Ridiculously Easy Lemon Blueberry Scones

Bursting with sweet, juicy blueberries, these melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Blueberry Scones are beyond delicious and ridiculously easy to make!

There’s something about blueberries in baked goods that just seems to be a match made in heaven. Our Copycat Starbucks Blueberry Muffins, our Honey Glazed Blueberry Bran Muffins and our Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake are some of the most popular recipes on the blog. These Lemon Blueberry Scones are sure to become a favorite too!

Ridiculously Easy!

You might be asking “Can scones really be easy?” Yes, they can!

Years ago, I discovered an amazing little trick that made the process of putting together biscuits and scones super easy. But before we get to that, let me explain the secret to melt-in-your-mouth delicious scones (and tender, flaky biscuits).

It starts with cold butter which is “cut” into a dry mixture of flour, leavening agents, salt and sometimes sugar. This cutting technique is frequently done with a pastry cutter, two knives, a fork, or with your fingers. The result of this “cutting” process is tiny lumps of butter distributed throughout the dry ingredients. When some type of wet ingredient, usually buttermilk or cream, is added to the mix, the little bits of cold butter stay suspended in the dough.

When the scones or biscuits hit the hot oven, the water in the butter evaporates, creating little pockets of steam. As the steam escapes, the scones rise up and create a light, tender, flaky, super delicious finished product.

This cutting technique isn’t rocket science, and for chefs or little southern grandmothers who make biscuits every day, it’s a piece of cake. But to me, the whole cutting process is a bit of a pain and, because of that, I didn’t attempt biscuits or scones very often. But all that changed a while back when I was flipping through a Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

A brilliant technique!

I came across an article about biscuits that forever changed my wanna-be-a-biscuit-maker life. Instead of cutting or rubbing butter into the flour Cook’s Illustrated shared a technique that was revolutionary to me.

How does it work? Simply melt a stick of butter in the microwave (or stovetop if you’re without a microwave) and place a cup of heavy cream in the freezer. While the butter’s cooling a bit and the cream is getting nice and cold, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Once the cream is nicely chilled, remove it from the freezer and stir in the melted butter with a fork. As you stir, little lumps of butter will form and be suspended in the cream. Then just add the cream mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl, stir and… VOILA! The same little bits of butter will now be incorporated throughout the dough, without all that cutting or rubbing!

Check it out:

See what I mean? So much easier, actually ridiculously easy! I loved this technique so much that I’ve been running with it and using it for all kinds of biscuit and scone recipes. Our readers responded so positively to this easy method of making delicious biscuits that I was prompted to create a whole category of recipes called Ridiculously Easy. All of our scone and biscuit recipes are in this collection but there are also one-bowl cakes, cookies and all sorts of other easy, delicious recipes.

You can read all about these Ridiculously Easy recipes in this post and check out the whole collection here, but my nutshell definition of these fabulous recipes is “recipes that make you look like a kitchen rock star with minimal effort on your part.” So there you have it!

Options

There are a number of different options when making these Lemon Blueberry Scones. You can scoop them up, as pictured in this post. You can also dump the dough out onto a work surface and form it into a 1½-2-inch tall disc, then cut the disc into wedges for more traditional shaped scones. Another option is to pat the dough into a rectangle, again 1½-2 inches tall, and cut circular scones with a biscuit cutter.

Another variable for these scones is the finishing touches. I like to brush the scones with a little butter and sprinkle them with cane sugar, which is just slightly coarser than regular granulated sugar.

If I’m feeling a little fancy, I combine a cup of powdered sugar with some lemon juice and milk (or cream) and make a glaze.

You could also sprinkle them with powdered sugar for a pretty presentation. All of these options are delicious, you get to choose!

One last option

Give them away! These Lemon Blueberry Scones are so delicious that I would be tempted to eat WAY too many if I didn’t give most of them away. We’ve created a pretty label for gifting (pictured below).

Feel free to request these free printable labels in the comment section below. We’ll email you the PDFs for the labels as well instructions on how to use them.

Blueberry season

Scott and I visited a beautiful blueberry farm yesterday, not far from where we live, here in the mountains of North Carolina. Although the berries weren’t quite ready, the bushes were hanging heavy and the proprietor of the farm promised LOTS ripe berries sometime in the next two weeks. Meanwhile, I’ve been picking up beautiful blueberries from states south of us and they’ve been sweet, plump and super juicy.

Don’t let the season pass without making a batch of these fabulous, Ridiculously Easy Lemon Blueberry Scones!

