A Better Scone?

Probably not. A different scone? That's more like it :) I am a lover of scones - all kinds, especially those laced with apricots, blueberries, and dried cherries. What I don't love about them is...the calories. Usually laden with tons of butter and cream, scones may not be the best way to start your day if you are trying to walk the healthy road. Not to say that I don't eat them, because I definitely do, but sometimes, I try to find/create a recipe that might be a little lighter. These scones don't try to be what I consider to be a "regular" scone, but they are something different - with moist, cakey texture, not too sweet and similar to a muffin top.

The scone recipe was adapted from a Tyler Florence recipe that got great reviews . Again, I am using wild blueberries left over from my trip to Maine last week - I also made the muffins that I made last year when I came home with piles of wild blueberries. If you ever have a chance to get some, do it! They are wonderfully sweet and the color is amazing.

Wild Blueberry Scones (adapted from Tyler Florence)

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour, plus more for rolling berries

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut in chunks

3/4 cup buttermilk*

1 egg

1 pint fresh wild blueberries**

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and mix until uniform.

3. Cut in butter using 2 forks or a pastry blender. A few reviewers noted that they used a food processor to make the dough - I may try that next time. The butter pieces should be coated with flour and resemble crumbs.

4. In another bowl, mix buttermilk (or milk + vinegar*) and egg together, and then add to the flour mixture. Mix just to incorporate, don't overmix.

5. Roll blueberries in flour to coat to prevent berry sinkage. Fold the blueberries into batter, being careful not to bruise too many (it was impossible not to get a few of them juicy). Drop large tablespoons of batter on an ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly brown on top.

Notes

* No buttermilk in my house this week...so I made my own using skim milk and vinegar (instructions found here). It works out just fine!

** Regular cultivated blueberries would also be fine; some reviews that I have read for different blueberry scones recipes (I hope you don't think I get lucky with recipes :), I considered about 10 different scone recipes before giving this one a go - my husband gets to come home from work and see me surrounded by cookbooks - I should have taken a picture of that!) indicate that the blueberries hold up better when used frozen. Maybe they don't burst or get as juicy as the fresh ones - I particularly like when they "blow-up" so I would go fresh, but I'm sure either way is just fine.

***I tried another recipe awhile back that was fairly nutritious for cranberry scones - it also used a reduced amount of butter and skim milk instead of whole milke & cream. The texture is similar and they were delicious as well.