Blackberry Scones

I'm getting close to my due date which means that I need to try and cook/bake as much as possible before I get banned from my kitchen.

Blackberries were the inspiration for these scones, but they were just as good without the blackberries, too.  They were light and lemony.  I think you could easily use this as a base for other berries or even chocolate chips.

Thanks to Joanne and Adam Gallagher of Inspired Taste for creating this recipe!  The website has a great step-by-step tutorial as well.  Grating butter is definitely the way to go for maximum butter distribution.  I had to substitute yogurt for sour cream which made the batter a little too moist but I just dropped them like biscuits and baked them for 16 minutes.  This yielded 12 smaller scones for me.

Blackberry Scones

You Will Need

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup sour cream, cold
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1 container (6 oz) fresh blackberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and baking soda.
3. Now, use a box grater to grate butter into flour mixture OR cut the butter into small cubes then work in with fingers until mixture looks like coarse meal.
4. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, egg and lemon zest with a fork then add to flour and butter. Use the fork to stir everything together until just moistened. Add blackberries and gently stir into dough. Don't worry if some of the berries are smooshed or crushed a bit.
5. Empty the loose dough out onto a clean, floured work surface then shape the dough into a 7-inch circle then cut the dough into 8 wedges and carefully transfer to the baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of each scone with the remaining sugar and bake 14 to 16 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes and Tips

Use a box grater with large holes for grating the stick of butter, and make sure it’s very cold for best results.

Store cooled scones in an airtight container at room temperature 1 to 2 days or in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days. They can also be frozen up to 3 weeks.