Recipe- Bake These Beautiful Blueberry Scones

It’s only been a week since I came back from my vacation and in these 7 days I must have thought about baking a million things! Well didn’t I say I am addicted to baking! Hmm it’s not that I didn’t bake in India, I did a LOT but the comfort of baking in your kitchen is something else. I have all the ingredients here plus I know my oven. You know how it is, it takes some time to get familiar with an oven so yeah back home I had to start from scratch plus the oven was so small.

Anyway so finally today I got around making these beautiful blueberry scones. Why scones? because they have been on my “to bake” list for long now, like really long. So when I got this huge box of fresh blueberries from Costco the other day I just had to make these scones. Aren’t they beautiful!

I took out my butter out of the fridge, cut it into small cubes and then kept it in the freezer for an hour or so. Why do we need very cold butter for making scones? The chilled butter is cut into the flour till is resembles bread crumbs. When you put the scones to bake, the fat in the butter evaporates which leads to steam, which further leads to air pockets resulting in a flaky texture which is a must for scones! This is what I love about baking – everything is scientific and is done for a reason.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup salted butter cut into small cubes and chilled
1 large egg
½ cup heavy cream some more to brush on top
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries heaping [fresh or frozen]
Turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top

Method

* Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

* Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.

* In a bowl whisk together all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar.

* Add the cubed chilled butter and cut into the flour using a pastry blender (or use your hands) till the flour resembles bread crumbs.

* In another bowl whisk together egg, vanilla and cream.

* Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture in parts.

* Add in the blueberries and mix everything together to form a dough. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

* Transfer the dough to a lightly floured working surface. Knead the dough once or twice to make it all smooth.

* Using your hands shape the dough into an 8 inch disc of about 1 inch thickness.

* Cut into 8 equal wedges using a very sharp knife.

* Transfer the scones to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

* Brush the scones with some heavy cream using a pastry brush and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top.

* Bake at 400 F degrees for 20-25 minutes or till scones are firm to touch and turn light golden brown.

* Take out from the oven and sprinkle some more turbinado sugar on top (optional).

* Serve warm with butter or fruit preserve.