Lemon Glazed Blueberry Scones

I had my very first scone almost 12 years ago, when I was visiting the Eastman Kodak's House in Rochester, New York. When you tour the Eastman home, you can then have a little tea break at their small cafe and choose your teas and sandwiches. I couldn't remember what type of scone it was exactly, but this was my first introduction to scone, and it was a positive one, indeed.

Then in one of my recent business travels, I enjoyed a delicious reduced-fat cranberry orange scone from a Caribou Coffee kiosk at the airport, which was out of the world. Since that point on, I have been browsing at tons of recipes trying to decide on which one to try.

I finally landed on this recipe from Tyler Florence in Food Network. This was my first Tyler's recipe, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. He has two blueberry scone recipes, and I chose the one using buttermilk (because it was lower in fat, and we had some that we needed to use up!)

I also decided (at first), not to use the glaze. But then realized, that the buttery little pillows were missing a little "oomph", so we went ahead with the glaze, but used the lemon version. The other step that I think we should have added was using egg-wash to make the top brown a little prettier and sprinkle some sugar. So the glaze was a MUST!

Red was licking his fingers when he was devouring his first scone, "This is probably the moistest and lightest, fluffiest scone I have ever had!" So it sounds like we have a keeper here!!

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached 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 or cream
• 1 egg
• 1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; mix thoroughly. Cut in butter using 2 forks or a pastry blender. The butter pieces should be coated with flour and resemble crumbs.

In another bowl, mix buttermilk and egg together, and then add to the flour mixture. Mix just to incorporate, do no overwork the dough.

Roll blueberries in flour to coat, this will help prevent the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the scone when baked. Fold the blueberries into batter, being careful not to bruise. Drop large tablespoons of batter on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until brown. Cool before applying glaze.

Lemon Glaze:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 lemon, zest finely grated
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Technically you should make this simple lemon glaze in a double boiler (i.e. over a pot of simmering water with a heatproof bowl set on top) but it's even simpler to zap it in the microwave. Mix the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar together in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon zest and butter. Nuke it for 30 seconds on high. Whisk the glaze to smooth out any lumps, then drizzle the glaze over the top of the scones. Let it set a minute before serving.