Berry Lemon scones

Red, blue and white scones aka Berry lemon scones drizzled with lemon glaze Sounds perfect to celebrate 4th July! Right? If you are still wondering what to make for your breakfast on 4th of July, give this scones a try along with my Browned butter banana pancakes.

Scones were originated in Scotland. For those of you who are not familiar with Scones, they are type of flaky biscuits. Scones can resemble biscuits in appearance, but scones rely on cold butter for their delicate, flaky texture. While biscuits are more often made with vegetable shortening and are crumbly than flaky. So the texture is different and so is the taste. Both the scones and biscuits are served as breakfast/snack with coffee or tea.

All you need to know is the basic recipe and you can add the extra ingredients as per your taste/festival. Say for example add pumpkin puree and spices for Halloween/Thanksgiving, add mixed fruit bites along with chocolate for Christmas etc…

Here I have used red and blue berries to give it the festive look especially for 4th of July. Not only that, I have added lemon zest to enhance the flavors. The secret ingredient I have used here is the strawberry oil essence. That makes all the difference. It gives it beautiful aroma and taste. I bought these essence oils at one of the Craft fairs here in Nashville. You might find it in special bakery shops or on Amazon.

Last thanksgiving was the first time in my life I have ever tried making this scones. They were pretty good but I was not completely happy with it. I kept trying for few times using different recipes and finally I can proudly say that I have the perfect recipe. Which really can’t go wrong if you follow some particular techniques like the dough should be really cold when you are ready to bake them and your oven should be pre-heated. If you follow the recipe completely, I assure you will get flaky and soft scones. 🙂

Now you do not need to go to the Coffee shop to grab one of those beautiful scones, you can make it home in no time. Here you go.

Berry lemon Scones

Makes 8 medium sized scones

Ingredients:

• 1 ½  cups all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 ¼  tsp baking powder
• ¼  tsp baking soda
• ¼  tsp salt
• 3 Ounces – 6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces (salted/unsalted)
• ¼  cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup strawberry puree
• ¼ tsp strawberry extract/oil
• Zest of one big lemon about 1 tsp
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped berries – strawberry/ blueberries
• Lemon glaze (Recipe follows)

Method:

In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the lemon zest and cold pieces of butter. Now blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. You can even use your fingertips/butter-dough blender. I prefer using my handy dough blender tool because that way butter stays cold for longer time. Because the dough should be COLD when we bake the scones that way you get flaky scones.

Now add ¼ cup pureed strawberries, ¼ cup buttermilk, blueberries and mix until ingredients are just moistened. If the dough looks dry, add another tablespoon of buttermilk. Gather the dough into a ball, pressing it gently so that it holds together. Wrap it with plastic wrap and put it in fridge for at least ½ an hour. You can even refrigerate it all night and bake it in the morning.

When you are ready to bake the scones, Pre-heat the oven on 425 F (At least for 15-20 minutes).

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Pat the dough into a circle. Gently roll out the dough into a 1/4-inch thick log that is about 7 inches across. Brush the dough with heavy cream, and cut the circle into 8 wedges using knife or pizza cutter. You can even use your cookie/biscuit cutters.

Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the scones for 12-14 minutes until the tops and bottoms are golden brown. Transfer the scones to a rack to cool completely before applying the glaze.

Lemon Glaze

• 1  cup powdered sugar
• 1  Tbsp or so of lemon juice

Place the sugar in a bowl. Add lemon juice to make the icing thin enough to drizzle. Add more sugar if too thin and add more juice if too thick. Drizzle the icing over the scones using spoon or fork.

Enjoy with your morning coffee or afternoon coffee! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!