Café Tips for making these Ridiculously Easy Lemon Blueberry Scones

• I like to use fresh blueberries to make these scones. Frozen berries tend to bleed more into the batter, but if you decide to use frozen, keep them in the freezer until right before adding them to the dough.
• If your cream mixture doesn’t form the “clumps” or “globules”, your cream probably wasn’t cold enough. You can stick the whole mixture in the freezer for another 5-8 minutes, then stir with a fork and you should see the clumps.
• Don’t overmix the dough, but make sure all of the flour at the bottom of the bowl is incorporated before forming the scones.
• Be sure to refrigerate or freeze the scones for at least 15 minutes before baking. This helps the butter to chill again which creates tender scones. It will also help the scones to keep their shape.
• The moisture content of different kinds of butter and flour, as well as humidity in the air, can cause scones to spread out while baking, If that happens, here’s a little trick to make them look more attractive. When you remove them from the oven, they will still be somewhat soft and flexible. You can use two soup spoons or two small metal spatulas to push them back into a nice circular shape. Just place the inner surfaces of the spoons (or the flat bottom edges of the metal spatulas) on either side of the scones and gently coerce them into a prettier shape. Once the scones cool, they will be firm, so if you decide to do this, be sure to do it while they’re hot out of the oven.
• You can prep these scones several hours ahead of time. Just scoop them up onto your sheet pan, cover them with plastic wrap, and pop the whole tray into the refrigerator. When ready to bake, transfer to the oven and bake as directed. They will take a minute or two longer to bake.
• You can also make these Lemon Blueberry Scones and freeze them, unbaked. Pull as many as you want out of the freezer and bake as directed, adding about 3-5 minutes extra to the total baking time. You want to look for a pretty golden brown color.
• I use a medium-large (4 tablespoons) retractable ice cream/cookie scooper to portion out consistent-sized scones. A medium-large scoop will yield about 12 scones. If you use a larger scoop the yield will be closer to 8.
• Scoops are also super helpful for lots of other recipes. I like this set of scoopers that includes small, medium and medium-large sizes (I use the biggest one in this set for my scones which is 4 tablespoons).
• I spray my cookie scoop with a non-stick cooking spray which makes scooping up the scones really easy.
• This recipe calls for lining a sheet pan with parchment paper. This is optional but is nice for easy cleanup. I love these pre-cut parchment paper sheets. They come in a flat box for easy storage, are perfect for cookies, scones, biscuits, cake, etc. and a box will last forever.
• This batter is quite thick. You’ll want a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to stir it. At first, it might seem like all the flour mixture will not be incorporated, but keep going. All of a sudden it will be all mixed in. Don’t be tempted to add more liquid.
• If you decide to glaze these scones, as pictured above, you may not need all of the icing and some of it will drip onto the foil or sheet pan.

Thought for the day:

But the Lord is faithful,
and he will strengthen you
and protect you from the evil one.
1 Thessalonians 3:3

What we’re listening to for inspiration:

The Goodness of God

If you enjoy this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.

Ridiculously Easy Lemon Blueberry Scones

Bursting with sweet, juicy blueberries, these melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Blueberry Scones are beyond delicious and ridiculously easy to make!

Author: Chris Scheuer

Prep Time:
20 mins

Cook Time:
20 mins

Total Time:
40 mins

Servings: 12

Calories: 343 kcal

Ingredients

For the scones:

• 1
  cup
  heavy cream
• 8
  tablespoons
  butter
  (I use salted)
• 2
  cups
  plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ½
  cup
  sugar
• 1
  tablespoon
  baking powder
• ½
  teaspoon
  baking soda
• ½
  teaspoon
  salt
• zest of 1 medium size lemon
• 1 ¼
  cups
  fresh blueberries

For the sugar topping:

• 1
  tablespoon
  melted butter
• ¼
  cup
  cane or coarse sugar

If you decide to use the glaze instead of the sugar topping:

• 2
  cups
  powdered sugar
• 3
  tablespoon
  milk or half and half
• 1
  tablespoon
  fresh lemon juice

Instructions

For the scones:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Set an oven rack on the middle level of the oven. Measure 1 cup of heavy cream and place in the freezer while proceeding with the recipe. (You want the cream to be in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.)

2. Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and heat on high for 1 minute. If not completely melted, return to microwave for 10-second intervals till melted. Set aside to cool a bit while prepping other ingredients.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a medium-size bowl. Stir to combine.

4. After heavy cream has been chilled in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, combine it with the melted butter. Stir with a fork until butter forms small clumps or globules (see the picture above in the post).

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter/cream mixture and the blueberries. Stir gently with a rubber spatula from the bottom up, working your way around the bowl until all flour is incorporated and the batter pulls away from the sides of the bowl. At first, it will seem like there’s too much flour. Keep stirring and it will all mix in. The batter will be very thick, like cookie dough. Don’t over-mix it, but you do want to make sure all the little flour bits are incorporated.

6. Spray a cookie scooper (see notes above) or large spoon with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop up scones in mounds onto prepared pan. When you scoop, try to get some of the blueberries into each portion. Space the scones 2-inches apart to allow for some spreading. Brush the scones with the melted butter and sprinkle with the cane (or coarse) sugar.

7. Refrigerate scones for at least 15 minutes or longer. If you don’t have room for a sheet pan in your refrigerator, put them on a plate then add them to the sheet pan before baking.

8. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer to a wire cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

If you decide to go with the lemon glaze instead of the sugar topping:

1. Skip brushing the scones with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Instead, while the scones are baking, make the lemon glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, milk (or half and half) and lemon juice in a medium-size bowl. Whisk well until smooth to make a thick, but spoonable glaze. (If the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar, if too thick add a little more cream.)

2. Place a sheet pan or piece of foil under the cooling rack and spoon the glaze over scones to cover completely, allowing any excess to drip onto the sheet pan or foil. Try to cover all the little cracks and crevices with glaze.

3. If you can wait, let scones sit for 15 minutes to let the glaze set before serving.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.

Nutritional information does not include the optional powdered sugar glaze.

Calories 343kcal

Fat 16g

Saturated fat 10g

Trans fat 0.3g

Polyunsaturated fat 1g

Monounsaturated fat 4g

Cholesterol 46mg

Sodium 220mg

Potassium 163mg

Carbohydrates 48g

Fiber 1g

Sugar 30g

Protein 3g

Vitamin A 576%

Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 67%

Iron 1%