients.  Add the buttermilk mixture into the well, and stir with a fork just until moistened.  Do not over-stir!

Put the frozen berries in a small bowl and add the cornstarch. 

Stir the berries lightly to coat with the cornstarch.

Add the berries to the flour mixture and stir very gently, 4 or 5 times, just until berries are incorporated.

Do not over mix.

Turn off the lights.  Just kidding.  Photo-lighting difficulties.

Use a large spoon to drop dough into 8 mounds on your baking sheet. Try to make the mounds as tall as possible and leave as much space as possible between them, but realize that when they cook they will probably all run together.  It's okay if that happens.

Sprinkle with the sanding/large-crystal sugar.

Place the baking sheet into your oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.  You want to cook them until the tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when you test them.

While the scones are baking, prepare the lemon icing.

Take the bald lemon which you grated the rind off of, and juice it.

Add one tablespoon of the juice to the confectioners sugar, and whisk it together.  You want the sugar/lemon juice to be of a drizzling consistency; if necessary, add a bit more lemon juice until the consistency is right.

(Suggested use for the few tablespoons of lemon juice that will be left over: enjoy a nice, tall glass of fresh lemonade.  Stir a few tablespoons of sugar into the lemon juice, add it to a tall glass of iced water and stir.)

Drizzle the icing on the scones while they are still warm.

Serve immediately.

You can also reheat them in your microwave.

Mmmmmm.