Blueberry Coffeecake Scones

These scones are AMAZINGLY delicious. They take a little bit of extra work, but it is so worth it. They have a cake-like texture and the crumb topping with the blueberries is oh so yummy. This recipe came from my trusty Simply Scones cookbook.

You can even do a lot of the prep work ahead of time. I like to mix up the dry ingredients the night before, so all I have to do is add the butter and wet ingredients in the morning. I've even made the crumb topping ahead too. Just cover it with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. In the morning it will take half the time to whip these up for breakfast.

Blueberry Coffeecake Scones
Makes 8 scones

Scones:
2-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter*, chilled (or if you use salted, omit the 1/2 tsp salt)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp dried or fresh grated lemon peel
1 to 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries

Crumb Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter*, chilled

Preheat oven to 375-F. Lightly butter an 11-inch-diameter circle in the center of a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture. With a pasty blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Or, use a cheese grater to grate the butter in (that is how I do it.)

*I highly recommend using unsalted butter for scones. It just gives them a nicer flavor. If you bake a lot, it's a good idea to keep a couple of packages of unsalted butter around.

In a small bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, vanilla and lemon peel. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine. The dough will be sticky. With lightly floured hands, gently mix in the blueberries until evenly distributed.

Put more flour on your hands :-) and pat the dough into a 9-inch-diameter circle in the center of the prepared baking sheet.

To prepare the crumb topping, in a small bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Or, use the cheese grater method.

Sprinkle the topping lightly into the dough. Press it in a bit. With a sharp knife (or a rolling pizza cutter!), cut the circle into 8 wedges. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone, comes out clean. Now, I usually tell you not to over-bake things, but it's ok with scones to get them a little browner if that's what it takes to get the insides cooked all the way.

Remove from oven and let cool about 10 minutes. Re-cut into wedges and serve.

Happy Baking!