While I didn’t love The Road to Little Dribbling, author Bill Bryson’s time in England did inspire me to make some delicious English treats.
I’m a huge Anglophile, and I appreciated his enthusiasm for English culture with all its delightful quirks, gorgeous landscapes, and elegant teatime traditions. One of my favorite things to do in London is have afternoon tea at a luxury hotel. I try to visit a different tea salon each time, but I’m also not above having tea at a quaint tea room in the country. That experience is just as lovely.
However, budgets being what they are these days, I’ve had to rein in my travel adventures, which means I’ve had to get a little more creative at home if I want to feel like I’m back in Ye Olde England.
Thus, the recipe for Blueberry Almond Scones was born.
*cue regal fanfare*
My first attempt at making these scones was during the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan (swoon). Yes, I was one of those people up at 5:00 on Saturday morning, baking scones and drinking tea from my fine china with a fascinator on my head (even though I was still in my ratty plaid pajamas) while watching the live coverage on TV.
I later tweaked the scone recipe for my family’s Afternoon Tea party, and I think what I have now is a pretty darn passable scone.
Since the author of The Road to Little Dribbling is American, I Americanized the scones a bit. Meaning, I put a glaze on them. You usually don’t see a glaze on English scones — at most, they’re dusted with granulated sugar — but if a British royal can marry a divorced American, I figure I, too, can break with tradition and do what I want with my scone recipe.
You can serve the scones with or without the glaze. Without glaze means you can eat them fresh from the oven, with a slathering of fresh jam and butter that will melt deliciously over the moist and fluffy scone. This is actually my preferred way to eat these baked goods. But, adding the glaze is a way to make them more dessert-ish, and it’s usually good way to get a non-scone eater to try one. Here! It has glaze! It’s practically a doughnut!
This recipe is adapted from one I found in Tea & Crumpets, and it couldn’t be simpler. The dough comes together quickly, and while you could make it in a food processor, I find it just as easy to make it using a bowl and pastry blender. Just be sure your butter is really cold when you begin working with it since blending the ingredients by hand does take a little longer than if you use the food processor.
This recipe is also pretty forgiving, so don’t worry about being perfect with it. Some of the berries broke while I was mixing them into the dough, and they created a pretty marbling effect. And, my scones smushed together a bit when they baked because I put the discs too close together on the sheet pan. Everything still turned out fine.
I’ve also given you my “secret recipe” for what I call “makeshift buttermilk.” I love the tang and moistness that buttermilk brings to any recipe, but I rarely have this ingredient on hand. Stores near me only carry quart-size containers, and most recipes only call for 1 cup of buttermilk, if that. The rest often ends up going to waste before I can use it in another recipe. I’ve started using this makeshift buttermilk in recipes instead, and it’s just like using the real thing.
Once you get comfortable with this recipe, you can start swappping ingredients in and out to make a whole variety of scones — use raspberries instead of blueberries; use vanilla extract instead of almond. You might even get REALLY crazy and throw some cocoa powder in there one day. *gasp*
I think the Queen would still approve, as long as you serve them alongside a nice cuppa tea. Pinkies up!
Blueberry Almond Scones
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS FOR SCONES:
- 3 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice for makeshift buttermilk**
- 1 cup milk for makeshift buttermilk**
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup fresh blueberries, dusted with flour
- 1/4 cup milk (for brushing)
INGREDIENTS FOR ALMOND GLAZE:
- 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
- 4 tsp milk
- 1 tsp almond extract
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS:
- Make your makeshift buttermilk: Take a 1-cup measuring cup and add the tablespoon of lemon juice. Then fill up the rest of the cup with milk until you have one full cup. Whisk lightly and set aside.
- Toss the blueberries in a dusting of flour. Set aside.
- Cut your butter into small cubes and place in a bowl. Then put the butter back in the fridge to chill.
- Beat one egg lightly in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
SCONE COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together the flour and sugar in a large bowl.
- Add cold butter cubes and cut them into the flour using a pastry blender. Once the butter is incorporated, the mixture will look like slightly lumpy sand.
- Take the makeshift buttermilk, which should be slightly foamy and curdled at this point, and give it a quick whisk. Add the almond extract and cinnamon to the buttermilk, and whisk lightly to incorporate.
- Add buttermilk mixture and the beaten egg to the dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until halfway incorporated, then add the blueberries to the bowl. Fold the blueberries into the mixture and finish mixing the wet and dry ingredients. It's okay if a few berries break open, but you might want to finish mixing using your bare hands if too many berries start to burst.
- Once the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Turn it over a few times and knead gently. Form the dough into a ball, then divide the ball into two pieces. Flatten each piece into a disc about 1 inch thick.
- Transfer the discs to your prepared baking sheet and place them next to each other, leaving space in between. Use a serrated knife dipped in flour to cut each disc into six (about equal) pieces.
- Brush the top of the scone pieces with the 1/4 cup of milk.
- Bake scones at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick in the center of the scones comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on sheet pan, then remove individual scones to a cooling rack. Let cool completely in order to drizzle with glaze, but feel free to eat them while they're warm if you're not planning to glaze them!
GLAZE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Whisk together the confectioner's sugar, milk, and almond extract. Drizzle over completely cooled scones. Let icing harden about 10 minutes, then serve.
