These delicate shortbread-like little Blackberry Scones and a cup of tea or coffee are all I need to feel like a pampered pet!
I thought Blueberry Scones were the finest possible scone experience in the world until I tried these Blackberry Scones. I was transported. I felt like Proust in Remembrance of Things Past when he first tastes a madeleine cookie and that crisp, shortbread, buttery flavor of the cookie that he thinks he hasn’t tasted before literally whisks him back in time, back to sitting at the childhood table with his nanny eating—what else?—madeleines.
Like madeleines, scones are very delicate, with a bit of a fragile, puff-pastry crumbling-in-your-mouth kind of quality of layers crumbling when you bite into them. I love scones. They’re something different to serve in the breakfast-dessert niche, as I call it, and I love watching my guests’ faces as they bite into them and fall in love.
Blackberries, with their tart, sweet, bud-bursting-on-your-tongue sensation, are the most sublime complement to the fragrant vanilla and buttery flavors of these scones. Serve them with tea on a tray for a truly British experience, as you and your friends share a relaxing moment in the afternoon.
The Secret to Perfect Scones
The secret to a perfect scone is in the dry ingredients, of course. Anything with a texture like that is going to call for not just dry ingredients but fresh dry ingredients. If you don’t have fresh ingredients, you need to freshen them a bit by getting them stirred up and activated by messin’ with ’em, as my baking chef put it. So sift, sift, and sift your flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Sift those together until they are a soft cloud of puffy white. You want them as light and airy as dust motes for this recipe.
Equally important is the bowl you use, the pastry cutter you use, and the BUTTER you use. Any kind of buttery-tasting baked good needs creamy, sweet-tasting butter, right? Think of the sweetest creamiest butter you know of and use that!
Now, you’ll need a stainless steel or glass bowl—steel gets colder—a metal pastry cutter, and cold, cold butter. So keep that butter in the fridge until the last possible moment.
How do I prep and store these scones?
You can assemble all the ingredients into different glass containers and/or baggies and keep them refrigerated up to three days until you prepare them. After baking, you can freeze them up to three months.
Serving Suggestions
For a true tea party, serve with my Caramel-Hazelnut Mousse Tartlets and my Jam-Filled Butter Cookies.
Blackberry Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold
- 1 cup blackberries cut into quarters
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablepsoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Grate the cold butter using a cheese grater for easy incorporation into the dry ingredients. If a grater isn’t available, cut the butter into small cubes. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to blend the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Gently fold in the blackberries.
- Combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract in a small measuring cup. Stir this mixture into the flour mixture until just combined, being careful not to overmix to keep the scones light and fluffy.
- Lightly flour a clean surface and knead the dough briefly. Shape the dough into a circle about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut the circle in half, then cut each half into 4-5 wedges, depending on your preferred scone size.
- Place the scone wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with a bit of milk and sprinkle with a touch of sugar for a golden finish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the scones to cool on a wire rack before serving.
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