healthy glazed lemon-blueberry scones
September 13th, 2009
Ah…scones. :) So delightful. So delicious. So versatile. And more often than not…so unhealthy!!
Oh my word. I was browsing around online for scone recipes this week, and was shocked by how much cream, butter, sugar, and all-purpose flour usually go into these seemingly nutritious little guys! For years, I’d always assumed that since scones are often slightly bland that they were healthy. (And a quick poll of my friends revealed similar guesses!) But heavens, no. It seems that most recipes pack more calories/fat than regular cookies or cupcakes.
Thus, I went on a mission to create a healthier alternative. Thankfully, I didn’t have to look long, and randomly stumbled across this recipe for blueberry whole-wheat and olive oil scones. Added in some lemon for extra zing (love any lemon+blueberry combination!), and then proceeded to make is slightly less healthy by adding a simple glaze. But they were delightful! The texture was great, they were full of flavor, and best of all — they make a deliciously healthy breakfast!
I may or may not have already made two batches… :)
(Adapted from Dinner With Julie)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup olive or canola oil
- 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
- 1 cup fresh or frozen berries (don’t thaw them)
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Put the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor or into a medium mixing bowl and pulse or stir until well blended. Add the butter and oil and pulse or stir with a wire whisk or fork until crumbly. If you’re using a food processor, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
Add the milk and berries and stir gently just until the dough is combined.
Pat the dough into a circle that is about 1” thick and 8”-9” in diameter on the cookie sheet. (If they are sweet and you want a brown, crunchy top, brush them with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar.) Cut the circle into 8 wedges with a knife or pastry cutter and separate them on the sheet so that they are at least an inch apart.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven.
If you would like to add glaze, stir together lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl until well-blended. (Feel free to add more/less powdered sugar to make the glaze your desired consistency.) Brush or drizzle glaze on top of cooled scones (or if you’re impatient like me, brush while they’re warm), and serve.
Ali’s Tip:
If you end up opting to pass on the glaze, feel free to add in an extra teaspoon or two of lemon peel to the scones to give them an extra kick of lemon. You could also sprinkle a bit of raw (turbinado) sugar on top of the scones before baking to give them a little extra flavor if you’re going glaze-less. :)
Wow, these look amazing! I have an obsession with scones and biscotti. Can never get enough, no no no. So consequently I am always in the market for healthy ones. I think I could even lighten them up a bit more by replacing the butter with fat free cream cheese. Might be good! Thanks for the post, I bookmarked it.
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Ali I made these for Christmas morning and they were a BIG success. Yeah!! Another treat to take to the lake! And to top it off they’re healthy.
Ohhh man. These needed more sugar or something. I made them with fresh raspberries instead of blueberries (not a great idea, the raspberries were too sour), and without the glaze or sugar on top. It was just kind of… bitter. Tasted horrible with the sour spots of raspberry. Good texture though, crusty outside fluffy inside. Next time I will add more sugar or substitute sugar and also maybe the glaze. Or maybe mix in some fruit preserves? :)
Hey Allison,
So sorry these didn’t turn out well for you! Yes, I think the blueberries definitely lend some nice sweetness, as well as the glaze on top. I bet the preserves might be yummy too! :) Hope the next batch turns out better!
Thanks,
~A
Lovely stuff! I travelled to Britain this summer and had some afternoon tea with scones , and it was absolutely delicious I figured I’d try make my own last weekend. I might have broken a few rules maybe – I found a bunch of random scone recipes here and made 5 different kinds! My friends were so happy when I invited them round for tea and scones. Terrific fun!
wonderful recipe. made them with canned wild blueberries which made them all purple. will try again with fresh or frozen. still really nummy. thanks
These are absolutely amazing! I’ve made them twice already, once following the recipe but not using the glaze. Today I repeated it, but subbed rice milk for regular milk and added frozen peaches into my blueberry mix. Also I added the glaze and it made them so much better!
Thanks for the great recipe! It’s birthday scones for my housemate :)
This were great, thanks so much for the recipe! Alone, I think they could use some more sugar (personally…I’m from the south, I can’t help but want things overly sweet). But with the glaze, they were perfect as is.
Just tried making these but the dough was more like cake batter. I followed the instructions step by step….where did I go wrong?! So bummed :(
Just made these tonight. I wanted to bake something with lemon as I had a bunch that needed to be used. They were delicious! Perfect amount of sweetness and the texture was just right. Thanks for the great recipe!
Ali, too :)
I made these twice; first time it was like cake batter (followed directions to a T) and I added more flour to make them possible to mold like dough. They were more like muffins though. Made them a second time without adding extra flour, tried to seperate them as dough and it came out like a flat giant cookie lol Any reason the consistency might be due to using milk instead of butter milk or olive oil vs. canola oil? I used milk and extra virgin olive oil.